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

Pros

Its global presence and penetration into nearly all industries provides exposure to many different things. Coordination across multiple geographic areas can be challenging, but it is also a rewarding experience. In addition, while it may not rank at the top of the pack, EDS does provide adequate health care plans, as well as 401K options.

Cons

EDS seems to have lost its sense of direction, and now must merge with HP, causing more confusion. In addition, the constant emphasis on cost cutting has had a direct impact on training and participation in industry or job related activities. As a result, employee morale often suffers, particularly when the emphasis on cost results in the arbitrary termination of a large percentage of the work force.

Advice to Senior Management

Employees are not fungible... you can't just buy experience and expertise.

Pros

Opportunity to travel and to try new things.

Cons

It is run by admin--very bureaucratic. Constant influx of subpar employees transitioned from new clients. Flavor of the month--no stability or direction.

Advice to Senior Management

Need to understand whether we can really deliver on what we're selling--for example, small contract I worked on had many, many more reports than the Navy contract. We were unable to deliver and had dissatisfied client. No money or senior focus on the contract. Just signed out of fear that senior management would have knee-jerk reaction to our standing up for what our service offerings were.

Pros

With over 20 years with EDS, I can honestly say that the ability to manage your own career, make connections with other people and ability to move to new areas is great. You can go from a finance job to an HR job to a Consulting job and into an IT job based on your performance and ability to get the job done. Once you are in the door, the opportunities to move to new work at least every 18 months allows you to build your skills and knowledge.

Cons

They will eat you up and spit you out with out a second glance. All that hard work and effort does not create any type of loyalty to you as an employee. There may be a formal career development process, but leadership is non-existent in the support of it.

Advice to Senior Management

If you want people to put out their best work, you have to treat them fairly and reward them with intrinsic rewards, not just the extrinsic rewards.

Pros

The team I worked on was strong and I felt a sense of family with them. All for one and one for all. Our direct manager was great. I felt a strong sense of loyalty to my team and still stay in contact with them even though I don't work there any longer.

Cons

Feeling like you work in such a huge bureaucratic machine, innovation was not a consideration. Morale is in the pits and has been ever since the Dick Brown days where he'd march out the door entire groups.

The culture is such that your work-life balance is non-existent. They talk about it, but that's it. We had scheduled meetings in the evenings and on Saturdays, with an occasional Sunday.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat the employees the way you would want to be treated. Rittenmeyer paid the Plano PD $2M/yr for personal security because he pissed on so many people along the way.

Pros

Treated as a professional. I'm treated with respect and valued from day 1. Decent benefits and pay structure. There are a lot of systems in place to help employees with many aspects of work, benefits, life, etc.

Cons

Very long hours during peak times. Hard to balance work/life during certain periods. Expectations during crunch times are high.

Advice to Senior Management

Continued training and feedback to make sure employees are on track to meet goals.

Pros

Amazing breath of technology and geographic scope of operations. Good access to on-line training if you have the time or energy. Low cost of living in Plano, TX HQ jobs compared to East and West coast.

Cons

Lack of management ability to make company work together cohesively. Too many individual towers and castles that don't work together. Pay for performance is a lost art. If you are a good polition, this may be the place for you, rather than a hard worker.

Advice to Senior Management

Need better standards to help more efficiently run the business

Pros

EDS has a wide variety of work with different technologies and projects available for you to work on. In my experience, management has been quite willing to let you transfer to other accounts/positions to gain experience in different areas and grow in your career. A lot of it depends on the management you work for, but I've found the work/life balance to be great.

Cons

It has the inherent problems of a big bureaucratic company: some things take forever when they should be quite simple, and some groups find ways to circumvent the bureaucracy to get things done. I wasn't around in the Perot days, but from what I hear, the senior leadership is not what it used to be then.

Advice to Senior Management

Yes, keep costs under control, but don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish. Give local managers much greater control and discretion. Work to hire and retain the best and brightest.

Pros

A great place to gain skills in transitioning jobs to offshore resources. Every project I was on in the past 6 years ad an aggressive offsoring policy. I was fortunate enough to be a Tech Lead and was spared the end effects. You are likely to work with some very talented people, the less talented have been let go or replaced "best-shore" workers.

Cons

Constantly looking over your shoulder to see if "today is your day". Moral is the lowest I have seen since coming to EDS 14 years ago. Anyne remaining has seen a multitude of talented employees escorted out the door, replaced by offshore resources.

Advice to Senior Management

To late for advice. The writing is on the wall for the majority of Plano EDS'rs.

Pros

Until the HP transition has been fully completed, the best reason to work at EDS is a paycheck. For those who survive the transition period, there may be a great deal of opportunity, if HP culture encourages free agency among the talented employees. One of the reasons EDS once was a great place to work was the opportunity to move around and augment your experience with new learnings and disciplines. At the present time, however, only those at the upper levels who have been granted positions in the newco can see far enough to assess opportunities inside of HP. The rest of us can only wait and see.

Cons

Constant possibility of being RIF'd, very low morale, disconnected leadership team, lack of character among upper management.

Advice to Senior Management

Live for one year under the same rules and expectations that you've imposed on other employees.

Pros

The company is a decent place to work if you don't mind large company politics. best reason to work here is that you now work for HP. hopefully the execs at HP can make the necessary changes to the direction and structure to move the company forward.

Cons

slow moving company with a lot of politics. constant direction changes from the top was the demise of the company. each change created a ton of process changes that slowly flowed downhill. the offshoring of jobs kept people in fear of having a job, and made it difficult to complete projects with any sense of quality.

Advice to Senior Management

learn from HP execs of how to move this company forward.