Van Ausdall & Farrar Reviews

Pros

The salary is fair and commission for performance is equally fair. The work hours are M-F 8-5 with holidays off. The workplace is nice and co-workers are typically tenured and very friendly.

Cons

The sales management is over-critical and sometimes appears to talk down to executives. There is too much micro-management by the sales manager.

Advice to Senior Management

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Pros

The company has a nice new building on the north side of Indianapolis. The technicians are some of the most knowledgeable and personable individuals I've ever had the chance to work with. Most everyone in service, with the exception of management, has at least five years of tenure. Pay: Checks come on time - there is a mileage payout and a bonus program and management seems to be remembering to turn in the required paperwork to get you paid as of recently. Benefits: There is a comprehensive benefits package. Culture: The service technicians are a close-knit group with a lot of comraderie among them. Job: Self-managed territory. Overall: A great group of techs to work with and a company with an underlying potential to succeed.

Cons

Management has almost completely disconnected themselves from the technicians. VanAusdall and Fararr's service department no longer promotes from within and they do not have a career progression plan for technicians. Pay: The pay scale is apparently not dependent upon experience or competency. Bonus and mileage payouts were sketchy in the recent past due to a lack of concern by management to remember to turn in required paperwork for payouts. Benefits: Very costly but understandable as this is a small company. Culture: The almost total blackout of communication with the techs is beyond comprehension from a service organization. Technicians are increasingly marginalized by the staff and are the first to go when financial hardship looms. Job: A lack of guiding principles and direction has all but abolished the team mentality. Overall: If you are looking for a place to grow personally, professionally and develop a long-term career plan then you will probably not like this company.

Advice to Senior Management

Adopt a set of guiding principles for the service department and set some objectives for the service staff beyond "fixing something". In addition, I was not granted an exit interview nor was I asked why I was leaving. As a fairly reasonable person, I would at least be curious as to *why* someone who worked for me wanted to leave; it's not always about money and promotions.

Pros

The employees were great to work with. Went from an aging building downtown to a great new place up north.

Cons

Lots of closed door meetings with management, usually resulting in layoffs. Therefore everytime this would happen, people were worring who would get it this time. This made for a very unstable workforce. Wages were not that great, and the health insurance was not top notch either. Shortly after building the new headquarters, things seemed to get worse. Perhaps from overstretching the funds to build the new place. Long time employees were let go, It seemed that experience meant nothing to upper management.

Advice to Senior Management

Value your lomg term employees. Act like they mean something to you.

Pros

The people who've been there for a while are great to work with.

Cons

Management of the copier division doesn't have a clue what to do to make it a profitable and fun place to work without threatening every step of the way.

Advice to Senior Management

Set your ego aside and have a round table with the employees to make it a better place for customers and employees.

Pros

The Ownership is great and dedicated to the success of the company. Depending upon the division in which you work, you are given the tools and support and aceptance of new ideas to compete in the ever changing world of information delivery. The compensation plan id a good one from an industry standpoint. The benefits do not exactly rival that of other companies in the industry, but can be made up for in other ways such as company trips and additional bonuses for lead generation.

Cons

Overall, there are no downsides to the company in general. Unfortunately, the company is not run by an individual any longer, although there is a president. That is also a pro, however. He trusts that the people he has entrusted to run each division will do the job for which he hired them. This is true for the Converged Communication Group leader, and the Voice and Content Management division. Unfortunately, the President still has issues with finding someone that can effectively run a the Document Solutions group. He has looked at past performance from the 1980's to the 1990's as being a measure of success, This is not in indicator of how to manage in the 21st century where it is no longer a "box" but more of a long term sale and where people need to be developed and not change the focus on a daily basis.

Advice to Senior Management

The advice I would give is that perhaps they need to look at the other divisions and what has made them successful. It is the fact that they have adapted to the changing economy and have moved away from the way things were in the 70's and 80's of selling. They have an on-boarding program for all positions and they actually take ideas from each individual, whether right or wrong, they at least consider them before stating that it is a dictatorship and only one vote matters. Perhaps, that one vote comes from someone who was relieved of their responsibilities elsewhere, prior to coming to VAF and perhaps that is because they were not open to the idea that they might not have all of the answers at that job and as a result, the same results are ocurring at VAF.

It is a great company to work for, the ownership is exceptional. 2 of the 3 division leaders are exceptional. But I do not see them beocming the company they desire to be within one of their divisions any time in the near term. SOmetimes you have to tear things down to make them better. That does not just mean trimming the "fat" to be more profitable, that means actually supporting and training the "troops" to effect a long term strategy. Right now they are focused on the minue and not even the day or the week or the month. You have to have a focus and move with that until it becomes second nature before introducing the next phase of operations. That also means not being the only one with the answers.....you need to be open to other idas and changing philosphies. Just ask IBM how that strategy worked out.

Pros

Van Ausdall & Farrar has the perfect buiness model - tradition, facilities, scope, and flexibility. The people there are the stength of the company. Several of the divisions have emplified and leveraged those qualities and their subsequent success is evident.

Cons

The deterioration is happening in the copier and FM division. This eminates from the very top of the organization. The direction is coming from second generation ownership which has no idea how to run a business that was built prior to his involvement. In management meetings, little time is spent on strategy. The only question that needs answered is, "Are you profitable?" There is no concern of the how, what, why, when, and where. This lack of knowledge and attention to detail has led to one bad decision to another as far as hiring of Senior Management. Those poor diecisons have resulted in poor compensation, high turnover, and subsequently low morale amongst the sales staff. This is only enhanced by the fact that the Chief Financial Officer, consistently looked for ways not to compensate the sales force through ambiguous compensation plans that were always interpreted to the companies favor. A internal leasing company was created to give greater flexibility to the customer. Actually, it was shell game to increase company profits through inflated lease rates that the company did not have to compensate the sales force for.

Current Senior Management, has a reactive management philosophy. It is not suprising that they continue to lose business. The focus is to blame and harass without doing some introspection as to why business is declining. Firing and downsizing to mask this decline will only hide the real issues for so long. It does look good though on a spread sheet....for a while. I don't know how some can, with a clean conscience, believe that current management that comes from a different marketplace, is demeaning, has adversarial relationships with all vendors, and lacks any subtance in front of customers, can turn this division around. Sadly, I think it is too late for this division and under the current leadership it's demise has accelerated.

There is a reason that the other divisions are reluctant to work with this division. It is ironic that the dictation division dominates in the medical & legal arena, but Van Ausdall & Farrar has virtually no presence in those markets in the copier and Facilities Management division. Coincidence, I don't think so.

Advice to Senior Management

Plan an exit strategy for the copier division and the Facilities Management Division before they bring the rest of the company down. The owner should bing in someone that actually knows how to run a company, so he can pursue his personal interests full time. Remove the CFO, who I am not sure has the best intersts of the company at heart.

Pros

The executive management of the company is concerned with the long term health of the organization. VAF has a proven track record over it's 95 year history as a company willing to invest both in it's employees long term success and delivering valuable solutions to help their customers solve business issues now and in the future.

I have benefitted greatly by working for an organization with core values based on long term success principals. These principals to contine to attract high achieving, success oriented individuals to all areas of the organization while eliminating those that prefer taking short cuts to success. In the six plus years within the Office Equipment Division, these principals have served myself and the company well. The organization has undergone a complete metamorphisis into one of the leading turn key solutions providers within the back office services industry. This change has and will continue to require strong and viable leadership willing to go through the short term pains neccessary for long term success.

I am proud to be a part of a great organization and would highly recommend VAF to anyone looking to better themselves and their community.

Cons

As an innovative local solutions provider conerned with balancing long term viability with the bottom line of today, it challenges every member of the organization to perform at their peak each and every day. This philosophy sounds simple, however an entrepreneurial organization such as VAF does not have the luxury of carrying individuals who choose to approach their careers looking for medicore results, thus in daily practice it takes courage to make tough decisions.

Advice to Senior Management

Continue following the same success prinicipals that have served the company well over the past 95 years!

Pros

Stable, conservative employer with a long track record of treating its employees and customers alike with respect and compassion. I've received a paycheck and good benefits from this employer for 10 plus years. There are just as many people with tenure longer that my own as there are with fewer years. I have personally seen cases where management has made an expensive decision to help one of its own when it probably wasn't required to.

Cons

I am disappointed by the shameless use of this site by some to meet their own sales quota at another company. Few companies are perfect, but I hold this one in high regard and continue to recommend it with pride to potential job candidates and those looking for solid solutions backed by experienced people.

Advice to Senior Management

Some decisions are difficult. Continue to make choices that are in the best interest of your customers. This path will ensure that the VAF community will continue for another 95 years and beyond.

Pros

VanAusdall has a great name and name recongnition in the Indianapolis market space. The facilities are top notch.

Cons

To increase profits the division managers will terminate those who contirbute the most. The terminations have impact both the service and support side in the copier divison. It takes top talent to make the solutions work together. Termination of long term employees is not a way to make short term profits.

Advice to Senior Management

Look towards your Dictation division as a model in both tenure and operations.

Pros

I've worked in the Converged Communications Group for the past 5 years. Our focus is on IP Telephony, Network Infrastructure and Carrier Services. I've been in the industry for 15 years, but am making more money now than I ever have. I noticed there are a lot of negative comments regarding our copier group. That group is run separately, so can't really speak to that. However, we have excellent, hands-on management in our group. We are all respectful of our team members. I can't imagine a better situation if you want to live in Indianapolis and this is the industry you've chosen.

Cons

Company has three separate groups with separate management. Lots of stability and strong management in our group and dictation. Copier group doesn't seem as stable. Maybe new management will change that.

Advice to Senior Management

Always remember it's the salespeople who keep the lights on.