Level 3 Communications Reviews in Denver, CO Area

Pros

I'm treated as a professional, and I'm under no illusion that my job is guaranteed. So long as I provide value for my salary, I'm confident that my job is safe.

Cons

We're almost always understaffed. Do more with less only goes so far.

Pros

Great work/life balance, great benefits, casual environment

Cons

Financial health of the company is a concern

Pros

Level 3 has some of the most talented workforce, especially in sales and Executive management. The opportunity is extremely large and the potential is limitless. I beleive they are extremely ethical and make good decisions even when mistakes are made they admit to them and move on.

Cons

Your success and treatment is dependent upon your manager. If they don't like you then you are let go. There is no worklife balance and there is no "safe" job. The systems and processes are archaic and the management over this group is more focused on correcting operational issues than sales numbers and customer experience. Training team is run by fear and not qualifications.

Advice to Senior Management

Work from the sales and customer experience then develop your systems and processes based upon their needs.

Pros

If you have been long enough, you get enough time off.

Cons

Management has no clue what is going on.

Pros

Enjoyable: great boss, good people, beautiful surroundings, and good work/life balance

Cons

Not overly stimulating, same thing day in day out

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the good work

Pros

Pay, people and benefits are what keep most people at Level 3
People are very smart and keep things interesting

Cons

Work/life balance does not exist if you want to continue to be an employee
Lack of overall direction, management team (high and low levels) do not work collaboratively so there is a ton of duplication in effort - no one wants to share what they are doing
Corporate culture is fear based, people are afraid to push the envelope for fear of reprisal but those that do pull of a successful deviation are rewarded (although seldom enough to make the risk worth it).
It's who you know and how much you are liked that will get you promoted or moved into a more desireable position.
Constant fire drills and abundance of work put into"critical" initiatives that are suddenly abandoned or transitioned to a new team/department without any explanation.
Processes and understanding of how everyone's jobs tie together are non-existant
Constant reorganization prevents real progress from taking place, very few people even get business cards printed because by the time you get them your title, department, and manager will most likely have changed
Lone-wolfing, back stabbing, and oneupmanship is the rewarded and recognized as "taking initiative"

Advice to Senior Management

Senior leadership seems to be saying the right things but execution and implementation is sorely lacking. Level 3 has some of the most brilliant people I've ever worked with, leadership needs to support and reward collaboration and instead of those who work their way up the ladder on the bodies of their co-workers.

Pros

Great people to work with. They are always in the trenches with you and willing to lend a hand without worrying about getting credit for it.

Cons

If you are a great employee then be prepared to get stuck where you're at! Management feels it's necessary to keep people where they are at to prevent "losing head count" in their dept. You may even get a less than fair review just to keep you under your current management and stall you from advancing or moving to a dept that may be better suited to your skills.

Advice to Senior Management

Let your better employees move up and train others to be successful instead of "pigeon holing" them.

Pros

Pay is decent and Medical is pretty good. 401 K is better then some especially in this economic climate. Moderate flexibility.

Cons

Personality driven corporate culture to the max. At Level 3 its of utmost importance to look and sound the part . Use of prototypical style business lexicon strongly encouraged and rewarded. Schmoozing and popularity are much greater conduits to success at Level 3 then technical ability. Competence neither rewarded or punished except at the absolute extremes on both ends. Consolidation of various acquired companies has largely been a failure. IT systems are cumbersome making order processing slow and laborious. Inter-departmental cooperation is non-existent. Problems are almost impossible to rectify quickly since areas of responsibility are so poorly defined and enforced and change constantly. Projects and initatives passed off to employees as vital and critical are abandoned or discontinued without explanation. Things are just thrown against the wall to see what sticks. Employees are expected to know how to navigate the systems of what amounts to 6 or 7 companies with virtually no training. Use of dubious metrics makes each month a departmental "beat the numbers" game.

Advice to Senior Management

Management needs to address and correct the root cause of problems instead of putting the boot to the employees throat to compensate for poor processes and systems. Need less Yes Men and more technical and process wonks.

Pros

Vacation time and pay are good. Some managers are flexible with hours and time off.

Cons

This is the worst work environment and job I have had in my professional career. The only reason I have stayed is for the vacation time and salary. I have been bullied by management and peers on many occasions. There are virtually no opportunities for advancement unless you "play the game" and know the right people. The people that work hard and do the job will never be rewarded. Get out while you can. It's not a career unless you schmooze with the right people and play politics. Typical cutthroat corporate environment.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop the politics and listen to people actually doing the job if you want to stay around as a company. Fire the inept senior management.

Pros

Very smart people with big ideas

Cons

Very poorly aligned leading to conflict and chaos

Advice to Senior Management

Better alignment, better goal setting with linked compensation.