Pros

Great Pay
Good benefits
Tuition Reimbursement
Good local customer base

Cons

All that mattered was needs of business
Didn't care that you were in school
No balance between work and personal life
Poor organizational communication

Advice to Senior Management

I think they should be more concerned with employee retention. Also processes and procedures in the retail stores were not the best.

Pros

Technical knowledge highly beneficial to succeeding, company BlackBerry and Laptop provided, understanding and generous about time-off (personal and vacation, as well as day-to-day needs).

Cons

Dayton plays second fiddle to Cincinnati, where Cinbell is the market leader. Many Dayton area markets are bled dry, as previous reps have combed through existing client-base and store-fronts. Poor database management, unorganized order processing system, and overall a very small percentage of reps even come close to meeting goal. Compensation highly dependent on meeting quota, and very difficult to do in most markets (see comment above).

Advice to Senior Management

Invest more in your internal resources, especially the reps out on the streets trying to meet their goal #'s. Also focus on increasing company moral, as office environment is highly pessimistic. It was apparent within 10 minutes of stepping through the door that most reps are not satisfied with their careers or the company's future.

Pros

Solid reputation in Cincinnati; company moves employees around a lot in order to vary their experiences and opportunities; company has a healthy management bonus structure; still the market leader in a city in which it's tough for outsiders to compete; very strong management benefit package thanks to the non-management union work force; very few people working long hours.

Cons

Not very diverse, particularly at the Director level and above; long-term planning is non-existent; stars are sometimes promoted too quickly; ill-organized product and marketing leadership; too much turnover in some key leadership positions; Cassidy can be a loose cannon, and runs the company like a sales manager.

Advice to Senior Management

Set a vision, come up with a plan, communicate it, and stick to it.

Pros

Cincinnati Bell will give you the opportunity to work in Telco and actually get to touch the Landline, Video, DSL, Wireless, Long Distance, and VOIP parts of the business. This is huge in building your portfolio and learning about many different aspects within the Telco space. In addition, Cincinnati Bell is also a company where if you are willing to put in the time and effort you truly can work your way up in the company. Everyone has an opportunity to take on additional items to give you something to make you stand out. I also enjoy the family atmosphere, everyone is friends as much as co-workers.

Cons

The corporate culture at Cincinnati Bell is one of hard work and dedication. That said, at times upper management will lose control of realistic expectations. The corporate culture tends to shift every few years to one of - work harder, more hours, with less people, less resources, and for the same pay. Asking management to fill in in the retail stores during the holidays, taking all plants out of the building to save costs, and forcing employees to cancel already planned events or be encouraged to incur costs personally rather than be reimbursed. Things tend to lighter up over time but it can be difficult to work in.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your employees and more importantly ask them. Do things that make for happy employees, they tend to work harder and not quit. I love my company, I believe in my company, that is why I am still here. It is however hard to watch the situation get worse and worse and critical people that keep the company going quitting in droves. Much of what made up the Cincinnati Bell company and family that I was so happy to start working with is falling apart. I know we are trying to make the numbers work but someone needs to do a health check on the employees.

Pros

It is a company that has opportunity to advance.  The company is large enough that there are many career paths to choose among. The company does a good job in providing telecom services to their market. The wing of CBTS does a good job of introducing new products to market. The company is willing to try new services to set themselves apart from the competition.

Cons

The company is facing a large amount of debt and the company does try to cut costs and this affects many of the staff who are the back-bone of the company. The employee must always hear buy-out rumors.   The company must strive to save money and it does affect the customer.  It is being forced to become similar to the large competitors Cincinnati Bell faces, impersonal and not having customer interests at heart.

Advice to Senior Management

Realize that what makes this company great are the employees. No employee outside of this market is going to commit to doing a great job for Cicinnati. Make sure that in all the cost saving efforts that what sets the company apart from the competition doesn't get lost.

Pros

Job flexibility is very good and the benefits are decent. Heath care plans are ok but going down hill, but I suspect this is the same with most companies.

Cons

There is no clear growth strategy for the company. The theme is mostly around cost cutting and the moral is very poor.

Unless in sales, no clear rewards for performance, or career path in company for growth. If you are in sales, get ready for a truly stressful existence with a salesman as captain of the boat.

HR is a joke as there is a complete lack of career planning and no transparency to the process.

Advice to Senior Management

Implement career planning. Get a growth plan and communicate it. Compensate people (other than sales) on helping you get there.

Pros

Decent medical benefits and pension

Cons

Difficult work environment for little pay

Advice to Senior Management

Be innovative and work to foster your employees to help grow the company. Your employees are your best asset. Get rid of the large amount of dead weight, hire/retain good talent and compensate them both financially and professionally.