Thomas Publishing Company LLC Reviews

Pros

Private company with good benefits

Cons

The company is facing challenges to converting to a online publisher. Many jobs outsourced to India.

Advice to Senior Management

I really appreciated that fact that they cared for their employee. Thank You

Pros

work from home, great sales training, knowledgable senior management,

Cons

contractor postion, regional offices are set up like franchises, some are good, some are bad, others are terrible. annual meeting was horribly expensive and on your own dime!

Pros

- Location (right by Penn Station in Manhattan)
- Some coworkers ban together (it feels like employees vs. management and the company)
- Some flexibility to work from home, depending on who your direct manager is

Cons

- Disrespectful Management
- Some managers don't respect employees (sexism, racism, etc.)
- Compensation is low and raises are very little
- Chaotic atmosphere since management only react to problems and don't think ahead
- Management assumes everything is your fault and you find yourself constantly worrying about keeping records to prove you did nothing wrong
- Manipulative sales team, only because they are forced to be
- The employee handbook writes in every detail you can think of to keep benefits from employees

Advice to Senior Management

Treat people how you would want you and your loved ones treated.

Pros

You get good hands of experiences and independence to succeed at your responsibilities. Good place to start your career or if you just got out of school. Overall you are able to do your work and as long as you do it well you can stay on for quite some time and continue to contribute.

Cons

Some down to earth people though most have left. New people are very cliquey. Managers have limited say in anything as their senior managers run the show and are very self centered on their own advancements instead of building a strong team that can grow and enrich the company. Pay increases are minimal, no 401K matching and little if any profits to share from the profit sharing plan. Have to have the skill set to where prior you could learn and grow your skills.

Advice to Senior Management

Management should avoid putting themselves and their personal growth and careers first. Instead focus on building teams and serve as a mentor to inspire confidence, growth and success for your reports. Reward those who consistently deliver above and beyond and provide recognition to those individuals instead keeping the spotlight for yourself.

Pros

I personally liked a straight commission, independent contractor sales position vs. a salary + bonus + benefits job.
If you like outside sales and working from home in some cases, this position may be for you.
I liked a family owned company (owners are grandsons), versus a large corporation.
Some of your co-workers are great people to know.

Cons

I personally didn't mind, but others may not like the fact that you have to pay your own expenses with your Independent Contractor status.

I disliked that you have to eventually give back commissions from your accounts who don't ever pay any of their bill. But, I understand why ThomasNet did that.

The new accounts you open up belong to the company, so there was always the possibility (as with any I.C. sales company) that when you have built up your billing to a large amount, it increased the chance your boss could take some of it away without compensation, so that he or she could use it to help fund more new reps.

I disliked the truth of the 8/10/11 review here where it says "Declining revenue environment for years, making cost cutting always present."

Lastly, I was uneasy about working for a "3rd Generation Family Owned Company", as I've seen on Google that statistics show that 65% of second-generation and 90% of third-generation family owned businesses fail. I hope that's not true for ThomasNet, as there are some good people in the company who are the company's "feet on the street".

Advice to Senior Management

Promote people based on their productivity, achievement, and past work experience versus anything to do with favoritism.

Pros

A wonderful place to learn about information technology - company is fully involved in Internet technology and has many cutting edge offerings. It's an exciting place to work. There is lots of room to develop and grow - a big emphasis on education and on-the-job training.

Cons

You need to be self motivated in order to grow.

Pros

Gererall low stress job.
OK benefits.
Pretty good co-workers.

Cons

Promotions are hard to to achieve if you are not in the inner circle.
Limited opportunities to learn and advance your career after the initial couple of years.
Declining revenue environment for years, making cost cutting always present.

Pros

The employees at Thomas Publishing are one of the most pleasant people I have ever worked with. They have great respect for each other's work, and are understanding of the needs of each employee. It has an almost stress-free environment.

Cons

The salary is a bit low as compared to other companies.

Advice to Senior Management

Find better ways to keep talent as many of us who left consider Thomas Publishing one of the best companies we worked for, but we all agree that the salary is not competitive.

Pros

Good company, good brand, solid products, especially web solutions

Cons

Career advancement seems to be limited at the moment.

Advice to Senior Management

Create more career tracks for up and coming staffers

Pros

Other reps
Pretzels on Wednesday.
Brand recognition within the industry
Location, horsham has a good number of lunch options to escape the daily grind, that is if you can afford lunch

Cons

Work environment and office moral - feels like walking into a cave/prison everyday. Everyone walks around like zombies, and managers do nothing to try and change it. At the end of everyday it feels like you just lost another day of your life.
Really high turnover, and overpriced web solutions.
Managers aren't very professional, yelling at employees and talking down to them. Can't believe I put up with them for as long as I did.

Advice to Senior Management

Moral is a reflection of management. Instead of focusing on all the negative, possibly try some positive re-enforcement, I think you will be surprised with the results. Incentives and recognition go a long way with sales reps.