Orbitz Worldwide Employee Review

I have been working at Orbitz Worldwide full-time for more than a year

Pros – "You knew you'd never keep
Promises promises
Why do I believe"

Orbitz is a great place to learn some new technology and really feel like you have your finger on the pulse of the travel industry. The company culture is very relaxed and one where you don't feel pressure to present yourself in a certain way (appearance-wise) to be heard. The company is focused on bringing innovative solutions to the market...which can also go in the cons section.

A majority of my co-workers are hard working individuals that bring a lot to the team.

Cons – Unfortunately, Orbitz, you're getting more in the cons section this year. Especially with the new Report Card that just came out.

- Non-tech and non-Marketing employees are not treated as they should be. The bonuses and salaries are disappointing, as are the lack of real growth opportunities. The amount of work keeps piling up, but the salaries are not suitable for the work.
- There is a lot of talk about growth opportunities, but these rarely come through. I've seen numerous qualified individuals leaving the department or company because they were not given what was dangled in front of them. You're told you'll be considered for a position, but then when it comes down to the final talks, suddenly everything is different.
- The Senior Leadership Team is completely out-of-touch with what the employees are thinking and feeling. They act on their limited knowledge of the teams they manage rather than holding informational sessions to learn about the challenges that the teams are really facing.
- The turnover of employees and the poor documentation of processes hinders the teams and causes huge backlogs of work. When you think you've caught up another change happens.
- There is poor communication between teams regarding changes on the site that should be sent out to any team potentially involved. This includes 50/50 testing.
- Too much focus on "innovation" rather than strengthening the core systems that are sub-par for today's standards. The Product team seems to avoid working on core issues and focuses on enhancements that the Senior Leadership Team feels are important. If the systems are barely hanging on, enhancements will not be successful.
- There has been a distinct lack of informational meetings, such as Town Hall sessions. There has also been a lack of Learning and Development classes or Team Building activities. Company morale feels much lower over the past year.
- When moving positions or getting a promotion in the company, it's almost a miracle to get any sort of pay raise. If it's over 9.9% salary increase, it needs to be approved by Barney. This drags out the hiring process greatly.

Advice to Senior Management – Speak to the employees more. Listen to the survey results rather than trying to explain them away. Obviously the employees are very unhappy about the bonus and performance review structure, so fix it rather than telling us that "this is the best way"! You're losing employees because Orbitz has not been a fun place to work since last summer. The migration has put a dark cloud over the company morale because full planning was not executed in the correct way. The gaps have cause major strain to the employees and shake the confidence that Orbitz has a clear direction for what needs to be accomplished. Look at which departments have the highest employee turnover and investigate the causes.

There are so many opportunities for internal growth, but the employees are not happy. No re branding campaign is going to help or disguise that.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend