Ceridian Reviews in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Area

Pros

This is a great environment for those with high energy, an entrepreneurial spirit, healthy self-confidence, and reasonable humility. It is a work hard, play hard environment. Clearly not everyone is the right fit for this business based on many of the reviews that I have read, but those that are thriving are not 9-5 employees. The people that are suceeding are the ones focused on helping the organization achieve its goal of driving their own destiny without the overreaching arms of our private equity investors. We need to hit tough financial milestones in order to be an attractive option on Wallstreet in a future IPO state, Unfortunately that means short term (12-36 months) of additional sacrifice for long-term gain. Get off the bus if you don't want to be on it and get on now if you want to reap the fruits of your labor. Ceridian's best days are ahead of it. I understand the frustration of those that didn't sign up initially to be part of this culture, but life is too short not to enjoy what you're doing. I love it here. I love the people. I love the industry.... and I love being a part of creating something better. I suggest you find a place that you can love too.

Cons

As stated above, the pros can also be seen as cons. A work hard, play hard environment is not for everyone. Sacrifice and urgency are needed in the business right now so that we can control our own destiny. Being held by Private Equity owners is a relatively unforgiving environment. They want a great ROI on their investment and will push us hard to get it. Our job is to meet our financial objectives so that we can get back to being publicly traded again where we can better control how we run our business.

Advice to Senior Management

Sprint! Sprint hard towards the finish line. Make sure to keep the communication lines open. Find ways to include your employees in the benefits of helping the company reach its equity event (i.e. Employee Stock Options). Give everyone an ownership stake so they are more willing to assist with the needed sacrifice Ceridian requires in order to achieve its financial independence. Keep hiring great talent (i.e. Lois Martin- new female CFO, Larry Dunivan- new Product and Technology leader, Jon Ziglar- new Chief Strategy Officer, and more to come I'm sure). These additions speak to the quality of Stuart Harvey's (CEO) decision making as he has moved in cutting edge practitioners and has seeked to updgrade his executive staff. I'd love to see some more change, maybe HR and Marketing can be next. We need more buzz creation in the marketplace and we need to create a more energized culture. A couple of upgrades in Marketing and HR could help achieve that.

Pros

The People are great!

Work has a purpose and is really rewarding.

Worklife balance

Cons

Zero senior management support. Lack of senior management presence and face time when needed. When senior management actually does come to MN, they stay behind closed doors and spend no time with staff.

Favoritism is BIG! Incompetent managers who were promoted not because of experience or qualifications. The senior management "sorority" favors its members.

Poor communication from senior management team. Input is not solicited or valued. Orders are barked.

Training department is very low functioning. Training leadership creates reasons to attempt to show value instead of dealing with real issues at hand.

Lack of HR support. High turnover is ignored. Repeated concerns are never addressed.

Advice to Senior Management

Leadership outside of LifeWorks needs to get involved and notice what is going on within the business unit. Hold leadership accountable for what is not working and listen to and value imput from staff. DO NOT allow senior management to be present in employee roundtables. People are not candid when VPs are in the room!

Recognize and reward top performers and notice a pattern when they are leaving the company!

Give face time to employees!

Pros

3 weeks off per year, take when you want. Job is clear and support from management is greatl

Cons

Can be very boring at times

Advice to Senior Management

More opportunities for advancemnet

Pros

Mid to senior level employees at Ceridian are wonderful. I met and worked with great people and got great experience. There were also opportunities to work on a variety of projects and influence decisions.

Cons

Identity crisis. Ever since Ceridian was Control Data, they have grappled with who they are ... and with who they want to become. I was there nearly 10 years and a number of scenarios played out. Unfortunately, change keeps coming and executive leadership keeps revolving. Leadership is never in place long enough to stick to a long-term strategy.

Advice to Senior Management

Sell the Health and Productivity Services and Small Business divisions. Operate Comdata as a separate division. Build the Ceridian business around benefits and hr/payroll and make acquisitions that would improve technology.

Pros

Benefits are excellent, work life balance is good, ability to infuse creativity and lead initiatives is there for the ambitious and driven employee.

Cons

Compensation is not as robust as it could be and seriously impacts the quality of talent that makes it through the door.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to look at ways to innovate and bring differentiation to our clients. Ceridian employees have always been a powerhouse of creativity and will stop at nothing to ensure the customer experience is the top priority. Harness this energy and good things will happen.

Pros

Beautiful facility with covered parking and a staffed gym.

Cons

My management had NO proposal experience and was clueless about the group's function.

Pros

The positives of working at Ceridian include 4 weeks paid vacation, flexible work schedule, ability to work from home on occassion, recognize high potential employees, cafeteria that serves breakfast and lunch, fitness center and classes, very nice office building, covered parking, great people

Cons

While I think Ceridian is a great place to work, there are a few negatives. The pay lower than average. Senior mangement is not accessible or personable. Too many GE transplants that created a good ol boys club.

Advice to Senior Management

Ceridian had a wonderful culture before the GE management team took over. I would love to see the positive culture brought back.

Pros

Good people to work with. Benefits better than most.

Cons

Too many VP's. Most don't have clue what it takes to make things work. They cut people and budgets for five straight years then anounce in meetings that are suprised how fragile the infrastructures are. Lot of talk about investing in company but all that seems to be going to "offshore" workers who dont understand applications. US workers left to pick up the pieces and get the flack. VP's not accountable, CYA is the process, blame some other group.

Advice to Senior Management

SCRUM proccess is not working. It is destroying the products.

Pros

About the best thing I can say is that they have good vacation benefits and flexability. The workers are trying to make the best of a bad situation but if the economy was better, most would leave.

Cons

No employer loyalty. No management accountability, employee salaries and bonuses are frozen (execs are exempt, of course), several layoffs, not replacing workers who leave, but continue to hire many VP's. 20% of the headquarters staff is VP's and many have NO reports. They are cutting costs everywhere and yet we still have a corporate jet, stadium suites and country club memberships for the CEO and her GE cronies. Employee reviews are non-existent and managers are more concerned about covering their butts and keeping their bosses happy than helping their employees do thier job. Avoid if possible.

Advice to Senior Management

Think long term, thin the management ranks, hold managers accountable for their employees performance and success. Sell the corporate jet and show some of the sacrifice that you expect of your employees. Communicate more and better.

Pros

They use to have a great vacation program. 3-4 weeks starting off the bat. They have a lot of material available for training. The people on my level are great to work with and are probably my saving grace.

Cons

Management is constantly changing things. They beat their employees over the head about following certain processes but these processes aren't even established. Lots and lots of cost cutting-to the level of cutting down on printers and faxes. This leads me to believe they are in a lot more financial trouble then they claim. There are no opportunities for growth. Lower level management has no clue and they're face to face with their employees on a daily basis. Pay raises and bonuses are ridiculous.

Advice to Senior Management

Get a clue.