Office Depot Reviews in Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL Area

Pros

Smart, talented people dedicated to driving Office Depot's success
Strong strategic direction and plan moving into 2010
Accessibility to senior leadership (at corporate)
Lateral and vertical career development opportunities

Cons

Economic conditions have led to reductions in the workforce; fewer people are now expected to do the same if not more work
Tendency to work in silos

Advice to Senior Management

Empower and trust associates to make decisions
Focus on developing Office Depot's brand
Formulate a more aggressive marketing campaigns to gain market share

Pros

+An organization in transition that recognizes the need for change and is increasingly focused on execution.

+Collegial work environment. Associates at all levels (Including Sr. Leadership) are easily approachable.

+Solid Finance organization which has taken aggressive action to shore up the company’s financial condition and position the company for profitable growth.

+ODP has improved its leadership by hiring an experienced CFO and an EVP of Supply Chain with strong technical and manegerial skills. The CFO is clearly focused on driving operational results and developing the talent within his organization. The EVP of Supply Chain is implementing Lean and Six Sigma practices while improving supply chain productivity and improving customer order fulfillment.

+Strong leadership at the VP, District Manager, and Store Manager level. Field personnel are good at executing on initiatives and being adaptable to change.

+ODP leadership has done a pretty good job of communicating the critical issues facing the business to employees and providing forums for them to ask questions of their leadership. They have made great improvements in this area over the past 2 years.

Cons

-Lack of process rigor that is surprising for a Fortune 500 company. Lack of formal review processes for key initiatives.

-Execution of a performance-based culture. Not enough differentiation on rewards. Too slow on resolution of issues regarding non-performers. ODP needs to improve the linking of rewards to performance and behaviors.

-HR processes need to be firmly established and improved. ODP people processes are below average, given the lack of talent reviews, retention strategies, and a robust framework for determining the organization’s talent needs over time. There appear to be no enterprise-wide processes for managing talent within the organization.

Advice to Senior Management

-Implement formal quarterly reviews of progress on strategic initiatives with the business owners. This will ensure that the business owners are held accountable for their performance and the leadership is aware of the progress of initiatives. Furthermore, it is an opportunity to assess their key leaders and determine the organization’s developmental needs.

-Continue town hall meetings for employees. In addition, each of thefunctional leaders should have their own separate town meetings.

-Accelerate the transition to performance-based culture. Ensure that there is clear differention of rewards based on performance and behaviors. In addition, there needs to be negative consequences for for poor performance, coupled with good coaching and feedback that gives employees the opportunity to improve themselves. Do not hire or promote someone for a critical role without a full evaluation and robust dialogue of their capabilities and performance from several different viewpoints.

-Ensure the people processes are consistent across functions and comprehensive. The HR organization needs to establish more rigorous processes for assessing , developing, and promoting people to ensure successful execution of the critical elements of the organization’s strategic plan. High potential and critical employees at the Mgr. and Sr. Manager level are a retention risk under the current construct due to lack of retention strategies and career opportunities.

Pros

Easy going atmosphere.

Opportunities for advancement. While there might not be many right now due to the economy, normally almost anyone who wants to get promoted to middle management can find a spot somewhere in the corporate office.

Flexible with work-life balance for employees with children. This wasn't always the case but in the last 5 years or so management and HR have done an excellent job of addressing these issues and working with employees who need a reduced workload or reduced hours.

Cons

Office products industry has been hard-hit by recession. There is a lot of uncertainty and insecurity right now.

Middle management (Managers and Sr Managers) is generally weak. Too many people get promoted because they want a promotion but they haven't earned it and their skill set and experience is weak. Too many bad decisions are made or recommended at this level.

Too many personal conversations being carried out in Spanish in front of non-Spanish speaking employees at corporate. This wasn't always the case but it has really escalated in the last year. There is no need for it for business purposes. It's not supposed to be allowed but nobody is enforcing the rules.

Advice to Senior Management

Overall upper management has done a very good job of navigating this difficult economy. They deserve a lot of credit for staying focused and making the right moves in this economy.

Pros

Management has been very open and communicative with all types of news (good/bad)
Great people through all levels of the company
Fair pay

Cons

Tough economy has been hard on the company - resulted in cutting some benefits (i.e. 401k match)

Advice to Senior Management

Keep communicating like you've been doing
Improve marketing and building our brand
Restore 401k match
Hold people accountable

Pros

World class corporate office
Great communication on company goals and priorities
Overall great leadership across all areas of the company
Poised for profitability in 2010
High level of open and honest communication in dealing with difficult issues

Cons

All large companies have room for improvement

Advice to Senior Management

Continue your efforts in soliciting the opinions and ideas of the employees to reduce costs and increase sales.

Pros

Opportunity to advance, integrity based, benefits, pay, leadership.

Cons

No more 401K matching, although I understand why.

Advice to Senior Management

Stay the course, we are headed in the right direction.

Pros

I have been with the company for more than 10 years and I am totally satisfied with my employment at Office Depot. I have held the same type of job from 2 other firms and I can honestly say that Office Depot is the best place to work for.

Cons

Due to the current state of the economy, we are spread thin a little bit but I am confident that it will get better as the market condition improves

Advice to Senior Management

Please keep up the good work under the leadership of Steve Odland. Business may be a little soft at this time but I am confident we can weather the storm.

Pros

Overall the people at office depot are a talented team that pulled together in a difficult sales environment. As the economy improves and jobs are created, the company growth has the potential to be exponential.

Cons

The office supply industry is one of the most hardest hit by the recession due to its dependence on job growth.

Advice to Senior Management

Steve Odland has done an excellent job managing in an industry hardest hit by the 'great recession'. Please continue to push the organization towards responsible profitable growth as we emerge from this difficult sales environment.

Pros

Opportunity
Ability to be valuable
Great Company
Great leadership and reaction to economic downturn....decisive.

Cons

Difficult current retail environment
Need to simplify processes.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue drive toward process / margin improvement and maintain cost structure as revenues begin to increase.

Pros

Office Depot Leadership provides a great inspiration to its employees. We are a very innovative company with a great worklife balance.

Cons

There are no downsides here! If I had to pick one it would be growth opportunities because there is very little turn over at the corporate headquarters.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue working on retaining and growing the talent at the management levels as well as the troops on the ground.