Total System Services Reviews

Pros

Decent policies re: time off. Great job promoting a team atmosphere. Some areas of the company are very friendly. Nice benefits

Cons

Poor management training. Lack of communication within the company, esp. from senior leadership. Compensation is a joke, esp. given the inflated prices in the area.

Advice to Senior Management

Do a better job with compensation, clean out some of the veterans that do little more than serve as furniture, and give better opportunities to younger workers.

Pros

Interesting insight to the financial, banking, and credit card industries that cannot be found all together in any other industry.

Cons

Compensation is below what the averages are. At one point the reasoning was that the benifit package was very good. As time went on the benifits package has been lessened and there has been no compensation adjustment.

Advice to Senior Management

There seems to be a less reward for loyalty and more reward based on cronyism. A lot of "who you know".

Pros

Small city advantages - easy commute, restaurants nearby, easy parking, convenient office campus - you have everything - bank branch, ATM, cafeteria, gym etc.

Cons

Useless ground, middle and senior management - most of the time they do not even know what they do, do not mean what they say. Resource management and allocation is poor. So unwilling to adopt new technologies, opportunities for professionals to work on newer skill-set within the company very disappointing, highly bureaucratic, environment that exercises good amount of favouritism and discrimination at the ground management level, very poor compensation with mediocre benefits. HR practices very narrow minded. Overall a company with narrow minded and conservative attitude - a demotivating workplace.

Advice to Senior Management

Bring in people with fresh ideas, young achievers, at the ground, middle and senior management level. Learn to adopt newer techonologies. Take care of your employees - get rid of your narrow minded and conservative attitude when it comes to employees. Pay them well and reward them for their good work. Motivate them. You will see your business doing wonders.

Pros

This place is an awesome training ground if you are in need of experience. Could be a great place to shine if you already have it.

Cons

It's easy to get into the routine of doing one thing all the time and allowing yourself to grow stagnant in your skillsets.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop being afraid of being innovative. Embrace new technology and make sure the employees are getting the tools and technology needed to do their jobs effectively.

Pros

TSYS was a very comfortable place to work, and the treatment, personally, was fair.
Excellent benefits and some good perks while I was there.
Time off was generous. I think I got 3 weeks of vacation after 4 years.

Cons

Compensation was severely lacking.
Some management would rather have good talent walk away for better paying jobs than promote, even with fantastic performance reviews.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in your talent.
Stay away from the good old boy system.
Pay attention to the tendency for stagnation. There was a lot of that when I was there.

Pros

Job security, even during this recession is pretty good, especially considering TSYS is in the financial services sector. They have done some targeted firings and forced retirements, which is good since it clears out some dead wood. But, as long as you perform decent, make friends with the right people, and do not get on the losing side of a political battle, you could likely stay at this company for many years.

Cons

Just a year or two ago the benefits at TSYS were outstanding (14% or more in retirement benefits), but senior management has quickly taken away all above-average benefits in response to decreased revenue and lack of growth. We are now just another company offering average 4% 401K matching. Pay is average at best - they use the low cost of living in Columbus, GA as an excuse to pay lower salaries than, for example, Atlanta.
Columbus, GA itself is another downside to TSYS, since other employment prospects are slim (Aflac is the only other major employer of IT people besides the large Army base). Senior management know this, I'm sure, and use it to their advantage. This is narrow-minded thinking though, and results in having a lot of cruft around who bring no new skills and continue to do things the way they've always done them, which is not always the best way.

Advice to Senior Management

Reinstate benefits that set TSYS apart from other companies, or pay above average salaries. One or the other is required to attract and keep top talent in Columbus, GA. Do a better job of eliminating underachievers. Pay overachievers handsomely. Do not measure achievement by number of hours in the office since some people spend all day doing nothing useful, or hours redoing their own work. Reward output and automation of work.
Reassess pay company wide. Some people are paid way too much for what they do and others are not paid nearly enough. Carefully train management to recognize the best and worst performers. Get managers to question their teams about the performance of their team mates, then evaluate and act on recommendations.

Pros

The Boise office works really hard to build the team. This comes in the form of team building activities and so forth.

Cons

Headquarters meddles too much. Waterfall software development. Some managers in Georgia are not talented managers, and sometimes it really shows.

Advice to Senior Management

Have the fortitude to let go of under-performing managers. There is some "good 'ol boys" nonsense that goes on at HQ in Georgia.

Pros

Flexible hours, good benefits, good coworkers. If you work hard, they'll let you just do your thing. Lots of different technologies to learn about.

Cons

There are lots of changes going on, so there's always a new process or procedure to learn about. Always a new security standard to have to adapt to, but that makes the multitaskers very hot commodities.

Advice to Senior Management

Be sure to keep your employees in the loop when possible. People like working for you because they care about the company. They just want to make sure they feel like a part of the company.

Pros

If you wish to raise a family in Columbus, GA.

Cons

Organizational silos and lack of open-door communication and mentoring. Employees too comfortable with the status quo. Too much favoritism to family team members or good friends.

Advice to Senior Management

Recognize and reward individuals and managers that are producing the work. Don't be afraid to cut non-performers. Understand why non-performers are not performing (is it true lack of talent or has this person been neglected from professional growth, recognition, or financial reward). There are too many programs in place that intend to promote growth or openness, but instead serve as filters and obstacles.

Pros

Job security, great opportunities for advancement if you are willing to work hard

Cons

The new 'swim' organization has created a lot of confusion for most employees and this could potentially have a negative effect on work performance.

Advice to Senior Management

Communicate more openly with employees. Keep their opinions into account when making important decisions.