Western Union Reviews

Pros

Great pay, work/life balance, benefits.

Cons

Only concerned with the bottom-line, upper management has no clue about what employees are going through. Employees dedicated years with the company and what do they get in return.....LAID OFF and put in the unemployment line while their jobs are given to another country.

Advice to Senior Management

Really get to know your employees, appreciate them for all their years of knowledge. Actually treat them with respect and dignity, don't just use that as the latest catch phrase.

Pros

- Awesome benefit package - 401(k) with matching and immediate vesting, health, dental, vision, bonuses, tuition reimbursement, EAP, competitive PTO
- Other perks like employee events, rewards program, gym, cafeteria
- 98% of the people you work with on the daily are fantastic
- Recognized name and brand, Fortune 500, global colleagues, travel opportunities (depending on role), flex time and work from home opportunities (depending on role and immediate supervisor)
- On average, pay is competitive (see comment in cons below)

Cons

On paper, WU is an awesome company to work for, and when it comes to things I mentioned above that don't necessarily pertain to you on a daily basis, the company has things figured out and seemingly treats employees really well.

After reading the other reviews on this site, I agree with 90% of what is said. The fact is that your experience in your role on a daily basis is highly subject to which group you are in and who your immediate supervisor is. Some groups are very high profile and have a very cheerleader-ish culture and are constantly being recognized and applauded by all levels of management. Others are seen as back-office support functions that shouldn't even really be seen and certainly never heard.

Senior management is really guilty of recognizing, supporting, and investing in business units directly responsible for revenue generation and either marginalizing or outright cutting support for and investment in business units that are revenue protection, cost savings, and/or shared services to revenue generating units. While this makes the stock price tick up in the near term and is way more fun for our CEO to talk about how "innovative" we are, it can only last for so long before neglected yet critical business units crumble. There is a very clear message to "do more with less" beyond the point where diminishing returns kick in. There is no appetite for investing in and/or upgrading critical infrastructure (kind of a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude).

There is an overwhelming tendency (some exceptions of course) to hire from outside of the company even when clearly qualified internal candidates exist. External candidates get outrageously generous salaries while those of us who have been here and put in the work are told that there simply isn't any room in the budget for annual raises higher than 2%. Attitude of "you're already doing what you're doing for what we're paying you - why on earth would we pay you more?"

Management is obsessed with outsourcing and acquisitions. Soft costs like integration efforts, support, language barriers, time zone issues, compliance requirements, technology differences, etc. are outright ignored so that these decisions look good on paper while those of us in the trenches are left to pick up the pieces.

There is no respect or appreciation for the tribal knowledge and loyalty that exists at a company where still a large majority of employees have been around for over 10 years (there is a not unsubstantial number of people who have been here for over 30 years).

A lot of business units are way over-worked. Vast swaths of employees are rapidly approaching burnout (if they're not already there), and management thus far has not expressed sympathy or concern for what the consequences of this will be. Employee morale has been in the toilet for the past 2.5-3 years because of constant layoffs, poor planning and execution that results in constantly changing priorities, flavor of the month type strategies, and clear message that the stock price and external company image are all that matter. It's painfully obvious current CEO's goal is to position company for a sale/buyout in the next couple of years (if they keep him around long enough to execute).

New CEO has some good ideas, but execution hasn't been thought all the way through. There is also a big disconnect between senior and middle management. Good ideas and concerns from the bottom are ignored, while senior management appears to just be a team of "pie in the sky, don't bother me with details or logistics" thinkers.

Bottom line - WU could be a truly amazing company if they could fix a lot of these cultural issues that plague the company. It has been an overall decent experience for me thus far, mostly because of who my direct supervisor and team members are. The writing's on the wall though and I won't be sticking around for the long term.

Advice to Senior Management

Please, please, re-evalaute the "growth without investment" and "get comfortable being uncomfortable" strategy you have adopted.

Pros

people are very friendly and team work is defiantly something you see on a day to day basis.

Cons

They ask you to do overtime pretty much everyday.

Pros

Great benefits (401k no vesting period, tuition reimbursement, good health package), nice facility (cafeteria, gym), competitive pay.
 New leadership is enthusiastic and seems to care about employees. They started bonuses for US employee, ramped up company events, and increased employee training & development seminars.

Cons

Isolated culture doesnt support knowledge sharing and communication between groups & hinders professional development. I almost feel as if I have less experience than when I came here. New exec mgmt seems to be trying to change this, but old First Data lower mgmt are resisting.
Terrible systems mgmt: crashes, slow downs, functions break and are never fixed, one fix breaks two more. Long time managers and directors are very political and only concerned with making themselves look good with the least amountvof work. Some managers that I dont report to seem really good, but they are complicit.. Others have to hire from outside because anyone in the company doesnt want them. Current employees are either the favorites, are new, or are looking for another job ( @ WU or outside).

Advice to Senior Management

Open the culture to encourage knowledge sharing and communication. That will be key to your productivity initiatives.
Get rid of old culure management that plays politics instead of managing employees. Be aware of managers who always blame employees and find excuses.
Invest more in IT and systems management.

Pros

Very talented people to work with

Cons

Too political of a working environment

Advice to Senior Management

Better feedback to employees

Pros

their good performance to the whole world and the fastest way making money transfer to their destinations as ealy as possible.

Cons

their work is very tideous and sometimes other coleagues try their way out to manuver to the best if it.

Advice to Senior Management

they must have their time and rewiew some of the company policies that have been there for the past y

Pros

Great opportunity to work in a global organisation
Some opportunity for personal growth if you force it

Cons

Low salary
Low motivation
Lots of people leaving due to lack of communication
Huge restructure to Vilnius, not working for the global teams
Lack of management understand the level of work being expected of teams as they too are being stretched
No investment in team members

Advice to Senior Management

Have a reality check, seriously look at how many people are leaving and why? I suggest the employee survey is taken seriously and published without being manipulated. If it continues as is there will be no employees left in 12 months.

Pros

International company, highly profitable, market leader in many areas, solid brand.

Cons

Constant cost cutting results in frequent lay offs and migration of positions overseas to lower cost markets. Work/ life balance can be a real challenge.

Advice to Senior Management

Managing costs is a must, but understand that too much change is very damaging to employee morale. Show your employees that you truly value them.

Pros

Western Union was a wonderful place to work because of it's people. Most employees in my work location had worked for WU for over 20 years and planned on retiring there. Not that people didn't have their moments, but it was a close group for being over 200 employees in one building. Direct management was very understanding of work/life balance, knew what they were doing on the job, gave excellent direction and I always felt safe, until...read on to the Cons.

Cons

Senior management CANNOT be trusted!!! In order for certain people to get their bonuses, they had to cut, and they didn't care where. They sold an American company out to other countries. Union employees made only about 35K/year - not a lot. WU employees in other countries are making 10% of that now. But WU sold their employees out. They gave up years and years of experience, company knowledge, loyal employees and most importantly the pride and ownership employees had in WU. Employees felt they had a stake. But they were sold out by senior management.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep the jobs in the US. You think you're "saving" money but you're losing customers at a very rapid pace. This is reflected in your stock prices!

Pros

Bonus program for most employees.

Cons

Bureaucracy. Long hours. Outsourcing. No investment in infrastructure and resources.

Advice to Senior Management

Lead by example. Stop hiring mgmt consultant that do not bring value. Listen to your employees.