Level 3 Communications Reviews

I worked at Level 3 Communications full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Fast paced work environment. Very technical. Good opportunity to work with good technology. Excellent employees mostly, if they can keep them. Decent salaries. Attractive campus with good views. For most employees, individual offices. Very top level management is great. Good vacation benefits. Good leadership development program.

Cons – IT has been through a string of poor CIOs. Much of the good talent there has been driven off. Went through a big offshoring push, which has since been pulled back but not completely. Difficult integration projects. Fixation with shiny objects. Date-driven to a fault. Excessive focus on managing to a curve creates its own disgruntled underperformers. Recent focus on ignoring good internal talent in favor of connected outsiders who often underdeliver. Lots of questionable VP-level management

Advice to Senior Management – Stop recruiting CIOs to "fix" IT. Someone just needs to run it without trying to make a big name for themselves.. the big splashy change does more damage than good. Stay the course on the ethics, it feels like a principled company. Trust lower level managers more. Be more equitable with managerial titling. It's frustrating to be held back due to tight span of control concerns and then watch some orgs get away with making every newcomer a Sr. Director.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Level 3 Communications full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Compensation is adequate although once you contemplate work/life balance, this is not an advantage to the employee. Vacation time is solid but you'll never get the opportunity to utilize that time out of the office because of the excessive workload and micromanagement. In summary, there are very few pros to consider...

Cons – The corporate culture is horrific with rampant backstabbing and misalignment. The acquisition of Global Crossing has only made this situation worse. It's a "us vs. them" mentality. Same areas of the company (i.e. operations) have competent management; however, other areas (i.e. marketing, sales, HR) are managed by people who either have no experience or who micromanage VP/Director-level leadership because they have no experience in the discipline they are supposed to be leading.

Advice to Senior Management – Management should be less concerned about the company stock price and more concerned about employees who could actually develop and implement initiatives that could ultimately affect that stock price. This company lacks basic values to care for existing and prospective customers. And finally, the company has absolutely no differention in the marketplace. Word to management: Big pipes is not differentiated.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Level 3 Communications full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – I am very pleased with the company

Cons – company is a very good company to work for

Advice to Senior Management – No comments or advise to Management

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Level 3 Communications full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – The network and the design, but it could be so much better than it is. They also have some outstanding employees but they are leaving fast. Their salaries are about on par with the industry, but pay raises are very small for the most part, average during the several years I was there is about 2% if that.

Cons – Level 3 is trying to be the very best that it can be, but the senior management really doesn't have the best interests at heart concerning their employees, only the shareholders and their personal bank accounts (management stock plan). If someone obtains an offer from another company, Level 3's standard response when you go to your manager is to say good bye. They will not match any offer, ever. Also, the amount of unpaid overtime (salaried employees) being asked of their employees is beyond belief and the employees do it out of fear of losing their jobs. This company didn't get the rating of the second worst company to work for in 2009 for nothing.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to your employee base and don't just take their manager's word for everything, the people in the trenches really do know what they are doing and have some fantastic ideas, if you will only take the time to listen to them.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Level 3 Communications full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Building is nice, compensation is competitive

Cons – Revolving door of "consultants" means ongoing brain drain as experienced veterans leave and are replaced by onshored Accenture short timers with no vested interest in the future of the company. Increasing stress and workload for remaining full timers having to pick up the slack. Relatively nice, quiet offices and cubes replaced by morale crushing rows of desks in a giant, noisy yet sterile room. Political savvy is key, do not come here unless you're prepared to throw people you like and respect under the bus when it becomes necessary (and it's just a matter of time). "One size fits all" mentality is pervasive.

Advice to Senior Management – Do some math on how expensive it is to train a new "resource" when considering whether it is important to retain existing talent. And make no mistake, you still have exceptional talent left in the trenches in spite of everything. When you own systems as Rube Goldberg as Level 3's, cheap warm bodies are often false economy. The fungible developer is a myth, and one size definitely does not fit all.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Level 3 Communications full-time for more than a year

Pros – Good Salary with terrific support staff.

Cons – Senior Management have no clue of how to push pass their earning plateau. Every 3 months a new direction that goes nowhere and no consistent agenda. The strongest product Level 3 has going for itself is the CDN product, otherwise its network is long due for updates and a complete overhaul. Compared to competitors like AT&T , Verizon, BT, etc. , Level 3 has NO differentiating value that sets itself apart and convinces clients that they are worth using.

Develop your brand Level 3 and decide who you are and strengthen your support model which is severely lagging!

Advice to Senior Management – Get a Clue!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Level 3 Communications full-time for more than a year

Pros – Relaxed, friendly work environment
No micromanaging
Creativity encouraged

Cons – Lack of documented processes
Not enough support structure for Sales

Advice to Senior Management – Develop processes and hold employees accountable

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Level 3 Communications full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Decent pay and a lot of vacation time, some people are really great to work with

Cons – The company keeps operating more lean and lean, pushing their employees past the brink of capacity. I have co-workers who are working well into the night (past midnight) on a routine basis. With our recent acquisition of Global Crossing, they have been abusing people for months and then laying them off when a project is finished. It's an awful place to work.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Level 3 Communications full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Co-workers from acquired company were knowledgeable

Cons – Go around in circles; doesn't listen to employees

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to your employees. You are back 10 years from where you should be.

I have been working at Level 3 Communications as an intern for more than a year

Pros – relaxed and friendly environment. never a dull moment

Cons – office politics and no follow up from management

Advice to Senior Management – follow up with employees to see if they are getting everything they need

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company