customer service representative

vice-président finance

helpdesk associate

technical support

associate manager

Sutherland

During the training period, this job was great. It made me think that not only would i succeed, but also enjoy my time here. All kinds of encouragement like "youre not just a number here!" and so on. Then once my actual job started, I was whisked away to sit alone in a corner, talking to the worst of the worst consumers each day for over 9 hours.
The program I worked for offered incentives, but these incentives can only be met if you let yourself get talked to by racist and homophobic customers all day. You cant defend yourself, and are discouraged to hang up (in order to hit the incentives). 
       The atmosphere of the job is HORRIBLE. In my short time working there, I had several customers comment "it sounds like youre working in a sweat shop, its so loud!" because it is SO loud you can barely hear who youre speaking with. The walls have random paint spatters and holes in the ceiling, you arent allowed to have anything on the floor of your job. No paper, pens, books, not even a cardigan on your chair is allowed. 
      I will say, the staff are extremely friendly, its very diverse- HOWEVER in terms of "youre not a number!" is an utter lie. The managers get paid LESS than you do. You work one of the most annoying/frustrating jobs ever, and you barely get above minimum wage, will never meet any upper management, your breaks are "15 minutes" but theyre so tight its closer to 12 minuets, and the surrounding area is horrendous. Lastly, the hours are 12-9PM, which leaves you literally 0 time to do anything besides work, and no, they will never change the hours.
     I was doing very well at my job here, and even considered looking to be promoted to manager at some point, because it might be more enjoyable. After I expressed my interest, one of the managers said "do any of the managers here look happy to you? " Which really put the tone of this job into perspective here.
     If you are an individual who can put aside every terrible aspect of a job, willing to be belittled by customers everyday, and have a terrible work environment, in order to make money, then this job is doable for you. If youre an individual who likes to make relationships, spend time outside of work, or do something youre passionate about, this job will destroy your mental state and your passion.

A typical day at SGS:
Have to arrive at least 30 - 45 minutes early and be on your way up because of the impossibly long wait for the two elevators - and there's usually only one in service - so you can be upstairs and have everything set up before you start your shift, since you're expected to start answering the phones the second the clock ticks over.
The stairs are steep and awkward, so walking up 22 flights of stairs to the 11th floor is a bit over-the-top. (But 100% props to you if you do it!)
If you start after noon, you'll have to spend at least 20 minutes trying to find a seat with a working computer.
"Working" being a relative term because the computers can't actually handle the poorly coded tools that are required to do the job, and they freeze/crash all the time. 
Now, the main ordering system can only launch one instance of ordering, and it is very slow and has a tendency to freeze up the entire program if you're not careful. My position had me handling 2-3 of these orders at once, with the clock running on how long it was taking to clear each. 
If your computer is being extra problematic that day don't expect to be allowed to move seats. Managers are hard to find, and harder to convince of anything.

The only positives I have to say about this job is that when you take away the issues with the systems ( in dire need of an upgrade ) the actual job is easy, and the tools are not very complex. Comfy ergonomic chairs came in half way through my time at SGS, and there was always good conversation and interesting people during the lulls. 
They allow their employees to have hobbies and books on the floor for breaks or when they are not busy, or on calls waiting for the customer/technician to do a task that takes time.

Although I loved the idea of working from home, this is not a good company. Typical call centre that is strictly focused on performance and metrics. No care for the employees and everything you learn in training can go out the window as then you get in trouble for doing what you were taught. They set you for up for failure and there is a true lack of support when you need it. They do not care at all about you as a person or an employee. They are super strict, even if you're one second late you get talked to about it and they use scare tactics. There is no understanding around appointments and there is no life balance. Expect to not have a life or to see your family because they expect you to be on calls well after the end of your shift. Long hours and no consideration for your home life. They have a very long and intensive interview process and then tons of software to download to your PC. I did not enjoy my time here. Trust me, if you have any respect for yourself, do not work here and you can do better. They do have a decent benefits package but that's about it. When you need help, you literally have to jump through hoops just to get told you have email someone else. It was not fun, full of stress and always on edge to ensure you were on time and maintaining your performance. Slightly more than minimum wage but it's not enought to live on and its no where near enough for the kind of stuff you have to do and the amount of stress, it's just not worth it. I was tech support for an American company, not even sure if that's legal. Customers from the states calling in and were shocked when they asked us where we are and we say Canada. If you have a family or care about having a life, do not work here. You're literally just a number and they don't care about you at all. 

Overall, not a bad place to work for. But there are certain factors that can make it a great place to work such as the client you're working for, your team, your manager, and if you like working with your team or not. Unfortunately, most of these things you won't know until you're already hired which is why I think it's worth a try if it sounds like something you're interested in but you're on the fence and probably not a good idea if you're looking for something specific or a long-term job. I say that because even in the best-case scenario, things will likely change, you'll be moved to a different program, your manager will change, your team will change, and it might feel like a completely different job. 

In most cases, a typical day will be pretty repetitive, with the odd day being worse than others. That's why I think your team and if you work in the office makes a big difference since it can help make days feel more unique and special as well as help make the bad days go by faster. If you're working remotely or with a team that doesn't talk much, it basically does the opposite and makes even the easy days feel twice as long. I'm not sure if it's just from the pandemic or not, but this job really made me realize how much better it is to work with a team, as I normally liked working on my own. 

So that's why I would say the hardest part of the job is being able to adjust to the changes if/when they happen as it could change the whole way you work and maybe even become something that's not for you anymore as what happened in my case. But at the same time, I think the most enjoyable part of the job is working with your team, helping each other out, and getting through your shift together, rather than just counting the seconds until you can leave. 

First of all, I have a master's degree. I decided to change career to IT right after graduation and I needed a job badly at the time. I'm grateful that Sutherland gave me an opportunity while seemingly no other company would (small city, end of year, COVID, etc.)

Good words end here, unfortunately. Because of call centre nature, call taking agents are usually very busy and stressed. I took calls for two months and (were asked to) switched to emails. Life is much quieter and relaxing, although for some it could also mean boring and dreadful. I enjoyed my email days until new opportunity knocked my door.

The management is a mess and it's my biggest complain about the company. Team managers only seem to care about their metrics/performance. When agents need them for things like paid time leave, reschedule, or even freaking resignation, they are unresponsive to say the least. I've had a couple of TMs and only one is exception. In short, the management is ignorant and cold blooded.

The pay, there is nothing to write home about. Lowest across industry and no pay increase during my year. Other benefits are pretty standard, but as I mentioned before, good luck scheduling PTO with your team manager.

All in all, I only recommend this company if you are new grad, looking for a job badly, no one's willing to take you, you plan to self-study off work, and plan to leave for better job as soon as possible. 

A typical day at sutherland involved accepting inbound calls from AT&T customers. Customer can be fairly angry or upset and can project their feelings on you. Representatives need to be skilled in problem solving, reassuring the customer and deescalating callers. 

A disadvantage to working here is the emotional burn out you will feel when you resolve the customer's issue but the customer may still not give you a positive survey, or may not fill out a survey for you at all, which will negatively affect your score. Sutherland takes these scores seriously, and there is pressure to keep yourself in range. If you don't stay in range, they will fire you. It can be stressful, as some customers are satisfied but just chose not to fill out the surveys, or some are angry entering the call and are still upset even after a solution is presented. With the pressure to stay in range, and upset customers lashing out at you for something that is not your fault, it doesn't take much to feel overwhelmed and burnt out. In my opinion, their score system is flawed. It is understandable that scores should be important to sutherland, as it's the only way to review the agents, however people should not be fired because of neutral callers. Maybe in the future they will improve their score system, but as of right now, it only creates more stress to an already stressful job.

This job is very, very stressful I don’t recommend working at this place!  
If you love to be yelled at and like to be sworn at on the phone it’s the perfect job for you! The money is below average for the abuse an agent takes for calls 8 hrs a day! If you are very sensitive to people being angry and upset swearing putting down others on the phone this job isn’t for you at all! The mental stress from callers is out of this world for a human to withstand this much mental stress for callers complaining and anger management issues. The mangers are ok some don’t care about anyone just how long a call takes and how many calls are finished in an hour. Even if your an amazing agent you still get coaching for taking to many bathroom breaks. I feel everything is super disorganized one day your told one thing then the next day it’s incorrect. The only thing I love about the job is the nice callers they are the best and very respectful. The angry customers who call swear at the agent and go off the handle! The positive is working from home which is nice. The company doesn’t supply any equipment no headset, no monitors, no computer of any kind. Must have cell phone, high speed internet. They have a referral program to get people to work at the company. When you got to give the link it doesn’t work at all. The system they want us to work on always freezes and you spend your days with tech support etc.. 

Sutherland has many departments, but you WILL be hired for phones where the customers are rude, will swear at you, degrade you, and you are expected to take the majority of the abuse with a "three time warning", you only get twenty seconds to finish up your documentation between calls, you have to announce your bathroom breaks to a chat room of people and those bathroom breaks are deducted from your regular breaks, you will be micromanaged but not have the management support when you need it.  If you do get management support, expect to feel belittled for even asking a question in a group chat room. 

You will be paid less than your coworkers in Ontario even if you do a better job than they do. Turnover is high for a reason. 

There is no job security, as Sutherland has contracts with such companies as Disney and RBI, massive layoffs can and have happened. 

Save yourself the stress and look for something better, the only enjoyable part is working from home but because you will be hired for phones, you will be faced with "shift bids" and more than likely be on the worst possible one. Don't expect a work-life balance even though you are working from home unless you are lucky enough to end up in a department that isn't phones. 

This is just another third party call center. Work morale is extremely low as most call centers are that run on small budgets and push for low billable shrink. Definitely somewhere to go as an in-between or beginner job. Call volume is fair but can get super busy at times. Metrics are fairly easy to obtain. Lots of unprofessional coworkers that act like kids and it just goes tolerated by management. Makes the environment feel like a daycare.

The major problem with these major corporate third party call centers is that they're not getting any better with time, but worse. As the cost of living and minimum wage hikes up, they're falling behind in job advantages, and Sutherland falls under this umbrella. 

At this place, you can expect to feel the full force of both the low economic prowess of Windsor and the lackluster experience of working at a high stress call center environment. You can tell that the managers and trainers are stressed big time, and it shows in how they approach their roles. 

Their call quality process is pretty crazy, too. They really try to find reasons to push for disciplinary action. 

However, Sutherland does have a few great advantages to working there. Listed in the Pros section.

Sutherland Global Services is a call centre in Windsor, ON. I specifically work as tech support for AT&T Uverse resolving issues with cable, phones, and the Internet. AT&T places unreasonable quality demands on the company and those demands lead to a very stressful work environment, high turnover rate, unrealistic expectations, and a haven for buck-passing attitudes. That said, SGS provided satisfactory benefits despite the low wages and several opportunities to advance within the company, though the turnover rate among higher positions was still unusually high. I have not climbed the ladder within the company because I have found success and relative stability in my position. The satisfaction of resolving a customer's issue, while short-lived due to the number of issues to be resolved daily, provides sufficient motivation to answer the next call or chat. Sutherland has justly earned a poor reputation in Windsor as an undesirable place to work, not least because of the building's frightening history with bedbugs, but it's one of few places in Windsor that offers stable, full-time work with benefits.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Customer service representative 4 salaries reported	$15.50 per hour
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Technical support 3 salaries reported	$31,000 per year
Associate manager 3 salaries reported	$42,000 per year

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