Xerox Reviews

Pros

As a customer service engineer, you are seldom in the same place all day. Constantly changing work situations, new challenges, keep the day interesting. Unfortunately, with the downsizing we have undergone lately, the days can be long and the number of miles traveled can be excessive. I have already driven over 70K in my 2010 company van.

Cons

You must learn to live on the salary that is the minimal that Xerox will pay. Empty promises about "bonus" programs that have the possibility to bring in income increases are never realized. Many tasks are directed to be done on a timeline created by managers who have no idea of the daily challenges placed on the workforce. Constant micromanaging by clueless front line managers create an atmosphere of mistrust and ever-decreasing morale.

Advice to Senior Management

Wake up and listen to the employees who yell "the king has no clothes!" Practice the ideas that are spouted by upper management and LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN to the employees that deal with our customers on a daily basis. Our customers are our reason for existance...without them we have no reason for exist. The great ship Xerox is taking on water.....stop rearranging the deck furniture!

Pros

It beats unemployment. Certain groups find favor or remarkably flexible hours. If you fit the chosen group (ever shifting) you have significant opportunity to fail with minimal consequences.

Cons

Pay. Benefits. Advancement. Lack of senior management caring. Employees as commodities on a good day. No ethos. Management's view is "we manage and pay to the lowest common denominator." Reward and recognition is virtually non-existent for non-corporate officers. Employees (exempt) work ungodly hours due to inability to travel to do jobs while senior management hold meetings at Disney World Resort and attend Cirque du Soleil. Long term strategy is valid only until last week of quarter.

Advice to Senior Management

Don't forget what and who got you here. Reward and recognize all and consider benefits that have low or no cost (for example tell us to be healthier to reduce company medical benefits cost while shutting employee funded gyms). Listen to employees, some of you used to be us.

Pros

Challenging projects and good coworkers

Cons

Constant downsizing
Constant cost reductions
Constant benefit cuts
No pay increases
Top exec's get rich at our expense

Advice to Senior Management

Please listen to your employees, not just your customers and Wall Street. This used to be a great innovative company that invested in its people. Now they are disposable items on a balance sheet to reduce cost.

Pros

The people, period -- the quality of Xerox people is the best; they care about our clients and they care about one another. Also, the level of intelligence and innovation is absolutely amazing. The company is loaded with ideas and people who are always out in front of the industry.

Cons

The new regime and the acquisition of ACS have totally changed the culture for the worse. The changes the company has been making for the past couple of years are not necessarily "bad" and, in fact, most employees would agree/understand based on our industry and the maturity of paper documents, etc. It's not the what, it's the how. The company has always treated employees with dignity and respect especially during the tougher times or when difficult decisions about people were being made, but no longer. The long-standing social contract is gone - it was never "employment for life" or anything along those lines, but it was always one of respect, not anymore. Sad really, as these decisions are being made by a few who are sitting on boat loads of stock and other compensation when the rest of the company has had salary and other compensation freezes for a number of years. There are many actions coming that will affect a number of employees over the next few weeks and I predict that many others, myself included, will opt out of the company voluntarily over the next year.

Advice to Senior Management

The history of the company shows a pattern in leadership from Joe Wilson to Ursula Burns. Every time a CEO change has taken place the pendulum swings wildly from charismatic and engaged leaders (Wilson, Kearns & Mulcahy) to technocrats who won't engage the company or clients (McCullough, Allaire & Burns). Burns has proved she can make an unpopular decision, but the CEO's who lead their companies through critical change are the ones who do it while they bring their people with them. That's what she and her senior team don't seem to care about and I've been told that this is the case. My sense in watching how change has been implemented tells me that this is an accurate assessment so here's the advice -- Burns needs to be replaced as soon as possible with a leader that can learn from Wilson and others on how to both make the tough decisions and lead people through the woods so that when you come out on the other side people are still right behind you instead of running for whatever exit they can find.

Pros

decent pay for the area I guess

Cons

Constant threat of downsizing and outsourcing, poor management, corrupt management, cuts in bonuses, 401K match reduced, poor health care benefits, lack of promotions, salaries frozen, crumbling infrastructure, lack of quality work, very low employee morale, bureaucracy, budget cuts, critical people are let go and not replaced, ridiculous schedules

Advice to Senior Management

Stop outsourcing and downsizing then work on fixing the cons listed above

Pros

Xerox seems to have a much higher pay scale than other local businesses. I was offered a significant amount of money to join there ranks.

Cons

Expect to work 60 hours a week on average. The company has done so many layoffs, employees are doing the work of two people. The culture is terrible, everybody is fearful of layoffs or being placed on performance improvement.

Pros

Union jobs offer some protection from falling benefit and retirement plans.

Cons

Management appears to be on a outsource at all cost kick. It is hard to watch bad desision making by senior management in an attempt to show short term gains that lead to long term losses in service and cutomer satisfaction and a decline in the infastructure.

Advice to Senior Management

If you would understand that direct employees have more value to the company than outsourcers and contractors Xerox could be a great place to work again.

Pros

Pay for performance for hourly work. Nice people to work with. Nice facility to work at.

Cons

Too frequent furlough an RIFs. Health insurance sucks. Not convinced mgmt has a clue or cares.

Advice to Senior Management

Pay attention to the people who's hard work pays your salary.

Pros

You will get a paycheck.

Cons

Low pay, negative atmosphere, poor training.

Advice to Senior Management

Spend more money to get competent trainers, and training supplies/material.

Pros

Steady employment
Good hard working teammates
Traveling to different sites, not tied to one location
Meeting people, customers are generally nice
Minimum supervision
Every once in a while, actually fix something and help someone out.

Cons

Layoffs, no feedback on criteria for layoff selections. Techs are looking over their shoulders wondering who's next.
Very low morale
Stagnant salaries
Low manpower
Poor quality equipment. Seem to be built as cheaply as possible with no or little quality control.
Poor parts support with poor quality
Next to impossible to provide superior service to customers with the support we have.
Management either going through the motions or completely out of touch.

Advice to Senior Management

As the inventors of many markets we compete in, our products should be incomparable. Our leadership has been content to push things out that are merely adequate. Then the support behind these average boxes is getting worse and worse. As society continues to use less and less paper and competition gets tougher, I see no future at all for Xerox.