software engineer

développeur web

architecte software

responsable assurance qualité

technicien helpdesk

West

The management operates on the "only about yourself" basis. Hence, as long as you look out for yourself, and follow policies and procedures, you will be just fine. However; if you have the type of personality where you do not want to be treated as a number, or as a child in daycare. A person who actually HAS opinions...this is not the place for you! Unfortunately, it is only the individuals who have that classic "two face" personality who are given the chance to advance here. Those who prefer to keep quiet, keep their head down, and follow the leader without ever questioning right or wrong. Not for those who naturally have charisma and stand out of the crowd.
I won numerous Employee of the Month awards, received many kudos by clients & co-workers, had flawless data entry. Yet, I was never given the chance to advance within three years of working here. This is why they have "high turnover rates", people would like to be treated with respect. Not like their job is easily replaced by someone who costs less to hire. 

A typical day of work was eight hours of answering incoming calls, specified data entry, and scheduling reservations or completing account creations. Very easy to do, can be quite enjoyable. However, the wage per hour does not constitute the stress placed on you by Intercall management. Hence their full-time benefit package, it includes stress therapies as well as massage. The workplace as a whole was not positive, it was every man for themselves, and pinned person against person. I feel for a company to truly be a positive place to work: you must feel your job is secure in nature, and you are all working for the common goal. This is not the case for Intercall Canada. The entire atmosphere is the worst part of the job. At first it may not be seen, but after a year or so it will be crystal clear.

west was a company that would stand out from the rest but for the most part, not in a good way.

they had it right as far as the wage with the performance based incentive bonuses (something i was a strong supporter of). the downside to that was the bar was set so ridiculously high for the incentives the only people that earned the top bonus were the ones that cheated at their jobs (ie: blind transfers, resetting a clients cell phone knowing they were on it resulting in dropped calls etc, etc). 

in my opinion management for the bulk of my time there was a joke but there were a few team leads and supervisors there that could EASILY offset the bad parts. when one would threaten to PIN (performance improvement notice) someone out of their job daily, another would HELP that employee improve their work. 

the working in teams aspect of the job was awesome as it would inspire competitiveness and also teamwork at one time resulting in many fun days interacting with co-workers. the people that worked there along side me were awesome and i have made MANY lasting friendships thru West Corp.

On the downside because of their poor management and HR the reputation of the employer soon became well known throughout Victoria. they had gone thru 10,000 employees in the 3 years the location was open and announced it closure here citing "the low exchange rate on the dollar" when anyone who had left there knew it was because they couldnt keep their staff. if it WAS the dollar, they also would have closed the other office they had just opened elsewhere in Canada too, which they didnt.

as i see it the place was average at best and the pros and cons of the job were very balanced. had there not been such power tripping by team leads and underhanded tactics from the head office for west to its employees im sure they would still be around. overall it was a decent place to be all the same

Overall my experience at West was mostly positive, despite the low ratings I gave for most of the categories.  The nature of my work afforded me with invaluable skills that I would later use in the future to obtain better paying jobs and promotions.  My manager was an outstanding guy with whom I became friends.  My coworkers were talented, skilled people who wanted to do their job to the best of their abilities.

Having said all of that - it is a call center.  The agents are undervalued.  Were it not for their existence, I would not have had a job. For that I am grateful to them for enduring long days, mean customers and frankly some mean management people.

The money was not terrific, however, my goal was to make the most of what the environment had to offer technology wise - i.e. I was there for a good time, not a long time.  Job security does not really exist in technology.  Anyone who thinks that must be working in a government job.

Always provide a professional image , Great clients- answer incoming calls- distribute incoming mail- other administration tasks.

I learned how to conduct myself towards political issues, 
Maintaining a positive encouraging attitude, positive criticism,
Team work, problem solving, growth in learning different task software
etc.

Respect co-workers and management authority, discretion is a must, deliver good work ethics at all times.

I always give my very best and it is somewhat easy because I enjoy what I do.
My main goal is to provide an excellent service to all at all times.
When you enjoy what you do it is not difficult however, the hardest for me is when viewing misconduct at reception ex: a co-worker displaying an improper behavior or verbal in front of a client.

Providing my professional services with a smile when needed and all other tasks required with that position.

Management will criticize your every move - three passwords to log in and out required morning, lunch and end of day. You have to send an instant message requesting permission to use the washroom. If you receive a call a minute before your shift ends thus causing overtime, you are sent emails asking why you didn't service that caller quicker yet expect you to have empathy and 110% customer service. The employees take calls before they are trained to do so properly. Very repetitive. If you are taking only Canadian calls in the bilingual sue, sometimes you have to sit and stare at your computer and receive a call every 2 hrs or so. Very stressful, would not recommend working there.

This was an okay company to work for before Apollo took over. It then became nothing more than a profit mill for them. They fired hundreds of people, and have been working everyone else to exhaustion. Everyone feels that they can be next to go at all times. Overwhelmingly intrusive management from the top. They asked us to write up our goals, and then basically dictated to us what we were supposed to paraphrase. Heavily controlled with the attempted illusion that your voice counts for something. Not at all the fairly pleasant place it used to be. Apollo is just another Wall Street entity that is about nothing other than greed.

Typical day began at 5AM - 2PM. I learned the practice of focus, through logging in and out, including breaks, which was a valuable lesson in efficiency! Management did the very best they could with the huge number of personnel and personalities on the floor. Friendly upbeat co-workers were engaged and always willing to help. We were encouraged through stat performance.
The most difficult part of the job was being 'tethered' to our workspace for the entire time.
Most enjoyable was the incredible training sessions and dealing with the inbound customers!

I love the people I worked with. They are all hard-working, dedicated and talented people.  The company used to invest in employee engagement - with events once or twice a year, chances to meet the people in other offices, pretty decent snacks, and an investment in developing the management skills of the managers (like myself). However after we were acquired by yet another huge company all of those things ended; people from each office whose responsibilities included making the office a fun place to be were let go, and security cameras went up everywhere.

What is the best part of working at the company?
my coworkers, that was the only good part of working at west

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
you could get fired or laid off at any time, too much politics,  blaming game all over the company, the company is too cheap to give you a proper raise 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
no work culture, work culture is a joke at west 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
regretting your life and your decision in the morning for working at WEST

The job site reflects the culture of the American corporation which owns it. The work demands a stressful balance of speed and quality, and one dare not sacrifice either. In order to  make American callers think that we were in the USA we had to lie , stating that we were near Seattle even as we were speaking from Victoria, Canada.
Some of the executive had an inner circle, especially one woman. She also had an aristocratic air that she displayed to all of us "peons" in the telephone cubicles.
 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Software engineer 9 salaries reported	$80,117 per year
Développeur web 5 salaries reported	$94,500 per year
Architecte software 9 salaries reported	$117,778 per year
Responsable assurance qualité 6 salaries reported	$80,000 per year
Technicien helpdesk 3 salaries reported	$28.83 per hour

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