DST Reviews in Kansas City, MO Area

Pros

Stability, strength in market, opportunities for advancement

Cons

Old school policies, needs more innovation

Advice to Senior Management

N/A

Pros

Decent benefit package, tuition reimbursement, medical, dental, 50/50 arts discount, vacation time is accrued based upon time with the company. After 20 years any associate can earn 6 weeks of time off. Discounted covered parking, break rooms are okay.

Generous severance package

Cons

DST has a certain culture, that if you do not fit the mold, you will not succeed. All of the management I encountered had held positions in the organization for numerous years, many 20 plus. They do things a certain way because that's the way they've alway done it. There is not room for those who disagree or challenge that way of thinking. It is assumed you know their way, because everyone else does. This makes it difficult as an outsider to come into a non-entry level position and succeed.

The company quietly lays of a few people quarterly that they do not like or feel aren't performing. They are able to keep it out of the news as the numbers are low enough to not be news worthy. Another well know fact is the mutual fund business is changing and billing practices are causing DST to lose money. Management is very public with this knowledge. I wish I had know when I accepted the job that opportunities for growth were limited as management turnover is non-existent, the industry was losing money, and the company has a history of laying off employees.

I guess this will teach me to do my research better next job opportunity.

Advice to Senior Management

When I was laid off, I noticed a surplus of job opportunities posted at DST. Where were these opportunities when I worked at DST? I was not a good fit with the culture of my department, but would have welcomed the chance to find another department that was a better fit.

Layoffs and hiring are very expensive. For a company that is searching for the next profitable business venture, this makes little sense. DST is as most companies, very concerned about their reputation. As someone who moved from out of state, it did not take me long to hear negative feedback about working at State Street. I still occasionally hear comments. Soon it will be your company they are talking about.

If you want change, rid yourself of the stale thinking senior management. Bring in people who rock the boat. Group think doesn't work for anyone.

Pros

Good Benefits, Management very approachable, Opportunities to Develop Professionally with online training programs, Good relationship with the local community and the arts

Cons

Low salaries, Not always very exciting work

Pros

Good Benefits. Made a lot of good friendships that I still have today.

Cons

The company is made up of mostly people waiting to retire. Promotions were non existent.

Advice to Senior Management

Get Younger

Pros

Vacation time is nice; benefits are ok; good learning opportunities; most managers are flexible with time-off.

Cons

bad or late communication about important issues...from top to bottom management; benefits used to be much better; top performers pick up the slack for low performers...no consequences from management; feel unappreciated after years of hard work and dedication to the company; the review process is a joke...they review you based on how much they want to pay you; performance and attitude issues of the few are generalized and impact the entire department.

Advice to Senior Management

Middle management should stand up for their top performers instead of letting upper management dictate treatment and then pretend to care about their career. Executive management should understand the top performers will leave when the opportunity presents itself. The trust is gone and moral is low. Sending emails communicating how much harder and faster employees need to work is non-productive.

Pros

DST is a great company to work for, they provide excellent benefits. The pay is competitive but not comparative with similar industry salaries. The biggest pro about DST is that you make your own path at DST. If you are dissatisfied with what you are doing the ability to move with in the company to a similar position or completely new career field is available at your finger tips.

Cons

Telecommuting has been a major jump in recent years in technology. This is something I believe DST could benefit from, letting employees work from home.

Like I said above the salaries are competitive but not comparative in the field I work in. I have seen several similar positions where the pay was much higher.

Advice to Senior Management

I have heard recently that several employees have posted to different positions only to find that they have been filled with targeted employees. If a managers have targeted employees they should not post a position as if it is available to everyone.

Pros

1) Excellent benefits package
2) ability to move within the DST family of companies among many types of groups
3) though we get hit with recessions too, client contract structures usually help us weather them a bit better.

Cons

1) in 2010 DST had its first large scale layoffs ever. This used to be its one shining feature that made it better than other local companies like Sprint, Cerner and Garmin. Now, it's lost bragging rights.
2) Management communicates well on day to day issues but employees 'disappear' mysteriously, only for us to find out later they have been laid off. There is no communication on the day of admitting that there were X cuts in Y department or when more are coming. This is duplicitous.

Advice to Senior Management

1) We have one company product that is not competitive and the company knows it. Put the R&D into making it as competetive as our other products.
2) Your layoff practices feel like mafia hits. Everyone knows people got laid off. Be honest after they are gone. Preserve the dignity of those terminated but come on; don't treat the rest of us like we're stupid and won't notice.

Pros

Friendly people, great atmosphere, benefits are good too.

Cons

Salary is terrible, communication isn't great and things are inconsistent

Advice to Senior Management

Be consistent in the things you want and expect from the associates.

Pros

Pay is good. Benefits are OK. Profit sharing is reasonable.

Cons

Your job will be outsourced eventually. Absolutely no loyalty from management to long term employees. Project quality has rapidly detiorated. We used to do "zero defect" installations. Now... if a project has less than 100 issues, it is considered a success. One recent "successful" project had 400 documented issues. This is embarrassing for professionals to have to deal with this.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop trying to get people to leave by suddenly treating them extremely poorly and fabricating poor reviews. Show some spine. Stand up for your people instead of passively outsourcing all of their jobs.

Pros

There are pretty flexible hours and a decent amount of vacation. The employees are good people and make for a pretty good work environment.

Cons

I don't feel respected as an employee, I just feel like another nameless worker. Promotions and raises are close to non existent. The management is all incredibly old and sometimes I'm not sure they really know what's going on in the company.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus more on treating your employees well rather than only focusing on your profit margins. Do this and maybe employees would have incentive to work harder.