EDS UK Reviews

Pros

If you are prepared to manage your own career, then it is a very good place to work. As EDS is such a large firm (even bigger now!) then there are all sorts of possibilities for all imaginable types of work. Management is generally fairly flexible in allowing you to choose your next assignment.

Cons

Senior managment cannot leave the company alone and insist on restructuring every 6 months or so. Expect a series of different managers with none lasting more than 8 months before the reporting lines are redrawn.
Senior managment decisions in recent months have been entirely focussed around improving the share price and hence stock positions of the senior executives and do not make sense from a business perspective such as banning all travel for internal meetings...

Advice to Senior Management

Allow the changes to settle down before changing things again.

Pros

EDS was a good company to work, not perfect but you learnt a lot from good people. You had the opportunity to do many things and travel with a broad range of clients. They had good processes in most cases and this helped you become good and thorough at your job.

Cons

Although good to work for there was many imperfections, too much bureacracy which needed to be removed, limited pay structures, improvment in productivity. It was getting there. However HP have ripped it to pieces, redundancies, pay freezes, pay cuts where they could. No regard for the people. Many have left and many will in the future, soon there will no be much left.

Advice to Senior Management

think of your people, these are your best assets.

Pros

EDS have a lot of high profile clients and it is a good place to learn the basics.

Cons

EDS is a company full of empty suits. Many employees were TUPE'd in from outsourcing deals eons ago and have failed to adapt to the modern business environment. Most of the empty suits would cost the price of a house in the midlands to make redundant so EDS creates "work" for them. The non-jobs get in the way of doing actual work and providing what the client needs.

Throughout my two stints at EDS I was also constantly surprised and appalled by the abject stupidity of many of the middle managers. I also witnessed some of the worst cases of work place bullying that I have ever seen in a fifteen year carreer.

As a technologist the work environment is particularly poor. EDS as a company has no respect for technologists and there is no place for dedicated, experienced engineers who are prepared to challenge the prevailing orthodoxy in-rer to add value to the client. Management prefer to hire incompetent yes-men and bully the brave few who stand up to be counted.

Advice to Senior Management

Make at least half of the work force redundant and hire new talent from the outside. Particular attention should be focused on eliminating the non-jobs and pointless bureaucracy.

In addition a new culture of engineering-led excellence would go a long way towards winning back some of your lost accountsand gaining a few new solid customers.

Pros

Many pockets of capable and committed colleagues, reasonable benefits package (although likely soon to be downgraded), local management committed and supportive but with little autonomy

Cons

Since HP takeover EDS has been pushed down the food chain in HP and is now part of TSG - not even a separate business unit. Initial pay freeze now replaced by upcoming 'voluntary' 5% pay cut despite EDS contributing record profits to EDS. Local management have less and less autonomy, training cut back again despite assurances it would not be, cost cutting measures result on procurement delays which impact our service to customers and hit staff morale.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on improving employee morale rather than continual cost cutting - EDS is a service company and relies on committed and capable people - I think this has been lost sight of despite the lip-service paid to 'service excellence'

Pros

Maybe local to you, there are soem ggod people (if you can find them).

Cons

Matrix miss-management, spin, delusion and corporate speak, rather than good clear, co-ordinated, accurate and honest communication.
Treated with impunity, policies not followed (unless it suits), lots of tick box 'management', too many autocrats.

Advice to Senior Management

Learn to listen rather than dictate, apraise, do what you say your'e going to do, and chart progress to the (plans you need to produce and publish). Get some good people ones, rather than sycophants.

Pros

It's a Job and they match your 6% pensions although that will probabaly be worthless in years to come. Lythan site has free parking and easy access. Although offices are poor the general canteen, shops and vending machines are good.

Cons

Lack of progression, Lies told during the HP take over regarding pay reviews, no training, staff cuts even though weekly emails recieved regarding new business, single points of failure everywhere.

Advice to Senior Management

stop the jobs cut, increase moral

Pros

It's people, learning newish technologies. Good medical and pension schemes.

Cons

No payrise in two years! No bonuses. Rare to be able to attend a training course. Low Morale.

Advice to Senior Management

Get rid of the separate organisations, i.e. GTP and DITO. Staff want to feel part of the project they're working for. Sometimes you don't even feel you work for EDS! Morale is extremely low within these organisations. These organisations might be making a big profit but this is at a large expense to the projects.

Pros

There are some great projects to work and the sense of satisfaction of working on them can be great. The pension and benefits scheme are rather good.

Cons

Project Management seem to the bane of all companies and the same applies to EDS. I have seen staff move from Administrative jobs into Project Management at the click of your fingers. It seems that if you can send emails you are qualified to be a Project Manager. Working for a large company has its downsides, it is very easy to be just a number in a large machine and there seems to be a lot of inept middle managers. The use of offshore resources does nothing for moral and does not fill the gap left from the recent redundancies.

Advice to Senior Management

EDS is a technology company. Pay some attention to the technical staff.

Pros

They have a very varied range of work, and the clients are pretty high profile. It is impressive to others when you tell them the people you have worked for.

Because the management is so poor, you won't have a structured devlopment path, so you an pretty much end up working anywhere you want in the company.

Cons

Salary is pretty poor, and management is poor. As i mentioned, the best reason to work here is to get the expereince on your cv, and then perhaps move on to a better paying and better managed company.

Advice to Senior Management

Appreciate your staff more. And stop all this cost cutting - it is really destroying moral in the company.

Pros

EDS is a Large company so their are plenty of locations if you wish to move, EDS have processes and software in place that if used correctly and you manager actually cares enough and has the time can be used to monitor your development and plan it quite well

Cons

There is a major lack of communication at this company or at least in the area where I works, EDS management are constantly pushing ahead with new projects without clearing up issues with the previous ones and also seem to be willing to agree to do anything for the clients without thinking it through fully and often at the expense of their employees and they tend to give very little real recognition for this other than what seem to be pre prepared email templates.

The area that I work in also has a high staff turnover which causes problems as the product supported takes a lot to learn.

Advice to Senior Management

Look at opportunities as a whole within the organization and provide support for people other than managers for a change