Future Electronics Reviews in Montreal, QC Area

Pros

great working environment
chance for personal growth

Cons

internal politics at corporate
base salary for sales

Pros

on site gym
good cafeteria
on site medical office staffed with RN
lots of good employees
one of the best Christmas parties ever

Cons

work, work, work till you drop then work some more. Very little recognition from upper management unless you are inner circle. Extreme nepotism of the highest caliber. People hired as department head who have no qualifications or education. Only at Future..... Extreme turnover especially in sales.

Advice to Senior Management

should go back to 9 to 5 as with other large companies. Add more casual attire for the workweek as employee mode is better

Pros

Free bus (if you call ONE school bus for 1500 employees adequate)
Occasional free xmas concert (in lieu of a monetary bonus which would be much more appreciated)
Free "shopping" for women's clothing on site (if you are in the 10% of employees who actually benefit from this "perk"....more suppliers/customers benefit than employees from what I hear....also, you need to have a penchant for out-dated, size-limited clothing...again, from what I hear since I'm not one of the 10%)

Cons

Nepotism. Brown nosing. Rampant politicking. Rampant gossip. Everyone-for-themselves attitude (and rightly so because no one has your back...unless perhaps to put a knife in it). Little upward mobility: they like to keep you where you are at. Large employee turn-over. No support from ones manager. Managers seem to "pass the buck" on to those below them (when things go wrong, that is.........they are only too happy to take credit even when not a result of their own actions). Expect you to work through lunch/breaks, late hours with no compensation. No daycare provisions.

Advice to Senior Management

No advice. It only falls on deaf ears.

Pros

Good food
money is pretty good you just need to ask for it

Cons

Copied from their website career sections:

At Future Electronics we understand how important it is for our employees to strike a balance between their work and personal lives. To help accommodate our employees, Future Electronics’ offers a variety of services and benefits.

Accommodated Work Schedules

We offer flexible work arrangements, evening shifts, part-time employment and opportunities for students.

completely untrue
8:30 - 5:30 Mon-Fri schedule is "non-negotiable". Forced to take 1 hour unpaid lunch but end up working through it most of the time giving them an hour of free work.

Manager's have little or no education or experience. They get their positions through grovelling and/or nepotism. use their team as scapegoats to bail them out.

Medical insurance is a little weak but extremely pricey

Seem to hire people with enormous skill-sets to do mind-numbingly boring tasks that usually have nothing to do with their experience or education...and don't usually realize it.

Advice to Senior Management

People don't respond well to negative motivation. It gets the job done but not well. Your employees will perform better if they know they are doing well. If you keep telling people they could be replaced at anytime, they will just find other employment before it's too late.

The executive staff does not keep the company alive. It's the people doing the work that does.

Times have changed. People need the accomodated work schedules you claim to provide. We are employees at Future we are not Miller's property.

Pros

Great location IF you live on the west island.
Reputation for high turn-around so your next job won't hold leaving Future against you.
Good place to start your career but do not stay longer than 6 months or you will stagnate or be the victim of some form of back-stabbing.

Cons

Out of touch management. Nepitism. Long hours and out of touch expectations. Management "passes the buck". Rampant gossip. Rampant paranoia. High turn over. Questionable ethics.

Advice to Senior Management

My suggestion to my superior and those of others is to stand up for your employees. Stop hedging your bets by degrading one of your staff to others of your staff; although this appears to help you keep your job by setting yourself up as blameless whenever the need arises because by now you've made it so that each of your staff believes those around her/him are incompetent. Be accountable for your own actions. I have never been subjected to the type of management bullying as I am at this job and the only reason it exists is because it is a privately owned company and one is not protected by a union. Sure, you have an HR rep....but let's be real...who signs the rep's paycheck? Also, stop the gossip. Almost every non work related sentence from my manager starts with "keep this between us" yet it is something that was said to my manager in confidence by someone else! I hope karma exists.

My advice to other employees is do your work and go home. Do not confide in your superiors, do not think of them as "friends", keep a paper trail of all conversations (because your superior certainly does). Never think of the person next to you as someone who will back you up because, at Future, when it comes down to it, it is everyone for themselves. I hear a lot of things due to my position within Future and I can honestly say that no one is imune to being the subject of gossip, from the lowest position all the way to the highest.

Pros

Free shuttle bus (if you can get a seat)
Onsite gym (if you can find the time)

Cons

Watch your back mentality (with good cause). Politics. Bureaucracy. Low pay. Paranoia abounds. Nepotism. Favoritism. Little chance of advancement: they will in fact hold you back if they like the job you are doing where you are at. No year-end bonuses unless you consider free ten year old clothing a bonus (and even then, only about 10% of the company employees get that) or going to a company thrown concert (I can buy my own $50 ticket to a concert and have it be the artist of my choice if I wanted to). Sure, it's a great place to work if you aren't afraid of hard work, if you like hard work without the pay, recognition, respect or loyalty. Extremely high turn-over rate (also with good cause).

Advice to Senior Management

Each level of management is more afraid of the next. They do not have your back and will throw you to the wolves if they feel it will help them avoid taking responsibility. Management needs to be purged and refreshed with new blood. Robert Miller himself cannot be held accountable because, simply put, he is out of the loop: "issues" never reach him. Lower level employees are made to work hard but I have never seen so much delegation of duties as by the management (from lowest to highest) as at Future Electronics. They make the "big bucks" but seem to do the least amount of real work: this also helps them avoid responsibility when things go wrong.

Pros

- On-site gym (although the equipment is in serious need of updating)
- Great food in the cafeteria! The best actually I have ever had!
- Free parking (although you have to be there at the crack of dawn to get a good spot!)
- Friendly staff for the most part

Cons

I worked here for a total of 3 weeks and was let go because I had made 2 requests that they did not like. When you are hired you have to pass an orientation where they love to tell you about how they are a company that is very understanding and offer flex time to those who really need it. As well they go on and on about how much they love to promote from within........ All of this was BS! I asked for flex time and I was turned down. Then I had seen an interesting job on their intranet site and asked about the policy for new employees who want to apply to other positions within the company. I was told you have to wait a year before applying and I said ok, great....the next day I was fired based on their made-up assumption that I was not committed to the job! Not committed! I was spending 9 hours a day at that office working my butt off and then coming home at night, taking care of my daughter and then once she was asleep I would have to work even more!! They didn't even give me a chance to explain myself. They basically told me the decision was final, here are your things and here is the door! I was so insulted. I have 15 years of executive level experience and they treated me like I was a child! And even at that a child should not even be treated that way. Also I noticed that they hire young immature employees who are so desperate for a job in an english speaking company (as it is rare in Quebec) they take advantage of that. They offer very very very low salaries and all the staff are over worked and very much under paid! Since being fired I have heard nothing but bad things about Furute and how they are known to be a "revolving door" type of company.... People in.... People out... all the time! Just a week before me another woman was let go and was told the same as me... no negotiation! Leave! And another ex-employee I know who had been there for 5 years was fired because he took a few days off to stay home with his sick kid.... REALLY FUTURE! REALLY! The sad thing is that I don't believe that Robert Miller is aware that his company is being run like a sweat shop! I have heard nothing but good things about him personally and would be very surprised if he actually approved half the decisions that are made there. It seems that executive level staff whose heads are so far up their own you know whats are the ones that decide everything and they are not doing a good job at it at all. So Mr. Miller if you are reading I think it is time for you to do some serious restructuring!

Advice to Senior Management

Grow up! And get your heads out of your you know whats!

Pros

- On-site Gym
- Subsidized cafeteria
- Once your there more than 3 months you have job security (for at least 5 years) even if you don't perform.

Cons

- Overworked for respective salary
- Promotions and salaries are based more on networking skills than actual achievements and performance metrics.
- Difficult to achieve tenure: the company prefers to promote mediocre, sub 5yr staff at reduced pay rather than keep & promote experienced, higher paid staff.

Advice to Senior Management

You will continue to loose top talent by continuously turning over your experienced and proven employees to save a few thousand dollars on the front end. There is a price associated with experience and when you loose that the trade off is pennies on the dollar in lost GP and sales.

Pros

There is a gym onsite. Very large cafeteria as well. Also, fitness trainer is available to hep you achieve your goals.

Cons

Hours are from 8:30a.m to 5:30p.m with a one hour lunch break. The salary is very low and the company is privately owned.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat workers with respect. Evaluation should be in correspondence with salary. Some people work extremely hard while others slack off. Hard workers should be compensated accordingly.

Pros

Cafeteria
Shuttle Bus for downtown workers
Gym(rather crappy, but existant)
lots of milfs
free coffee/tea all you can drink.
Large company so your bound to make friends.

Cons

Poor pay!!
Business formal attire for everyone
Take advantage of employees desperate for jobs. Arrogant management in some areas. Very repetitive work
Some people do nothing others everything, they get the same pay.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay employees better