Thomson West Reviews

Pros

good work environment, decent benefits, good people

Cons

management structure difficult for advancement

Advice to Senior Management

continue getting internal feed back about process and practices

Pros

Benefits are reasonable, particularly the health care and dental plans. Tuition reimbusement program is very competitive with what other companies offer.

Cons

They get awards for family-friendliness, but it really depends on your manager. My manager declared that you could either spend time with your family, or you could put in longer hours at work and get promoted and feed your family. No lie. Said manager also said that employees should not be given extra training, as everyone was 'too dumb' to understand advanced concepts for promotion. Yet, this guy was the apple of senior management's eye.

Pros

Nice people, good work life balance, down to earth culture

Cons

Felt stifled, no room for growth, a very functionally segmented company with no information sharing

Advice to Senior Management

Sharing information across functional boundaries and allowing process improvement projects to reach beyond their specific function or area.

Pros

Reconized name in the industry. Good quality product.

Cons

Constant increase in quotas as territories were sized down. No residual business to Rep after sale but expectations of customer relations on accounts for which you are not paid.

Advice to Senior Management

Manage expectations on the management leel as well as the sales force

Pros

It is not at all stressfull - almost feels like litlle work

Cons

several - pay, growth, work life balance

Advice to Senior Management

Leaders should focus on management at lower levels

Pros

- As a large company, benefits are better than what you'd get from a smaller company. Vacation/personal time off was generous. If you start with the company in the middle of the year, your time off will be pro-rated.

- (See Con) If you're laid off due to "reorganization", severance is plentiful as well. There's a minimum number of weeks they'll give you even if you've been with the company less than a year.

- Travel to 2 conferences per year (locations have included Orlando, Vegas, San Diego, etc.)

- Flexibility with work schedule/hours

Cons

- As a large company, they have yearly "reorganizations". November is the worst month because you don't know if you'll have a job the next year or not. I started with the company in June. In November I found out via conference call that my position was being eliminated nationwide (about 40 of us). At my interview, I stressed how I wanted long-term employment in a position where I could grow. So much for that...

- Takes 4 years with the company before your 401(k) will fully vest.

Advice to Senior Management

- Provide better and more consistent feedback to employees. My manager hardly ever worked with me.

Pros

The pay was pretty good, as was working from home, however, a lot of field territories were being eliminatated in favor of inside territories based out of corporate office in Eagan.

Cons

Any work-life balance only exists if you hit your quota.

The 84 page comp plan was tough to follow.

Reps spent more time trying to make "sales" with smoke and mirrors rather than actually selling something.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire some managers who actually have experience managing, in addition to just experience selling the various products in the product bag, and vice versa

Pros

Flexibility of the position has been great, as well as the ability to work from wherever I chose to. Selling the best product in the legal research market has been a joy and a pleaxsure. The company has consistently invested a tremendous amount of resources in new products, which are released every year so lawyers can do their jobs faster and better.

Cons

For the last 4 years, West has continuously changed comp plans by lower commission and compensation, increasing quotas significantly every year and removing incentives for high performers. This year, they are simply getting rid of over 1/3 of the field sales force, to be replaced by inside sales representatives based at company's headquarters.

Advice to Senior Management

If it isn't broken, why are you trying to fix it? In 2011, upper management's attempts to "fix" what wasn't broken has resulted in the worst performance for Q1 ever.

Pros

West is the oldest legal publisher in the US legal system and given its heritage you walk away from work realizing what you have done has directly impacted how legal professionals operate every day. Without the work of the employees at West offering value-add to each and everyone of West's products including their flagship, market-leading product Westlaw, legal professionals would not be able to work effectively.

Cons

The salary compared with some of the other companies based in the twin cities could be improved. Many people leave West to work at places like Honeywell or Target and take on comparable jobs with a significant pay increase. More and more benefits are being taken away and given the current economic climate, employees do not feel as secure in their employment. Since the acquisition of Reuters, there have been annual lay-offs; something that was unheard of prior to the transaction.

Advice to Senior Management

There needs to be better forums for employees to be able to voice their concerns about management - whether direct line manager or elsewhere without fear of reprieve. If you have a Sr. Director as a boss and you want to discuss their management style or express a concern with the VP, the VP should be open to hearing those comments, not dismiss entertaining seeing that employee simply because they are a VP.

Pros

It was nice to work at Thomson West. The environment and people are good and friendly. Its a huge campus in Eagan Minneapolis MN.

Cons

Slow-paced work. The group that I worked with didnot have much challenging work. The team was very small and I felt bored with what I was doing after a certain point of time

Advice to Senior Management

Leadership at Thomson West is great. I donot have any kind of complains about it. It's going good for the company