EarthLink Reviews in Atlanta, GA Area

Pros

- Flexible time
- Work from home
- GOOOD pay (if you can negotiate it)
- Tons of fun people

Cons

- Not enough senior people to learn from
- Execs relatively walled off

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your people.

Pros

The non-management workers (from Sr. Managers down) were the ones who got the work done. I did work with some bright people who tried to get things done despite bad executive and Sr. management. You were able to effect some change/make a difference, more so than jobs I held previously in larger companies.

Cons

Throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks bad management and lack of direction. Ridiculously long hours (seemed to be more like this in Customer Care organization). Management only supported themselves. Lots of finger pointing and blame game. Always needing to watch your back. People constantly coming to your desk at 5pm or 6pm with their "hair on fire" to draw you into some drama for hours. Ridiculous amounts of email to deal with (CYA). Very toxic environment. Left just before the big layoff - tired of dealing and saw what was coming.

Advice to Senior Management

I can't believe this company is still here. Sounds like executives are just beating it until they can't anymore and making sure they have their golden parachutes. Advice - get a clue.

Pros

Libral environment. Young work force. Innovative thinking was mostly encouraged. Management and teams were always easily accessible and willing to work with you. The company made it easy to have a great work/life balance.

Cons

Some poor management decisions helped to drive the company into the ground. Many times they did not promote from within which let to disgruntled employees from time to time, especially when they brought others in at much high salaries. It forced many to leave and then come back to the company later to get equal pay.

Pros

Overall compensation is quite good. Salaries are generous, but then employees have been with the company 5+ years, and the bonus program for the past few years has been outstanding for employees at all levels. The company doesn't impose a standard 'methodology', allowing managers the freedom to get things done in the way that most makes sense for them. If you work in the right place, there are some very competent and intelligent managers and directors who really do know how to balance achieving company objectives and nurturing employees.

Cons

Executive direction is unclear, despite frequent employee-directed communications (these usually amount to not much more than corp-speak and internal marketing). Executive and Sr. Management, in general, does not seem to have outstanding thinkers, innovators or leaders. The Product group is focused primarily on outsourcing everything possible and seems uninterested in the health or improvement of existing products unless a customer's complaint gets escalated and kicks off a fire drill. There is quite a bit of in-fighting about priorities and resources, and more finger-pointing than necessary whenever there is even a small issue.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't forget that a company, and likewise an organization within a company, is only as strong as its foundation. And the foundation is the non-management employees. Your strongest and most capable employees are often also those with the strongest opinions and personalities. Listen to them - they will feel valued and work harder and better for you, and you will probably learn something valuable, as well.

Pros

Fun atmosphere
Given freedom to do job
Variety of challenging work
Hard-working people

Cons

Travel expectations were not as clear as they could have been
Lack of inter-departmental communication

Advice to Senior Management

Continue to hire good people and provide opportunities for people to grow.

Pros

Now, under Rolla, the company is well run. They generate lots of cash and most of the idiots have been booted out.

Cons

The company is not likely to grow and will eventually be acquired/liquidated.

Advice to Senior Management

None. Keep up the good work.

Pros

Great work environment and flexibility (working from home etc)
Competitive benefits and bonus structure (partly to offset the volatility of the positions)
Excellent severance package
Tons of vacation

Cons

Shrinking company means no job stability and little room for promotion.
Layoffs occur frequently and the transition of work to the go forward teams isn't always smooth
Morale continues to decline as the company shrinks

Advice to Senior Management

Unfortunately, management is doing what they need to do in managing a declining business. I'd hope they continue to offer good severance packages for the employees who stuck around.

Pros

Stress is at a minimum and there is a VERY good balance between work and your personal life.

Cons

No movement upwards and very limited learning opportunities

Advice to Senior Management

Let us know what the 5 year plan is as far as headcount - how many employees will still be here? You have the plan as far as revenue so you should know how many people will be needed to sustain that revenue.

Pros

Flexability and compensation are above industry standard.

Cons

Where should I begin?? ELNK was a great place to work years ago but with the quarterly downsizing, incompetent leadership in some organization this place morale is at an all time low.

Advice to Senior Management

Start over and get competent leaders in the appropriate roles.

Pros

Very good benefits (vacation, 401k match, insurance) as a holdover from the boom days. The salary was fair, sometimes more so, depending on the department. Work environment was very relaxed. There were some very bright people that worked there. Bonuses could be very generous.

Cons

The company will soon pass the two year mark of when it first entered downsizing mode, and it was pretty much guaranteed that more layoffs would occur pretty much every quarter. It got to a point where you felt more sorry for the people left behind than those that were leaving. Now instead of trying to build something, the company is all about squeezing out every possible cost, which requires an entirely different mindset for the people still there.

Advice to Senior Management

You made the tough decision to force the company into the final stage of the business life cycle. No problem with that; it was a logical move. But there's no indication that there's a clue as to what to do next. If you truly want to be around in another 5 years, allow the employees to actually use some of that hoard of cash. If not, just admit it and start paying it out to the shareholders. Don't just sit on it.

Also, if Garry Betty and the previous management team could be highly visible to almost every employee in a company of 4,000, there's no excuse to be MIA in a company of 500. A single quarterly podcast doesn't count as open communication.