Protection One Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Protection One full-time for less than a year

Pros – Work is very easy, supervisors are easy going and don't harp on you much, good opportunities for advancement. Kind of a neutral comment because it can go either way depending on the person you are talking to but I like that I get to talk to a lot of different people from every part of the country every day.

Cons – Dealing with very rich people's alarm systems when you are on food stamps (with a college degree, no less) is annoying, not to mention ironic. Very limited time off-it accrues at literally half the rate of my last job, punishment for being sick, advancement requires 90 days of doing harder work before actually getting the pay raise

Advice to Senior Management – Flexibility and pay need improvement. Atmosphere is improving but the pay must improve to really start making the difference you are heading towards. If customer satisfaction is so important than paying the people providing that service should be important as well. An employee stressing about putting food on the table struggles to be genuine in caring about other peoples' relatively petty issues. A financially secure employee can focus on the job and give better service.

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

Former Employee – worked at Protection One full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Most co-workers were good people. Decent benefits.

Cons – Other co-workers stabbing others in the back. Upper management choice on some department managers are very poor. No structure, no guidance when needed. Talked down to by manager- one time she was discussing what dress she was going to wear with a fellow employee, and I went to her with a serious issue with an account and was told-"I don't have time for this". Company was great until new owners came in. Cut out bonus with no notice, then lied to about getting a bonus over and over. Was glad to leave when I did

Advice to Senior Management – You do have other employees than managers, start acting like EVERYONE matters in the success of the company, not just the CEO and management.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Protection One full-time for more than a year

Pros – National recognition. Good Products. Fairly decent customer service.

Cons – I was hired with very little experience in the security industry. But with almost 30 years of b2b sales experience working 2 different industries they figured with the proper training I would be a an asset to them. What they "figured" and how they would follow up on that are 2 different things. I was without a manager from day 1 for 5 months. I was told by upper management to try to learn equipment on my own. I was told to go out and try to sell without any formal training. Finally agfter 6 months I was sent to their corporate training center (bootcamp). I was there for 3 days and they never mentioned one thing about alarm systems, cctv systems or access control. They didn't go over their software management software, they didn't go over their customer database software or even educate on networking tools. What they did do was make everyone stand up and tell the P-1 story in a variety of ways. How "great this company is". How great management and ownership is etc. What a rediculous waste of time and financial resources. They were adamant in pointing out the 80% attrition rate of sales personel. Sure enough within my first year over 50% have either been let go or quit. The VPs, who I call the dog and pony show, are a lot of hype and in one particular person's case a future HR nightmare. This guy sends out sales spreadsheets to all Salesmen showing sales to date and humiliating those who have not made a sale by specifically pointing it out. I finally started getting the hang of the industry and started making some headway. It took an act of god to get vacation time I had coming to me and was pressured on my return to make numbers on what was a short month. The next month they said make 100% quota or you are gone. I made 72% which ranked 50 out of 160 salesman nationally, but it wasn't enough. There is no stability in this industry for salesman. How can a person buy a home or new car, increasing their monthly expenses, when knowing their job will never be secure. They want to be known as the best company in the alarm industry, when they should focus on being the best alarm company to work for.

Advice to Senior Management – Practice what you preach. Train people properly and extensively on equipement as well as sales techniques. Coach them if they stumble or have any problems. Remember you will get out what you give. You will never ever be rewarded with top notch sales people with the direction you are presently taking.

Former Employee – worked at Protection One full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Some great people who went out of their way to help each other and are both talented and professional. They do their best under poor conditions

Cons – New ownership took over and things went down hill fast. Worked for a manager with no ethics who handed out his previous employer's customer list, constantly disparaged his bosses and tried to pit his employees against each other. Company has no respect for employees or customers and is losing both. Only growth is from buying national account business.

Advice to Senior Management – Sell

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

Current Employee – been working at Protection One full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great coworkers and most of the supervisors are great.

Cons – Management seems intent on squeezing every ounce out of its customer service reps. New quality guidelines have been scored for over a month with nobody scoring 100%. You only have 20 seconds at the end of a call to finish anything a customer has left in your hands, so if you can't get it done within 20 seconds, too bad, prepare for your next call. Pay is average to below average.

Advice to Senior Management – Treat your employees who have the most contact with your customers well. For a company that claims to have such a high level of customer service, we are pushing to hard to complete the call as quickly as we can which results in lower customer satisfaction. Having a quality system that is completely subjective to the scorer, isn't an effective way to conduct quality control.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Protection One full-time for less than a year

Pros – - Good Training Program
- Good Environment
- Good Product Offering

Cons – - Low pay
- Terrible Management
- Unprofessional Staff

Advice to Senior Management – Pay your people more, market your products, build a sales environment that cultivates successful top-performing reps.

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

Former Employee – worked at Protection One full-time for less than a year

Pros – Was happy when I first started. Had good branch managers, fantastic commercial sales team and sales coordinator. We're very productive and had fun in the process.

Cons – Due to upper management, the branch capsized 6 months after starting. Managers were gone, employees were being let go that were there for years. Jobs sold could no longer be processed quickly. Yet upper management kept sending daily emails ; Give us more, more. It became impossible to work there anymore. They hired a new manager who would yell at his staff, and downgrade people behind their backs. Have never seen a place go from good to ugly in less than a year.

Advice to Senior Management – To upper management; Hey guys and girls, I understand that the numbers are important, but keep in mind that most of us are skilled professionals doing our best in a current tough economy Try a more hands on approach with your sales managers and sales people, instead of sending out 50 emails a day to their phones. Keep the emphasis on the positive, and create solutions to increase productivity.

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

Former Employee – worked at Protection One

Pros – Some good co workers in office

Cons – Only concerned with bottom line

Advice to Senior Management – Dont always believe the words of you Bramch Managers whos only goal is his bonuu plan

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Protection One

Pros – Great co-workers, good benefits; Medical, Dental, Optical, 401K, PTO

Cons – Protection One (now called Protection 1) used to be a great place to work, working conditions changed drastically when new owners took over. As a previous reviewer mentioned, morale is very low and pay is down. Doesn't appear senior management really cares about their employees, they put on a big show with lots of Hoopla and Ra Ra, but most employees I have talked to, do not feel the love.

Advice to Senior Management – None

Former Employee – worked at Protection One

Pros – It's a company with a lot of growth potential

Cons – Communication from top management is poor

Advice to Senior Management – Connect more with field workers

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend