Pros
-Competitive pay $13.25 per hr starting + sales bonuses for new lines of service -0 paycheck deductible benefits if you are single (pretty rare getting you entire paycheck these days) -Clear and precise promotion ladder if you survive the attendance policy -Owners seem to genuinely care about the employees even though they ignore you in the break room -Profit sharing directly into your 401K annually/holiday Christmas bonus
Kontras
-The pros make Consumer Cellular sound like "the" place to work. In many areas, this is true. However, reality is that all management was required to drink the kool-aide to be promoted. All you literally hear is, "This is the greatest company ever. All policies are perfect here. Submit feedback." -The reality is one omnipotent being, the General Manager, seems to make all decisions and there seems to be little intelligence in how the decisions are made. -Policy has been created to make it nearly impossible to remain employed for any serious length of time. Even though the attendance policy was revamped for 2012, there is actual FEAR of being sick and having to miss work for legitimate reasons. We are not talking about the Friday and Monday type people who always call in when it is a sunny day. People who get the flu, bronchitis, pneumonia etc work until near the grave and the emergency room because almost dying is preferable than risking your job by missing work due to being legitimately ill. -Everyone seems very friendly on the surface. Yet, if something unreasonable happens no one is willing to speak up, due to once again, the omnipotent power of the General Manager and his love of firing people. No one has anyone's back. It is essentially "Lord of the Flies". -6 foot tall cubicle walls and about 1 in 4 desks are 4 feet wide. -Policy against having anything at your desk that makes it look like you work there. Which is interesting, since you would think they would promote you being happy, but instead, they want you to stare at a blank cubicle wall with policy posted and work 10-hour shifts and remain happy. -Management does NOT like anyone that can think for themselves. I believe this once again goes back to the omnipotent GM again. You are shunned for being creative, expressive, and intelligent. -Performance doesn't mean anything in the sense that, it gains you no respect at all. It will gain you promotion to the next pay levels and the next step, but management focuses on finding your 1% errors and not your 99% consistencies of high performance -The owners are actually seen at their desks but you are not allowed to say "hello". They are not there to be given any opinions, thoughts, feedback. etc etc. They look at you like you are an alien when you see them in the break room on rare occasion. -The training is very poor to say the least. Do not expect to understand much anything about cellular phone support upon completion but you had better hit your stats after 90 days OR ELSE. -There is no "rapport" what-so-ever. Team meetings are only once per month and are fairly worthless. -Information given between levels of management down is non-existent. -You learn about known issues long, long before anyone in management bothers to send an email to let everyone know. So your stats that will get you fired become that much more impossible to maintain while you spend 45 minutes per call being required to fix a known issue that no one wants to announce to the floor is a known issue. -You are not allowed to have a cell phone out at your desk AT ALL. Having one out will get you sent home immediately without pay for the rest of the day and a ding towards being fired. Translation: the company doesn't trust any employee on the floor. Everyone is guilty and not to be trusted. -10 hour grinding shifts but only 30 minute lunches and 2 breaks instead of the typical 3 when working such a long shift in a call center. Often no where to eat but you are not allowed to eat at your desk. -Get sick, get fired. It's that easy. The only thing that will save you is FMLA. If you do not qualify for it, you are gone. Regardless of performance. The attendance policy is used to constantly weed people off the floor to keep costs down as you get promoted due to meeting stats and being promoted. -Prior experience means nothing at this company. You start at the bottom and you get treated accordingly. Do not believe your past experience will lead to a faster promotion. If anything, it will lead to people on the floor trying to get rid of you because of your knowledge. More "Lord of the Flies" and a lot like working at a State Job. Intelligence doesn't get you promoted - "Not getting voted off the island" gets you promoted. Play the game right and you too may win.
