Electronic Data Systems Reviews in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX Area

Pros

The people I work with a are great, my job is challening and I enjoy what I do. My direct management is very flexiable with my scheduling and allows work from home when needed. This is a big positive in my book. There are not many positives now though since HP came in.

Cons

EDS used to be a great place to work before the merger with HP. Since that time HP has been coming coming through with an axe and chopping EDS apart. It is not the same place it was when I joined 12 years ago, or even 1 year ago. The first big downside is HP came in and cut everyones base salary by 5%. Even though the company reported a profit. To pour salt in that wound all US based EDS employees got an addtional 10% pay cut. Again even though EDS is making a healthy profit. This has put quite a hardship on my personal finances as my salary is my total compensation. And my moral and drive to give 100 and even 110% effort is in the tank. HP touts is it a pay for performance company but nowhere is my compensation plan does it state what goals I need to meet. I am in a billable, client facing role and work my butt off nights and weekends and I am not holding my breath on getting any type of performance bonus to make up for the paycuts.

Advice to Senior Management

Remeber the little guys, the ones out in front of clients eveyday, the ones who do all the real work for the company which allows you to get your healthy bonus and stock options. I have no issue with large executive bonus, but it is a slap in the face when my total compensation gets cut by 15% and you still get ungodly amounts of money in your pockets.

Pros

A variety of things to do and learn. If you work hard you can go through the ranks You are surrounded by smart people and in most positions you can learn from those people. In addition, you can also mentor othes. The people (non-management) are exceptional people. To work with them is a privilege.

Cons

Below average compensation. Joe Eazor cuts the workforce pay, while getting over 400% bonus. Even Hurd, Livermore and the rest of these execs get big bonuses over and over, while cutting the people who deliver by 5%, 10% and 15%. If you look at their total compensation package, their pay was cut by less than 1%

Advice to Senior Management

Stop worrying about your bonuses and worry about the people who deliver.

Pros

Due to the HP acquisition, it will look great on your resume. EDS has employees whom have been with the company well over ten years and are willing to share their experiences, assist in navigating through the multi-layered, top-heavy management team.

Cons

Lack of innovation in company strategy
Lack of professional development
Top-heavy senior leadership, many of whom should have been gone a long time, yet somehow survived the rounds of lay-offs

Advice to Senior Management

Lose the dead weight
Bring in and retain more innovative leaders

Pros

With the addition of HP to EDS, I think that we can become an IT powerhouse. I have already seen examples where we are now winning new business due to the ability to offer both the services that EDS historically had with the hardware/software component.

Cons

In the midst of any integration effort, there is uncertainty and change that does not always appear to be logical at first. Some of the reduction targets don't carry so much rational approach. Given that the reductions also seem to appear about every other day, it can make the environment a little unsettling.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep providing as much information about where HP will take the business

Pros

Large scale mainframe service bureau environment. At the time there was a diverse mix of different clients and industries with various expectations. This presented an opportunity to become successful in a large shop, something that cannot be gained in a smaller scale environment.

Cons

Management turnover every two years. About the time your manager knew you well enough to recommend promotion or provide recognition, he moves on and someone who knows nothing about you comes in. Management discretion mostly amounted to management not doing anything to increase your position or compensation. I had a few good managers but I had some that I had to move to another area to escape. There were some who should not have been managers as well.

Advice to Senior Management

I was there when the stock dropped off the edge and never recovered. Someone is practicing deception and someone else is believing them.

Pros

EDS has a lot of very smart, serious, systems developers. I will miss the quality of the long-term developers.

Cons

All the work is being moved to India. Indians are worthless. They know nothing -- they contribute nothing. They never tell you when something is going badly.

Advice to Senior Management

HP should replace the top 3-4 levels of EDS management. It is the only way to save the company. The only people that should be kept are the Finance managers who perform Taxes, SEC reporting, Treasury. Mark Hurd better spend some time in Plano and see what REALLY is going on.

Pros

The pay for my job (systems design and implementation) is well within the industry average, although those who are well qualified could probably earn more elsewhere in a non-recession economy. The company provides a good work environment, including current technology desktops (notebook PC with up-to-date software), flexible start and stop times, support for working from home long-term, telecommuting when personal needs require it, volunteering in community groups and activities (whether or not the company participates). The broad customer base lowers the risk of major job cutbacks during minor economic slowdowns, and offers the opportunity to work in new industries without leaving the company.

Cons

The health plan and other benefits are average. Medical coverage is satisfactory, and probably in line with most other companies. The stock price is still recovering from what Dick Brown did to the company. His massive layoffs and poor re-organization led to a huge drop in our stock price and significant loss of respect and trust among customers. The recent HP buyout is still a big question mark as to the effect on staffing and future business prospects. We've already had large layoffs and more are expected. It's not clear what the criteria are for identifying those to be let go. The severance policy is reasonable, though not stellar.

Advice to Senior Management

As with most companies, stop giving large exit packages to senior managers who leave the company. If things are so tough that we have to lose thousands of employees, why should an executive take tens of millions of dollars with him or her simply because they're a senior manager?

Pros

big company with lots of places to go and things to do. i do not have 100 words to write here so i'm making them up and just typing stuff that comes to mind. proud history of big accomplishments. eds invented their industry.

Cons

too big, too impersonal, musical chairs at top with no discernable justification for executive compensation. they either never did real technical work or have completely forgotten what it takes and are deathly afraid of technology. executives all seem to hire their kids and give them big bonuses, despite the lack of value they add. overall morale is bad. hp seems intent on slashing quite a bit.

Advice to Senior Management

"resource" is a 4-letter word and software is never created in a factory.

Pros

Working at EDS allows the employee to get comprehensive exposure to working with systems, processes, people and deadlines. It is often said that EDS is great place to start your career, but in order to catch up to the industry pay scale, you need to leave the company and come back again. For employees that stayed with the company for their entire career, you will find low salaries. Most long time employees stayed for job security and because they enjoyed the work they were doing. With the recent buyout of EDS by HP, job security is GONE. It will be interesting to see what comes of a once great company.

Cons

The hours at EDS can be long, the compensation for work done above and beyond minimal and the job security non existent.

Advice to Senior Management

Return to the philosophy 'People Make a Difference'. What happened - HP?

Pros

Former industry leader but will soon disappear within the HP empire

Cons

lack of security considering ongoing layoffs both before and after the HP acquisition

Advice to Senior Management

reestablish the balance between work and person live by not asking people to work overtime without recognition