Brink's Reviews

Pros

Very open environment to excel.

Cons

Sometimes the company can be disorganized.

Advice to Senior Management

Aim for more standardization.

Pros

Good pay and benefits, free parking. Decent work location unless you want to get something to eat and keep working.

Cons

It's a closed organization. Either you are in the family (determined by how many friends you can make) and do well. Or you are not and you fail. Entrenched senior management that is clueless to the market realities around them and still manages the way companies did in the 80's, and still have systems used then, too. Strategy changes quarterly other than the vague 'Path To.." campaigns that are little more than platitudes they come up with every 5 years. Operations units run the company and are driven by short-term margins that are arrived at the way they calculated cost 30 years ago. There are no meaningful customer support mechanisms and the company has no clue how to deliver scalable and repeatable services. And anyone who points out all this dysfunction is doomed. So it's dysfunctional and resists any attempt to change. Avoid working at this company like you would the Plague.

Advice to Senior Management

Get a clue. Bring in some outside talent and get rid of entrenched management in Operations, CIT, Product Management, Product Development, Customer Service and HR. Decide on one organization that is going to run the company and get all the others to fall in behind it. Then hold that organization accountable.

Pros

High Integrity and ethical standards
Good Benefits and Compensation
Stable Company with a lot of tenured employees
Low turn over

Cons

Very Dangerous job
Old school company
Lack of diversity in the leadership team
Very hard to get hired, for obvious reasons

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in technology
Improve change communication
Improve resources for training
Diversify the leadership team

Pros

latest wave of front line managers is very competent
changes to 'old school' thinking are slowly starting to change (maybe)

Cons

minimal raises for top performers
cost cutting measures focus more on the chaff instead of the wheat
annual 'reorganizations'
recent turnover in upper management

Advice to Senior Management

verify perceived customer needs
update business policies that are outdated
invest in more training for employees
seek input before implementing (or agreeing to implement)

Pros

Stable company
Easy work environment
Easy going
Laid Back

Cons

No growth opportunities.
Poor compensation
Don't care about lower level employees
Management team has spent their entire life at Brink's, so have no new ideas for growth

Advice to Senior Management

Get some outside management
Invest in Technology
Engage your employees

Pros

The people and the relationships. There are lots of fine people employed at Brinks, at the headquarters and in the branches.

Cons

Too much turmoil and turnover, especially in IT. Management treats highly-compensated (for the company, not for the market) professionals like lowly-compensated couriers. The benefits are not as attractive as they once were. Too many flavors of the month - "The Servant as Leader", "Six Sigma", etc.

Advice to Senior Management

Define a strategy and stick to it. And if you introduce a major initiative, at least provide some updates on a consistent basis. For example, 4-5 years ago the "Brinks 2010" initiative was rolled out. Ask any employee today what that means and what's been done and very few, if any, will be able to tell you.

Pros

Recession Proof Company offering needed services for retail business and banks. The company has the best reputation for their services in the industry. With a presence in the retail, banking, and air courier sectors, everyone has recognizes the Brinks name.

Cons

Runs like a small business on the local and regional level which lends to local weaknesses. Sales efforts have always been a challenge because of this fact. Many bids have been lost because of the short sightedness of local and regional management. Brinks has been overly reliant on banks as a customer, and has been behind the curve with solutions to capture the lucrative and volatile retail business.

Advice to Senior Management

Use economies of scale in terms of cost accounting to strengthen itself. Acquire more of the urban population center SMSA to quell the competition from Garda, Loomis, Dunbar and others. While the core business is important, the company needs to transition more quickly to adapt to the opportunities in the marketplace. These opportunities are likely to be in markets where the company has traditionally opted out of because of the investment and time needed to make it work. With the separation of the home security business, Brinks Inc. will have more pressure to perform. With high fleet and labor costs, it will have to be very agressive and creative to obtain results.

Pros

Solid company, ethical management team, chance to travel throughout the world.

Cons

Very "old school" especially in the HR group. For an international company display a low tolerance for individuals from other countries working in the HQ. Not very innovative, can't say there is real thought leadership in the Sr. Managment ranks, especially in the HR and Administration side of the house.

Advice to Senior Management

Consider changing the guard in the in the HR Leadership team. Begin to recognize that employees are what make a company great, and motivated intelligent employees are what define great companies. Make a concerted effort to pull away from the looking at employees as the problem when they may have many of your answers.

Pros

Competitive Salary, leader in the armored car industry

Cons

Inept senior leadership team, poor communicators and change agents, the company clings to much to tradition

Advice to Senior Management

Strengthen the HR team and improve the quality of leaders in upper management positions