Stream Global Services

I spent about 10 months at stream. During which I was moved to and retrained for 5 different positions, all of which were pseudo-optional.
If you do decide you want to "wait and see if anything is available," instead of going along with the change being forced on you you will either find yourself out of a job or working at the lowest paying filler contract they have at the location.

The point system in place is set up so that once you reach 8 points they are able to terminate your position, half a point for signing in anything more than 4 minutes late for work and half a point for coming in late from lunch.
A full point is assigned for any unscheduled absence of if you are more than 4 hours late. Absences for medical reasons are excused if it's a series of days, however you will still receive 1 point for the initial absence. If you show up anyways and then have to take a leave of absence this starts over again and it would be an additional point.

As for the pay, it's better than minimum wage and the physical workload is nonexistent, however the job itself gets to be extremely stressful depending on the type of contract you are working on. Usually the companies you will work on contract for have their own in-house customer service and technical support agents, they are paid much higher(starting at 15 an hour+ in some instances) for the same job you're doing for slightly above minimum wage.
Technical support is usually better in regards to customer interaction because these are people whose issues you can usually fix and they will be grateful for it, even if they came into the call angry. Tech Support also pays better with the cap being 12.25 when I was working there.
Customer service is much worse. You'll end up stuck on call after call dealing with people who want to yell at you because they think you're part of whichever company you're working on a contract for. The cap for this is up to around 11.25, I believe, and some contracts pay lower. 
For customer service it ends up with an 8 hour work day of dealing with people who a lot of the time are not seemingly mentally competent. I've had a number of people who basically yelled demands at me the whole time and ignored my rational explanation of why I'm not able to give them money they have no right to. When I suggested the customer went into the retail location they had had the problem with she explained that last time they had called the police on her and will do it again. 

These are the type of people you will deal with daily.

The best part about the job there was that the TMs(team managers) are often enough very eager to help you because they've been in your shoes before and know what you're dealing with. 

Other than that there isn't really anything pleasant about the company.

Communication between locations is poor at best, if you work on a contract for a company that supports a wide variety of products expect to have people misrouted to you and need to transfer them. Sometimes this goes easily, sometimes you end up having to argue with someone on the other side of the planet who will tell you they cannot help you because they don't want to do their job properly.

If you have aspirations of making it to Team Manager or any other positions it basically relies on whether or not they like you, vs if you can actually do your job. A few agents will get groomed for the position and given a supervisor role, even if they are otherwise incompetent(I've had one who couldn't answer a basic question about the product we were supporting, I was sure I knew the answer but wanted confirmation, he told me I should look it up on my own, and it was a part of my job to know it.) Unless you're a part of this group you will have no chance of being promoted. There are people at the location I worked at who have been phone agents for 5+ years.

Part of being moved between contracts was taking a pay cut as I went from tech support level 2 to customer service. The people who elected not to go when we were told this was going to happen were fired.

You'll be told that they're doing everything they can to accommodate you but as anyone who has worked there before will tell you it's a joke. You'll end up getting screwed over one way or another and lied to by management.

Another facet of working there is shift bid.
Your placement is primarily based off of seniority. I've done a shiftbid where I had higher customer service ratings than quite a few agents(around 80%) and should have been near the top of the list, but because seniority weighs so heavily on these shiftbids anyone who had been there over a year had an unfair advantage, regardless of their numbers being around (50-60%).
Due to the nature of the job you will be required to worked any day of the year, holiday or not, depending on the contract it could be at any time of day(some go 24 hours).

There are usually only a few shifts with weekends off so the vast majority end up with you having days such as Wednesday-Thursday off. 

That's really all I have to say about Stream. 

If you have no other opportunities it's an okay place, but don't stay for more than you have to. After 3 months you receive a performance evaluation where you will be given a 75 cent raise. This is the only raise you will ever receive as a phone agent, unless you have a change of position and are promoted to a higher position.

The only thing I came away from it with were some skills for dealing with people and that's about it.

You'll hate your contractor after this job

Here's a summary:

- Paid by the minute (no, not hourly)
- Application Process is a lie (pick any answers, don't waste time)
- Healthy living isn't promoted at all (HR lied to me) 
- Management is hit and miss
- We're worthless
- Some bad advice (based on experience)
- A dirty factory job disguised as a comfy office job


Typical Day:
Go to work, punch in 5 mins early cause I can, take a 27 min lunch and leave on the dot. Set up out bounds and take in bounds, draw when I'm bored, get up to stretch (you can feel management glaring at you when you get up at all).

What I learned:
Corporation will annoy you. Working here is so rule-crazy that I feel like a rebel just for having some basic human rights, like standing, walking, going on break etc. It's crazy.

Co-workers:
I have a theory: You hate your job and love your co-workers, or you love your job and hate your co-workers. 
This job will make you love either your coworkers or the people on the phone because you're locked in a corner with management and forced to work like a fiend.

Hardest part:
Trust. You can't because someone will stab you in the back.

The most enjoyable part:
Getting walked. I felt a freedom, like leaving prison.


- Paid by the minute
Here's a little secret: you're paid minutely, not hourly. I've worked 40 hrs and 18 mins thanks to that cheap system. I've made more money then my co workers who work a lot harder than I do. Also there's no punch card, you walk 5 minutes to your computer from the entrance, log-in to your computer, go to the software called timecard and punch in on the exact minute you start (start at 8, punch at 8, not 7:59). This alone made me want to quit. 
TCO thankfully isn't as strict with timecard but you're still paid minutely .
I asked management and he had no idea what I was talking about. 


- Application Process is a liar
They hire anyone off the street, and fire you even quicker.
After that lengthy application and IQ test you're hired. I had that for TCO application, guessed 70% of the answers and got hired on. Oh and get this, you don't even have to finish the test and they'll hire you. 

- Health isn't promoted (HR lied to me)
This part I actually don't care about if it weren't for HR telling me in the interview how much they promote an active and healthy lifestyle (if they tell you this; laugh!). 
Here's the reality: Everyone smokes, it's like the 50s over there, instead of having a cardio machine, they have a lounge. After sitting all day you can keep sitting. Also poutine and burgers are really popular, which is hilarious because of what HR said in that interview.

- Management is hit and miss
Management is really a hit and miss. You can't really blame them for enforcing bad rules from our glorious contractor, which no one really knows if its Stream making the rules or our glorious contractor (everyone praises them). Management reminds me of a jealous ex; look for something better and they'll ruin you, stay and they'll make your life hard, it's a lose-lose.


- We're worthless
Everyone I talked to shares the same complaints I have. The company doesn't trust you and there's a gun to your head everyday. There's a few people who've been there for a year and almost lost there job because of one screw up. The best way to describe the attitude is that you're an illegal immigrant who they graciously hired but they don't have to keep you, so you work super hard so that maybe they might not fire you. 
Customers have legit complaints and corporate don't care at all and we're not even allowed to agree with them or we're fired, we're the bad guys in this, all for corporate.

- "Sorry" just makes things worse
Maybe I'm street smart or just plain not-stupid, but I never apologize for stuff I never did. I'm never going to say "I'm sorry", or even that word if I didn't personally do anything. 
Point being; you always have to apologize, even if you didn't do anything wrong, but you can't do that for another departments screw-up, just there situation and always use that word which is like pooring gas on a fire. 
When I did "do as I'm told" by saying sorry it was nothing but trouble that could've easily been avoided. Who believes a call-center guy apologizing when your jobs basically a professional liar and you expect people to believe you and not get even angrier?
My co-workers all got yelled at by customers because they follow corporate rules by talking based on procedures, which equals to a hard beating over the phone. I never did that and I was fine, I talked to anyone like how I talk in real life and no one was mad at me, just frustrated at their situation and the company I'm forced to take hits for.

- A dirty factory job disguised as a comfy office job
It's a factory, plain and simple. They want you to think it's not and that you're worth a dime, but you're worthless and it's not. 
You here about factories firing people easy and treating people less than dirt, but what you don't know is that it's the same thing here. 
I've worked in a factory and it treats you better: do your job, go home.
Also they want you to dress professional, but everyone (like a factory) dresses in whatever they want, like pajama pants, and other unprofessional attire. 
I think there's a small bias in favor of women but the funny thing is; we're all treated so equally bad that it doesn't matter anyway. (Basically girls getting away with breaking a few clothing rules, guys can't).

Unless things have changed since I left, one definite plus is that Stream specializes in tech support which focuses on calls coming in, not on making cold calls. Never did I have to take a list of random phone numbers and starting calling people to try to sell them something (I don't think I would have stayed long if I did).

As a tech support agent, you spend your day answering calls and helping people with their computer issues. Customer service skills are essential for you to be a success - you are taught the technical skills needed for each contract. Your customer service skills will dictate how well you can soothe an irate customer, how well you can listen to what a customer is saying and extract the information you need to quickly resolve their issue, and how happy the customer will be with their interaction with you (regardless of whether you were able to fix their issue or not). Even if you are a highly technical person, working in a tech support call centre will not be the job for you if you do not have any customer service skills. If your customer service skills are great and your tech level is low, there is probably still a contract that you can be trained for - different contracts require different levels of technical ability. In time, the issues you deal with on the phone become largely routine, making the job much easier, but also quite repetitive.

One drawback is that you will likely feel like "just a number", but you will find this in any large company. The sheer volume of employees makes that necessary (at one point there were around 1400 employees in our location alone). In order to maintain service levels, the time you spend on the phone is highly regulated: break times are very specific (to ensure not too many people go on break at the same time leaving no-one available to answer calls), average call length is monitored, calls waiting in queue is constantly a concern. You are required to document each call in company-specific software for issue tracking and analysis. Calls are randomly screened for quality coaching. Often I felt "leashed" to my desk by the cord from my headset to the phone. Selecting shifts are done by seniority, as is a lot of time off requests. There is a process for everything, which is a blessing and a curse. There is a very specific performance penalty system (points for performance issues such as being late, inappropriate behavior on the phone, etc) which at times feels draconian, but unfortunately the sheer volume of people that have to been tracked necessitates these measures. Expectations are pretty clearly laid out. There is a regular review structure and you typically receive a fair bit of feedback on your performance throughout the year.

Having worked on a few different contracts, I found that whether I enjoyed my job or not depended largely on who my manager was at the time and how they handled their team - good manager, enjoyable workplace - bad manager, miserable workplace. Some of the best managers I have ever worked with were at Stream (and a couple of the worst - fortunately they were the minority). Having a good manager vastly alleviates that "just a number" feeling. Fortunately, there is often availability to move between contracts or to move into new positions within the company. Upward growth from within the ranks is definitely encouraged (keeping in mind that you are still competing with hundreds of fellow employees for these positions).

I found there was a lot of camaraderie and friendly competition between contracts. There are places where people can meet and mingle during breaks. Overall, I have very fond memories of my time spent there and still keep in touch with friends made there.

Some call centres pay more and have better benefits than Stream, but most of those are company-specific call centres. At Stream, there are people working for multiple different companies in one building. The pay structure might not be the very best (although it is not bad), but the perk is that if one department is downsized, employees are often re-trained and moved to a different contract. If there are staff cuts at those company-specific call centres, those people are out of a job. Stream has a pretty decent level of job security compared to many other call centres. I remember being told once that the average lifespan of a call centre is only 3-5 years. Stream Chilliwack is definitely an exception to that rule. As for call centre jobs in general, most of the people who truly hated working in the call centre (in my experience) had no idea what a call centre job would be like. That is actually very understandable when you consider that employees are not encouraged to discuss work due to confidentiality agreements. People generally have some idea about what jobs would be like in a gas station since they are familiar with them and can see what goes on at one. Call centres are more of a mystery to anyone who hasn't been in one or who doesn't know a call centre employee. Like any other job, it has its pros and its cons, but overall I found Stream to be a decent employer.

Well, it is an absolutely awful place to work. They advertise "competitive pay"=Lie. They advertise "lots of chance to move up"= Lie. "great environment"=LIE. While I worked there, I lived about 50 minutes outside of town, one night I came in, went to my "supervisor" and told him about the large snowstorm we were supposed to get (my shift was 6pm-3am...not sure how that worked), and said "If it gets heavy, Im leaving before the roads get absolutely ugly" Well the storm slammed into the area(it lasted for 36 hours), I went up and said "Im leaving"...he told me that I couldn't, and would not let me leave(literally blocking the door). I was being held there against my will, so I threatened to call the police, and he threatened my job if I did that. Secondly, they tell you in training that your first shift selection quality is based on your average test score...well mine ended up being 3rd highest in my training group, #1 took Thursday--Monday 10-6pm, #2 took tuesday-sat-12-8 30pm, Then I chose Mon-Friday 10-6pm...and wound up getting stuck on a crazy graveyard shift.

Supervisors there are only in those positions because they literally tripped and fell right into them because of who they "know" and drink with, then they think they can intimidate people and try to bully people because they are in a position of authority. The only time someone ever gets promoted, is if someone else leaves. Raises don't exist, equality doesn't exist. Upper management is a complete joke, no idea how to treat employees. The pay is terrible, they claim to pay you commission on things you sell, but you never see it. All in all, it is quite possibly the worst place on the planet to work.

like any work place it expects you to put work first and everything else second, depending on which manager you get the work can range from barable to terrible. alot of it dependson what calls you get. expected to be angrely shouted at about three times an hour by people you are only trying to help. the co workers are good, management only talks about what you have done wrong never recognizing what you have done right. while there i never missed a single metric but they send out phone surveys and if someone decided that you didnt give them what they wanted so they rate you poorly its time for another daily talk with the manager. where you have to set more bs goals every week just to keep them happy.
you will never move from whatever position they start you in, and they lie when they hire you. for example the group was hired as tech support level two, yet we were clearly not.

you pretty much cannot get fired once you are out of the three month hire period. this place slowly drains your soul until you are dead inside and cry every day before starting work. 

most people sign up with stream just to do the three week training then quit. avoid it if you can, otherwise they are always hiring.  

pretty standard cafiteria, high prices, low quality food, all greasy, only other options are pre packaged salads.... dont eat those. 

most people last about eight months. if you make it to a year then you are doing exceptionally well. 

Stream is great place for anyone just starting in the workforce. 
A typical day is basically answer calls and taking breaks when scheduled. I learned a lot of technical and Interpersonal skills to assist customers so they leave the phone with a great experience. 

Management and Co-workers are pretty great.
Management does what they can to help you help the customer. They are overall awesome and usually stop what they are doing to help you out first. All the Co-workers I have met are usually friendly and try to help you out if your stuck.

The most difficult part of the job would be managing your mental stress level. Some days its dead and your tied to your desk  until break time. Other days its raining calls and you have no time for a break nor thought after another call comes in with somebody screaming in your ear. It can affect your personal life. 

Enjoyable parts of the job were knowing you had brightened someones day or conversing with co-workers during slow call days and being able to participate in fun staff functions.

A typical day at work is taking numerous inbound calls from customers using a headset and sitting at a desk for 7 or more hours out of the day staring at a computer screen while typing customer issue and resolution notes. The two coffee breaks and the hour lunch is a great way to take a deep breath and a break away from the phones and take time to yourself. What I learn in a day is how to deflect any customers and how to give customers the pickle. There is always a solution. I learn new product information that assists me in getting my job done in a positive way.
Management is always there for me for any questions I might have pertaining to getting the job done. Co-workers are like family and I tend to get along with everyone and like people to know who I am. I find it extremely sad when a co-worker leaves. The hardest part of the job is that you cannot always please everyone. Also the long hours if there is mandatory overtime in effect can be hard. The most enjoyable part of my job is the customers.
After all, customers come first and a lot of times customers can put a smile on your face and really make your day.

They pay on time, and promptly...I've worked a couple of contracts at Stream and while I met some great people, it overall felt like you were expendable. They get so many applicants and people fresh to the job market that the turnover is incredibly high.

Contracts focused on making your metrics (basically a bunch of stats like call time, hold time, etc etc) instead of helping people. Though admittedly the great agents could find the right balance, it led to lots of problem and call punting.

The management also uses the metrics to place you on your shifts...until they notice you're actually good at your job and try to force you on to a shift with a bunch of other people who are happy to do as little work as possible. 

While there are good managers, the majority know little about the product you're supporting as they're constantly moving from contract to contract.

They sometimes have incentives for completing your job well and meeting your metrics, though the payout is months after, if you're lucky. I actually got my last bonus 3 months after I'd quit my position.

Management is rather poor in my opinion, and this company is incredibly cheap. They do not even attempt to keep the best employees, nor appropriately reward them.

They also, do indeed, salary cap you.

I've worked there 9.5 yrs. I make only 13.19/hr.

The hardest part of the job is when you first get on the phones. You have to get used to pretending to understand more than you actually do, despite 'training'.

The most enjoyable part of the job is talking to interesting strangers on the phone, and meeting some good and interesting people while you are there.

I did learn to deal with all different kinds of people on the phone anyways.. and other people skills that also inevitably are acquired just by living life not as a complete hermit. But as far as really useful skills and knowledge it seems like I have acquired very little even after all these years there, sadly.

Typical day at work is basically normal with regular duties. Learnt to be team work player and collaborative and supportive. About the management is changing every time based on their needs and having certain missing with population in regards recognitions and incentives to retain talented values to the company.

My co-workers are essentially needed for business operations, data collection and results presentation and we have a good binding within the professional environment and good relationship in terms of team players.

The hardest part of our job is when we have to prepare reports and informs with a short time advanced. It's not easy as well as when we do not have the specific or valid source. 

The most enjoyable part is when I have the chance to assist some other areas in the company with our middle and upper management and fulfill their expectations also when I cooperate with team leader to cover specific tasks or duties within operations.

In general there were some spotlights and shadows throughout the years but I've learnt a lot.

Working at Stream Global Services: company overview and reviews

Stream Global Services

Stream Global Services ratings

Salary satisfaction

Job seeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected