TELUS Reviews in Edmonton, AB Area

Pros

I receive training on the job pertinent to what I do.
My wages are very good.
The benefits and compensation are excellent.
I have a great work environment with very good hours and scheduling.
Advancement up the corporate ladder is only limited to what you want to achieve and how ambitious you are.
TELUS will pay for furthering my education upon completion and passing of the courses I take.
I can be a shareholder in the company if I choose.
There are many many departments and areas that I may move to.
TELUS supports learning and career development.
TELUS recognizes a job well done.
I take pride in my customers and ensuring they have a very positive customer experience.

Cons

The biggest downside to me is having a union that is not working with TELUS and a union that doesn't care what I think. They seem to undermine my future.
Sometimes there are too many hoops to jump through when you are trying to get something done for a customer.
Hiring contractors to install services for TELUS customer's that don't care about the final customer but care only for getting paid to say a job is complete when it isn't either complete or done satisfactorily.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to your front line people and get their feedback before making changes. We are the ones that the changes are affecting in enabling us to ensure our customers receive excellent customer service. Don't make the changes until you have talked to each and every area it will affect. Just because it doesn't appear to have any effect on one group of people, does not mean it won't affect another.

You need to cover all bases before making changes and that is not being done. We are losing expertise with people who are retiring and you are not training anyone to obtain that expertise and replace it. The knowledge base is leaving and senior management seems to think that everything will work on the "new" technology. It doesn't.

Get rid of the TWU and let us do our jobs!

Pros

It depends on what side of the fence you are on. If you are someone who takes pride in doing a good job, ensuring customer satisfaction and you are allowed to take care of your customers needs, all while making money for the Shareholders, then it is a win win for everyone.

However, if you have choosen to believe everything your employer has told you, and have no problems crossing picket lines, then you have what it takes to be a TELUS Supervisor.

In the past, there was strong focus on training. As of late, much of that training has been taken away.
Fortunately if you require specific tools to do your job, depending upon your supervisor, you generally get those tools.

Lets not forget, that $0.18 per hr raise this past January. Now that is going to go a long way in helping to pay the bills.

Cons

You can have 30 plus years of service, yet cannot get time off because TELUS keeps playing with the numbers within your work group so that only one of you can be off at a time. This is not the same within all the work groups, but is quite common.

Fellow workers who crossed your picket line, are now your Supervisors.

Depending upon your work group, concerned you will even have a job as TELUS leadership has no loyalty to the workers who helped make us a once proud "top ten company"; and have choosen during this downturn in our economy to terminate employees; to instead hire "overseas" workers. Thus hurting our own economy.

Knowing that $150 million dollars was paid out in 2008 for bonuses, yet the actual workers received some 25% of that. Which means, upper Management continue to line their pockets at the expense of shareholders.

To now have to work for a company in which "greed" for profit is the only driving force behind TELUS. When you have a CEO in untouchable control of a once Great Corporation and all you can do is watch it crumble, from department to department; and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it; except walk away and retire.

Then you find, Mr. Entwhisle wants to gain control of your pension fund. "When will this nightmare end?"

Advice to Senior Management

Terminate Darren Entwhisle and the entire Board of Directors.

Pros

Benefits, profit sharing, good pay.

Cons

The benefits dont pay enough. Only 70% of base wage on disability which isnt enough to live on. Management shows preferential treatment towards some employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Please get quality out of our way. They only rate us poorly even when we solve the problem. Now its even harder to solve the problem with a customer. Its the B.S. with quality that makes people mad and get in the way that makes me and others think of looking elsewhere. To get off the phones is impossible, they just want more on the phones. Unless you are a woman showing some cleavage its hard to get off the phones.

Pros

Telus offers great pay and benefits as well as an employee share plan.

Cons

Poor immediate management skills and lack of competence and experience. Telus workforces are aging and many will retire soon and the company has no replacements. Contracted out work is of poor quality. The way our work is viewed and handled is frustrating and many employees have simply left Telus due to the stress.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to the frontline techs and treat them good because they are in the eyes of the customer. Management wants to fix problems with installs, but so many other departements hinder our work and cause serious delays. The competition does not have the network problems that Telus has and that is where they have the edge.

Pros

large variety in types of work you can do

Cons

Challenges with increased competition in the marketplace. Used to be monopoly services and now all services are competitive.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide better method of pay increases for those who have been with the comapny a long time.

Pros

Great place to work, salary, advancement, training all top notch.

Cons

management can occasionaly lose touch with employees.

Advice to Senior Management

you must keep in contact with the employees below you to effectively manage them.

Pros

In regard to the technical support call center in downtown Edmonton:

The best reason to work for Telus as a new employee are higher than average wages, excellent benefits, and a decent location in downtown Edmonton.
The working conditions are relatively relaxed, with no strong pressure from management beyond the enforcement of basic call times and quality levels.
Recently TELUS has developed an emphasis on technical skill, so it can be a challenge to pass the initial interview. Self-confidence and technical skill is highly prized.
Even in a technical support role, there is an option to sell for commission which is not discouraged. A few agents nearly double their paycheques by using this option.

Cons

Many new TELUS employees assume that because of the union and the past government owned status of the company, they can automatically be promoted and respected just by seniority.
Unfortunately, it is a meritocracy. However, just skill will not suffice. You must constantly promote yourself to be considered. There is a system of evaluation and each employee must demonstrate their achievements every 6 months. Many highly skilled people who expect their manager to promote them are disappointed. Many otherwise incompetent people who are good at paperwork and who snuggle up to the management will be promoted before you.
There are many complicated politics so be prepared.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior management is very insular and is extremely non-aggressive in approaching change. There is a strong CYA culture, and no decision will be made without an exhaustive and narrow-minded survey or investigation. Everyday problems are fixed in the course of years instead of months or weeks. The motto of TELUS could be stated as, "We are aware of the problem, and it is being addressed. There is no estimated time of repair."

Pros

The wages at Telus are very good for the amount of work to be done. There is tons of opprotunity for advancement and the management is very helpful in getting you up the corporate ladder. Telus is very generous with providing apprenticeship training for the telecommunications industry. Telus has the best benefits package and wages I have ever seen.

Cons

Some downsides would include being part of a 24/7 environment and never having one set shift. Since call centre hours revolve around when customers are calling in this makes for alot of evening and night shifts. This can be overwhelming if your spouse is working day shifts.

Advice to Senior Management

Remember where you came from and what it is like to be a frontline agent.

Pros

Benefits are very good. People who work there are great, excellent teamwork. Management is very upbeat and communicates alot. All H R functions have been automated and e-enabled so it makes getting info very fast and easy. Pay is very good, especially if you over produce. Excellent community spirit. There are also discounts for cell and home phone services. Also have discounts for everything from tires to travel to insurance to leases as an employee.

Cons

Its a very big place...over 32000 people. Sometimes it can feel impersonal so its up to you to make the effort. Processes are sometimes frustrating.

Advice to Senior Management

Fix the internal processes

Pros

Get to work outside and do some travelling, even though it's to the same places.

Cons

Can not get time off when needed, that includes time to see a doctor.

They want to increase productivity but not wages. Have not had a decent raise in over 15 years, we used to make more then Atco but or now $8.00 to $10.00 an hour behind them.

They track every thing you do, every where you go and how long everything takes. GPS in the vehicle tells them when you start, where you go, how long you stop, how fast you drive, if your go somewhere your not supposed to be.

Telus has now hired efficency experts to try to increase efficency by a whopping 25%. But the real hold up is in the processes. Orders with no assignment, wrong assignment, wrong addresses. Cable records are not updated from lack of time. Bad cable is not replace for lack of funds.

At the end of each year, there is a spending freeze, no Over Time, no ordering stock.

Customers have been waiting for over 1-1/2 years to get service installed and it's left to the front line employees to deal with the p----off customers.

Advice to Senior Management

Get rid of darren and his cronnies and put in someone that has come up through the ranks