service desk technician

business services representative

operations manager

customer service representative

osp engineer

Northwestel

Management has become increasingly aggressive in the last decade, and unbelievably less competent.  They threaten and verbally abuse you with terms like “we are going to have another discussion!” for anything, for example, when asking a senior tech to go and pick up garbage outside the building so they look good.  Their idea of employee-employer relations lags about only three centuries!

They are not tolerant of any talks, let alone citicism.  In fact they made life so hard for their only female tech in Iqaluit that she had to leave, by giving her disciplinary action, just because she recommended to do something differently!  They are mostly people with no managerial experience or no techinical knowledge at all.  Union will not do anything for you.  People in Whitehorse or Yellowknife don’t care about you either, they are here to support their managers, not their techs!

No one cares about the quality of the work you do, because that is not even important.  All their care is about the numbers that make the managment look better.  They are not going to be around anyway to see the effect of your high quality work!  They use Nunavut as a jumping board to somewhere else usually whitehorse or to supplement their pensions. Nunavut operation has changed managmnet 5 times in the last 7 years, not including managers they have fired.  that should tell you enough about their quality.

They would ask you to do jobs that it would take long hours to complete, and then they blame or discipline you or not pay you for going over their 16 hour overtime rule, even though you had to in order to make a very remote community stay connected! 
 
Their Northern living hasn’t increased in 15 years, and their per-diem is 2/3 of Governmnet of Nunavut.  It is not a place to work.  If you work there for 5 years consider yourself 15 years older due to the stress entirely caused by managment.  Training will be scarce unless you have relations in the company or you are their favourite.

Basically as a tech, your number one priority is to make the management look good, period.

Working at Northwestel was the worse than working at McDonalds when I was 16. This company is totally corrupt. They have no interest in serving their customers let alone paying techs competitive salaries and providing training opportunities to increase operational efficiency. The only time Northwestel will increase investment into their infrastructure (more work for techs) is when the Feds will pay for it. Even then Northwestel prefers to subcontract the work instead of allowing the qualified Techs do the work. Management is incompetent. Their aim is to provide the lowest standard of service in order to cut operational expenses. Basically, when Bell became their primary shareholder, the gravy-train was over for the top brass. They literally determine bonuses by sitting around a table and talking about their teams. Bonuses are based on if the manager likes you and not how well you work or meet your targets. Please do not put yourself through the unnecessary stress of working for such a toxic, corrupt company. In addition, the Union is completely useless and will always side with Management in matters where Management is in the wrong. That’s how they keep Techs ‘in line’. Intimidation, suspicion, and coercion.

Management is disconnected from the actual process of daily operations. Technical writers who manage processes do not in fact do the job and are so removed from the functionality of daily interactions with customers and the database from which they draw information from and from which they enter information to that the conveyance of these pieces of information are both inadequate and incorrect. Training is lacking severely, there is a culture of reporting on your co-workers to management with little to no regard for how that affects operations, customer treatment, mental health or morale. They may pay all right however the issues that you will have working for this company will not benefit you in any way shape or form. They have a high turnover rate, they expect people to work when they are excessively unwell, they provide absolutely no support Beyond lip service for any kind of health issues apart from ones they deem serious. They are ableist and unable to help you in the most difficult times of your employment and or career I do not suggest anyone with any kind of health issues to work for this company.

I worked as a retail sales associate- dealing face to face with customers. Northwestel is THE ONLY cable provider in Whitehorse, YT therefore a lot of customers are dissatisfied with the service. My position receives disrespect from both customers (not all) and upper staff- who is everyone else. We are never asked how we think the company can improve for their customers, even though we hear it first hand. The retail store has been short staffed for 6 months, no manager for the past 2 months- and no one seems concerned. We all work so hard in the store to keep customers happy- not all customers are bad, however the job is daunting, with all the programs and databases we use, therefore each customer needs a minimum of 30 mins. My direct coworkers were awesome- because we all have to lean on each other to get through a work day, since there is no manager. There is absolutely no standard training- learn as you go, which is frustrating and embarrassing, for both the company and individual.
Great pay, good incentive bonuses. 
Not much leading from upper management, all talk and no action.


While I can't speak for the entire company, within my department we work closely together and have a strong sense of teamwork. Our role involves a lot of coordination between different parties, and most of the time it's about getting the right information to the right people. The teams we work with are generally responsive and helpful when support or direction is needed. You also end up learning something new every day—whether it's about the nature of their work or gaining insight into how things operate in their world.

Based on the time i have worked there , it was a situation as this if you ask too many questions for your benefit and grow in the company its considered more of a nuisance to your colleagues around, the management was exactly the best though they did come and ask how the job was going and so fort , the training was not a good experience information was not in one properly categorized and of then you would have to a lot of time digging through files to find what you need. The pay was decent but not worth the everyday hassle you had to go through. I would not wish it on anyone to go through what i have been through   

Northwestel was an overall good employer. A typical day at work would be answering customer calls and handling their concerns or inquiries. In between calls there were times where you can catch up with your coworkers and maintain budding friendships. The hardest part of the job was answering the phone and not knowing what type of customer you're going to have on the line and whether or not you'll have to diffuse a situation or not. There were many joys of the job and the people surrounding me made going to work that much easier.

Not a very proficient place to work. Training program for new hires is non existent and improvised day to day by a manager that has no telecommunication experience. Safety department trainer is clueless for what the industry standards are and has never done the job ever. Job satisfaction is never achieved and is a direct result of the minimal training. Management in general does not hold people accountable.  

Northwestel is truly the definition of a company that cares. They are a center peice of the Yukon community and genuinely make an effort to give back. I was hired as a student intern and was given challenging roles that were simultaneously not overwhelming for a student. Their compensation was more than fair, and they were extremely understanding about life/work balance. Thanks Northwestel, I will definitely be reapplying after graduation!

The company had a disorganized work environment, with unclear job descriptions that led to confusion about responsibilities. Managers often expected technicians to perform tasks beyond their job scope, which created frustration and inefficiency. The work culture was toxic, and training was inadequate, leaving employees poorly equipped to perform their roles effectively.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Service desk technician 3 salaries reported	$32.17 per hour
Business services representative 3 salaries reported	$23.00 per hour
Operations manager 2 salaries reported	$101,400 per year
Customer service representative 2 salaries reported	$26.25 per hour
Osp engineer 1 salary reported	$36.00 per hour

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