technology analyst

Startek

This place is exactly like many of the negative reviews . In fact it's worse. Mega clicky environment if you don't fit in you'll be either ignored,  talked about or bullied passively by management and co workers. Its who you know and those with  friends here get the best shifts, can slack be late and they watch their backs and dont get fired.  Training is seriously  a nightmare because it is so boring and made for 8 year olds or younger. You have to sit in class and play silly games in a group  and answer the most childish questions like why you shouldn't say bad words etc. If you are in a class where others goof around, are loud make rude comments  and you complain, management  will do nothing. They talk about policy and rules for bullying, harrassment but there is racism, sexism and bullying and even when they know and its reported they do zero to address it. If you dont want to play their games or join in in one of their huddles or food sharing then you will be hated and you won't last there. One woman I met told me she's been their for over 10 years and stays because she has health issues and is up there in years  and she feels she's doesn't wany retrain somewhere else or change.  She told me that nobody likes her and she always hears negative things  about her  but she said she doesn't care because A) she's used to it and B) she ignores it. She told me she doesn't socialize but doesn't get fired because of her she's been there so long and performs high so they dont care. No point in complaining. 
She said it's the worst seeing supervisors in their 20s that can't do their job and get their friends in. She is super nice and there are a few others like her that are long term
I and another person in my class told her about what we were going through and she said she knew about it but it is what is and find a better job or stay and try and ignore it.When I started  before I left there were  3 in my group that left mainly women and then 1 guy and then me. This company is always hiring  because most people dont stay or those that do are staying because of the reason like the woman above or  they have the best jobs and are getting the best shifts with who they know. Some shifts are the worst and you have to bid on them and it is up to the supervisor who will give to their friend. I met a few students there that are part time and they use it for short term until they finish school.  Even those said it's a joke and they can't believe how bad it is but they dont care.!

The new client can make things challenging, frustrating, but also at times rewarding. 

Call center environments do typically have higher turnover than the average job, especially when there is a distinct lack of performance incentives. The nature of the current client is you are expected to show up day-in day-out. You have to be willing to handle aggressive personalities and policies you may not agree with for a slowly moving pay-scale. 

The culture is a bit like a clique sometimes. If you are an introvert, do not expect any favors or people (including management) helping you. If you aren't part of the "clique" you can expect job advancement to move as slow as molasses. 

One of the biggest wedges among staff is requesting time off. If you have a good working relationship with management and your supervisor, you can get whatever days off you want. If you just show up to do your job, and do it well, then expect management to keep you chained to your desk as long as possible. 

The only incentives that they have had regularly (prior to the coronavirus situation) is working extra time. This is so they can continue to give their friends time off but still meet the client's expectations. 

The employment situation is not all bad. You can communicate with some very interesting people. There isn't any pressure getting customers off of the phone. Hypocrisy is present, but most jobs have varying levels of hypocrisy.

Shift bids every few months mean that employees cannot plan for other things outside of work, such as night classes, hobby groups, etc. It is very hard to have a LIFE while working here. Quality standards are continually changing, requiring continual adjustment on the part of the floor staff. Management does not consider the unique needs of employees when planning shifts, and because the buses have a limited time in which they run, if an employee does not have a vehicle and needs to bus to work, they can still be placed on a schedule which forces them to find alternate ways to get to work. Slowest elevator in the Western Hemisphere. Employees are required to leave the production floor on breaks and lunches, but if one is disabled and needs to take the elevator, they are penalized for getting back late through no fault of their own. Co-workers ranged from nice to not-so-nice. A high school mentality is evident throughout. Very high turnover because employees are just numbers to management. Supervisors are petty and unprofessional if they dislike a particular employee and will negatively comment on the employee's annual review regardless of the employee's actual performance.

When you first get there you will train for a month! :D Do that training, it is easy and then quit around the time A-Bay gets hard. They will hard sell you on how great it is to work there and how awesome they are. Do not fall for it, I remember crying not he first Canada day I've ever had to work because I felt trapped inside at my desk and couldn't get approved for a VTO when the place was painfully boring slow. That day like many others I just fell down on my bed when I got home and didn't even eat a good meal.

A typical work day involves having 40-50 calls a day. You'd think it isn't so bad because it is a phone. However the system is designed to aggravate customers, supervisors use the expression owning calls when you begin on production. FYI some of the employees stink and are undesirable so they work at StarTek because no one else would have them. This place went to being about customer service to becoming a financial care place which is the step right before the customers go to the debt collectors. 

I say work here if you have no self respect and do not wish for a happy life balance. I quit after feeling claustrophobic and trapped at my desk! I literally took five calls after being coached by my supervisor. Had a panic attack then rushed out on my break to Human resources to resign and tell them there was no way I could go back on the phone.

I made some amazing friends from working here. However, having to deal with people screaming at you all day on the phones does start to get to you eventually. The pay here is awful, it's barely above minimum wage even though the job itself does require some skill and they work you hard for the full shift so I believe you should be getting paid a bit more. I was a part of the company when they allowed us to work from home and it then became apparent how much the company does not care about us at all. The equipment and systems just don't work properly and as a result the employees who are having issues have a poor scorecard. In my experience and many others that I've talked to, they have been giving out what they call "correctionals" which are basically a demerit on your employment record and if you get too many you can be fired. I have personally gotten two, one for my calls dropping due to my systems not working (not even my fault), and one for not making scorecard (once again, not my fault because of my technical issues). I honestly thought highly of management until all of this. It's really not a bad place to work if you're just looking for a filler job until you find something better as it's pretty easy to get hired here and the people that work here are honestly awesome people.

I worked at Startek for several years, until they lost their contract with a long-term client. The loss was entirely their fault, and in turn the entire business here eventually went under.

The job was nothing but stress. Management, for the most part, was completely terrible. There were some supervisors who would disappear for hours on end doing who knows what. Their QA department was an elite few comprised of the same individuals for over a decade, who would not overturn a wrong score because they could never be wrong.

No real bonuses. Minimal raises. The more work you do, the lower your raise, so there was no incentive to work hard or care about your work at all. You could get 100% on your metrics all year and still not be issued a raise. If you were BFFs with your supervisor, they'd play with your scorecard to get you a small raise. Even their HR turnover rate was astonishing.

It was also difficult to get time off. You had to book six months in advance in most cases, and usually somewhere a ball would be dropped where someone would forget to approve it and the pool would be gone even if you booked first.

I loved working for this company, as the environment and culture was great. I enjoyed the people who I worked with, as well as the opportunities for growth within the company. I enjoyed going to work each day, as I grew and learned something new daily. I was promoted twice within the company after showing hard work and demonstrating I was capable of handling a management position, and excelling at it. I learned a lot about myself through failures and successes, and the operational management team was very supportive throughout my growth as a person and a professional. The hardest part about my job was having to issue corrective action when necessary, as having tough conversations with fellow employees can be challenging sometimes. The most enjoyable part of this job was the ability to have fun and be happy at work within a positive environment. There were a lot of incentives for performance not only from a management level, but also as a customer service representative. If I hadn't moved away for personal reasons, I would still be employed and loving it there today.

Startek is a family oriented company. While working there for 10 years I made a new work family. You are always welcomed and someone is there to help you. My co-workers and my immediate boss particiapted in fun days (dressing up, playing games) to build team motivation within our teams that we managed daily. We always enjoyed theme days, potlucks, bake sales, even karoke.
When I started at Startek in 2003 I was a customer service agent, from there I built my skills becoming first a team lead assisting my supervisor with some daily tasks in inputing data for cusotmers or in leading weekly team meetings. From there I mentored on my own time to become first a temp supervisor assisting with watching several teams while supervisors took vacations, from there I became full time supervisor on the evening shift for the last 3 years at Startek.
I enjoyed the opportunities given to me to travel to Jonesboro AK and Decatur IL to assist and train new supervisors and agents at our growing call centers.

Filled with a million questions to answer to bring satisfaction to many different types of customers who all need there services fixed first...
Learned new things every day as much as products as programs different departments and skills.
Worked my way up to trainer witch was the most rewarding work I have ever done!!
Always changing the co-workers were always interesting and fresh, though it was enjoyable to have those who did last to be able to share knowledge with.
The most difficult part was when my hands were tied and there was no way to help the customer but to change his products, though I knew it would be best for this person it was still difficult to force them into  anew way of thing even if it frighten them. (For certain individuals, especially those of a certain generation change is not better)

A typical day at work would consist of logging on to the network answering inquiries from customers. Giving out billing information when required. Setting up systems for new clients such as internet and telephone systems. Management was always available to lend a hand when required and co-workers were very team oriented.  The hardest part of the job was working with out dated systems and resolving problem issues in a specified amount of time as some issues were complex and required more time to in order to resolve.  The best part of the job was speaking with clients and being able to resolve any issues they may have to their satisfaction.

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