Pros

For long-time employees of Sabre, the earlier benefits were better and are usually grandfathered. For newer employees, they are still fairly worthwhile. There is usually great flexibility in working from home for most but not all jobs. People tend to be friendly and helpful. The work attire is completely casual. There are many international opportunities for those who wish to have assignments abroad. Sabre is generally good about allowing training at the company expense and has a lot of e-learning available too. It promotes a wellness program that, if followed, gives discounts on the health care benefits. This is a very profitable company that gives good yearly bonuses.

Cons

Most functions are being offshored to save on labor costs so there is little room for advancement for U.S. employees. There are constant concerns over layoffs as they occur frequently. Benefits have been curtailed over the years which is fairly standard for most companies. There is no longer a yearly pay plan so although the occasional ad hoc raise is possible, the yearly bonus (available for the past several profitable years) is used in place of pay raises. While most departments are flexible about working from home at least occasionally, some departments require a very heavy workload and less flexibility in hours. Unfortunately the feeling of caring about employees has diminished somewhat over the last few years. Previously it was much more employee oriented.

Advice to Senior Management

Is sufficient cost being saved by offshoring so many positions? It appears that there is so much back and forth travel that the cost of such expenses may be offsetting the savings of offshored labor. Also this appears to undercut the U.S. economy as so many U.S. citizens are now out of work for this and other reasons. Although companies must continue to be careful of expenses, the push for extreme profit appears to be outweighing the need to consider employees as the valuable assets they are.