ValueOptions Reviews

I have been working at ValueOptions full-time for more than a year

Pros – support from co-workers and supervisors; ability to work from home; ability to speak to a variety of people with a variety of needs; I feel a great sense of satisfaction at each call as I know I have made a difference in their life.

Cons – it's a call center so we often have "back to back calls." but I was told that upfront in the interview and I enjoy the variety of calls.

Advice to Senior Management – I sense that management is aware that our jobs can be difficult as we often talk to members who are very upset,sad,angry,etc and take out their emotions of us. We are given constant feedback regarding that they realize how hard we work and that they appreciate what we do for our members. We are constantly given kudos for our hard work and our excellent customer service we provide to our members and to our co-workers. I find managment to be very supportive of all of us.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at ValueOptions full-time for more than a year

Pros – If you enjoy writing and authorship, proposal specialists work on contracts and get to exercise their talents.

Cons – - The manager of my department was a miserable executor of tasks and of her personal emotions. Whenever anyone had questions (there was very little to no training), she would yell at us and tell us to figure it out ourselves. Literally, this happened verbatim.
- There was never an overarching company morale making employees feel a part of a larger, productive, worthy goal. Executive management structure was entirely absent for the workers.

Advice to Senior Management – Please have a handle on how your company is running day to day, and respect your employees. Also, acknowledge how much time employees invest in a contract, and reward such instead of saying "You are salaried to fill a position. I don't care how long it take you to get the job done. Just do it". This injures morale.

I have been working at ValueOptions full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Co-workers, in that you can get some 'venting' out and a skilled ear = mental health and substance abuse professionals.

Cons – Be careful of getting thrown under the bus; it's more often than not CYA.

Advice to Senior Management – Get some consistency across the company; different locations do 'it' differently.

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

I worked at ValueOptions full-time for less than a year

Pros – Company has good benefits-- but no real good morale in the work environment. If you try to be an individual or give any suggestions on a better way to do things in the workplace, it falls on deaf ears. I can think of much better things to do with my masters degree and an LPC, than wasting it here.

Cons – Most people that work here act as if they are in the clouds somewhere. The training is horrible and there is no room for growth potential or individuality. Having the Military OneSource contract, this company has no clue about military issues. Most workers are very depressed and it feels like you are working in a glass bubble.

Advice to Senior Management – The CEO and senior management has no clue about how to keep up morale in the company. They act like they are above everyone else and treat employees like peons. Learn to appreciate hardwork from employess.

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

I have been working at ValueOptions as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – you may never find another job which is so unstable, in that way its a good experience.
Office location is close to many IT consulting companies so finding another job is not a big deal.
Company culture may fit for someone who have other source of income and doesn't care about career.

Cons – There is a big list,

- You will work with manager who doesn't have basic knowledge of IT project management and change plans every week.

- Most managers are novice, my manager lied me about contract length in order to convince me to join the project.

- Believe me, there is no contract more than 3 months in Valueoptions Reston office. My recruiter lied about contract length other wise no one will join this company for 2 weeks to 3 months project.

- Project management is worst, project managers don't analyze or estimate the project cost before recruiting contractors. It is contractor's job to analyze and estimate the project hours after joining the company, if in case project is not feasible or estimated hours is less than previous estimate, remaining contractors will get fired immediately. Testers are hired only in last week of development phase, most developers will get fired after development phase. Testers will be fired if project is stable and defect free than the previous estimate.
Seems this is happening for so many years.

- Current managers made IT profession to a low level so contract length is in days. No one will take a job of this duration but they somehow want to hire new people.

- Reston IT division abused contract-termination agreement like anything.

- I have seen contractors getting fired every week for no reason on their side. Company's IT budget is so little, it cannot allow contractors to work in full life cycle of project.

I came to know all of this only after joining the company, so at least you be careful before accepting the offer.

Advice to Senior Management – Implement latest IT practices.

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

I worked at ValueOptions full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great benefits!! Fun working environment. Flexible manager

Cons – Monotanous, not a lot of variety in job duties, limited room for advancement

I have been working at ValueOptions full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Great atmosphere, senior management team. Opportunities for advancement and work from home on average 1-2 days per week.

Cons – Poor Health Benefits and a 401k match.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at ValueOptions full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Flexible schedule, good benefits, enjoy co-workers, have several contracts throughout the country, ability to move and grow within the company if willing to relocate, salary is better than a lot of other local employers in mental health

Cons – no local ability to advance in career, contract-based work so there is always a chance that the contract will not be renewed, no client contact with PSD contracts

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at ValueOptions full-time for more than a year

Pros – Truely able to help people with their insurance issue. Gave clear understanding of benefits and how they work. Casual work envoirment

Cons – Pormotion criteria is subject to interpretation. The call are monitored and reps are scored for the "quality" of the call. A high score (over 98%) qualifies you for promotion. Some of what will be expected is gone over in training and the rest you learn when you loose points for doing it incorrectly. The negative here is, the things that you have never had the oppertunity to know reflect poorly on you. In addition to this the auditors have different opinions, what has been passed several time by several auditors will be falled by another at any time, as they interept the call and the cretiria with a loosely defined ruberic.
 Also there are "screen captures". The auditor watches what is happening on your screen as she listens, in these cases there are more oppertunity to loose points, major problem here is that this is not done to everyone. So loosing additional points because the auditor was watching suggest several "-ism" when the decision is made to only watch some people and not others.

Advice to Senior Management – Create P&P for quality assestments so the criteria can be learned met and is not fluctuating constantly.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at ValueOptions full-time for more than a year

Pros – Co-workers make the day bearable. Vacation time seems to be in line with what other companies offer for new employees.

Cons – Everything that they tell you in the interview basically turns out to be the opposite and therefore a lie. Benefits are on par with most companies, BUT the pay is below, even with a recent increase to bring compensation in line with the average pay for claims processing jobs in the area. The work load is ridiculously high for the pay received which in turn creates a very stressful work environment. They give you work and expect you to know how to do it having never done it before. They use corrective action for whatever they choose, even if it's not found in any company documentation, which in turn prevents the employee from moving to a different department. They say we are a team, but never "allow" team interaction. As stated in another review, chronically understaffed. The general employee attitude is "cover your butt" and because of that the individual departments actually work against each other which makes it hard to accomplish the greater goals of the company. There is no chance for advancement so people leave...a previous employee said they hadn't received a promotion in 8 years! Expectations for production and quality are unrealistic and therefore do not allow for promotion. Overall low employee moral and negative work environment.

Advice to Senior Management – VALUE your employees for without them you can't retain the business you brag about daily. For a company that calls itself ValueOptions, you certainly do not value your employees as evidenced by the high turnover, especially the "1 person fired per month" witnessed here. Stop making your employees feel disposable because that does not inspire them to give you their best and ultimately works against your goals. Focus on the positive and reward in adult ways, not with empty words on a piece of paper which are likened to a star the teacher puts on a student's test in grade school. Also, listen to your employees as they are on the front lines and know what is needed to get the job done timely and correct. Managers fall back on the "this is the way we've always done it" and are reluctant to change. Sometimes change is a good and necessary thing. Have the departments work together cohesively for the greater good of the company. Finally, reinstate the company match to the 401k plan as other companies have done.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend