January 2008 is when Echostar split from Dish. Which probably points to Charlie probably ignoring Dish and concentrating on Echostar in 2007. Even if not connected interesting that it started about the same time...
Dish Rated as Worst Company to Work For by Employees
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January 2008 is when Echostar split from Dish. Which probably points to Charlie probably ignoring Dish and concentrating on Echostar in 2007. Even if not connected interesting that it started about the same time...
I work for DNS and have been for 10 years. I would say it is not the worst place to work for but they have made it miserable and not as great as it once was. Yea when I signed up I said holidays was ok but they never worked you the holidays until the last 3 years or so. I don't mind 6 TC on Christmas because they should have working service but A upgrade or NC should not be on a Holiday. I'm a Christian so Christmas means something to me and I have a wife and kids so being home would be nice but again if a Dish customer needs help I'm there. I don't agree on how the CSR pushed for those holidays for all work orders. We use to have winter couple parties and family Sumner picnics paid by the company and they are gone. When they went to corporate tracking for performance the company also went down hill because it took away a lot of teamwork. We have to worry about numbers we have no control over for our performance. Each office finds a way to manipulate the system to make their numbers better and so across the board its not fair. ie.. in our office we are required to change any $50 dish relocate or $95 service call work order to wire management from ancillary services. It can take 5 calls to get a CSR to modify this and we get a lecture if we don't get this done. These stupid totes for our vans drive me nuts, we get told what goes in them and exactly how they are to be in the tote. it is a bunch of small micro management things that have been building up for many. We are expected to work like robots and get the stupid just 1 more quote shoved in our face like we don't do enough for the company. If we bring up issue that are on our mind they say hey there is the door. Maybe that isn't a Dish policy but it has been more then 1 time said in our office and other offices. When dish just decided to take the bottom 10% of employees and fire them even though we where still hiring and hired more after they where fired was just a show in force and a scare tactic in our minds. Now they try saying ever 6 months they will do this to keep us on our best. There where some good people that got fired. Some of the crappy installers stayed working because they help the numbers by taking to many short cuts and failing tons of QAS. Dish has a great product and is a good company and maybe they will clean up how they are to us and I will hold on hoping it works out but I tell you 90% of my office is not happy. People in here say why don't you all that are not happy leave, you chose Dish but Dish had changed from the day I took the job. Yeah maybe the survey isn't big on scale to the employee's Dish has but I would say its almost accurate. Now to judge Joe on approval rating may not be fair since he is still kinda new but its easy to say how happy you are when your at the top making millions a year and having weekends and holidays off. I just can't stand his just 1 more Job just 1 more sale just 1 more call speech but other then that I don't know much of him to say how he makes me feel as a CEO yet. Anyways when I rant I start to not make sense so I'm done.
For Joe Clayton
The problems with DISH are fairly simple and straightforward, the solutions are as well but not with the current mindset of DISH management.
You can send your execs to poke into these issues, but many of us love our jobs at DISH, Joe. We truly want what's best for the company, but only a handful of employees are stubborn/brave/stupid enough to challenge the highest echelons of DISH management trying to do the right thing. Your execs DO NOT respond kindly to having their authority, judgment or "experience" questioned; but you want to change all that, right? Start with this list; they aren't small items but that post in 24/7 Wall Street wasn't a lie. What I think I find most frightening, is your immediate reply that the statements and ranking was "ridiculous". I'm not sure if that's due to your responsibility to the stock holders, but not all of it was invalid Joe. There are problems in DISH; I think a more accurate reply might have been "I'm personally looking into it." I'm not sure if you truly will, but here it is in black and white if you wish to read it.
Don't try to contact me. This is a one-time use login and I won't be using it again. I have already taken time out of my night to try and help make you aware of things you need to be aware of. But more than that, I'd rather leave no further traces that might endanger my job. As much as I want DISH to do well, I have bills to pay.
One last addendum, Joe, the Talent Planning program. Why is it acceptable for senior management to implement a secret second "Performance Appraisal" process annually (which likely supercedes the regular PA process), that determines the overall health and direction of an employee's career, as each of their managers rank their abilities on a SWOT scale, but for which the results are NEVER provided to the employee? How can someone improve their performance if they don't know what they do is wrong? Further, Talent Planning feedback comes DIRECTLY from senior management; don't you think the employee wants to know these results and where their career is going long term even more than they want their manager's annual feedback? A secret "The Skulls"-like second performance appraisal process which the employee themself knows almost nothing about doesn't inspire trust.
The problems with DISH are fairly simple and straightforward, the solutions are as well but not with the current mindset of DISH management.
- Expectations: Joe, if you want a world-class team, with world-class performance, maintaining a world-class service... YOU HAD BEST OFFER WORLD CLASS PAY/BENEFITS (and not just for new hires please). No one wants to work for low wages (excuse me..."competitive in Colorado") where performance expectations are second to NONE! How can you in good conscience pay middle-class wage ranges when you want to be #1 in all things? If you want to BE #1, PAY YOUR PEOPLE AS THOUGH YOU ARE. DirecTV pays more; and many of your employees know it. Their Pride will keep them at DISH for a little bit, but Pride (Adventure, Winning) doesn't pay bills.
- Lost Benefits: Stop taking away company perks to save money. Morale is at an all time low, so you hunker down on existing benefits, close down parties, and I LOVED (I heart you for this) the "discounted" Rockies tickets...discounted? Charlie killed Coors field events at Christmas and you "discounted" tickets for a company-sponsored event? That's right up there with having your employees shoulder the tax of DISH's employee programming "benefits"; which are "free". It's less than a dollar a month, but it was a program forced down our throats and now we have to pay out of pocket for it. No amount of "high quality programming" changes that.
- Open Door Policy: Let's talk about your "A Note from Joe" e-mail to all employees after this article was published. Your employees want to talk to you, they want to tell you the problems you aren't aware of; things there are already solutions available for, but which no exec wants to endorse (it's kind of sad really; hot potato with customer problems and system issues.) YOUR management team has very strict and severe consequences for not taking issues through the chain of command (this post for example); or for running them back up the chain after someone said "no, not important". And when they find an issue to be "unimportant", YOU never hear about it. Like the customers currently being impacted that aren't "severe enough" to do anything about. Someone's not "thinking customer", and it's someone close to your position Joe.
- IT runs the business?: And while I'm on the topic, sit in on a few IT meetings at mid-level; just regular day to day stuff to keep things running. Make sure your presence isn't announced; or just call into the bridge without announcing yourself and listen. Your company is IT/tech driven, but your programmers tell your business managers HOW to do their jobs; shouldn't it be the other way around? Your programmers don't want to do something because it'll be hard work or take time; unless you or another exec tells them to, it's not getting done even if it would help DISH. Also, Windows 8 is scheduled for release this fall; most of your computers are still running XP. You intend to build #1 World Class service on outdated software/hardware and buggy middleware?
- Advancement: Joe; the only way someone can advance isn't by improving performance; it's if SOMEONE DIES (or if you happen to be sleeping with the right manager). How can an employee be rated 1st/2nd in their respective department EVERY SINGLE YEAR, and only receive a promotion every 3-5+? Yeah, that's a cut in pay too, promotions are more money; no promo that year and every year thereafter is money lost. Oh, and talk to HR about why promo adjustments are higher at Meridian than any other facility. That's 15 years for 3 promos Joe. It would take a CSR from day 1, ~65+ years to advance to CEO at a rate of 1 promo every 5 years. How's that for motivation? Kill yourself for the next 65 years (DISH hiring starts at age 18, so you'd be 83) and you MIGHT make CEO. Work hard for the next 10, and MAYBE you can apply for your boss' job...
- Priorities: Joe, people are scared for their jobs; especially after that last "Talent Upgrade". Do you really think that ANYONE cares the janitor dressed up in the Hopper suit rang the NYSE opening bell a week back? Morale is at an all time low, and Hopper rang the bell is the e-mail the CEO sends out? So far I've outlined pay, benefits, accountability, change-averse attitudes and company culture as issues. A mascot in a suit...not that important.
- Talent Upgrade: A lot of people are no longer with DISH as a result of this particular topic; but there's a problem with how this was carried out. Company culture, and the means of changing it, including but not limited to what I mentioned above is driven FROM THE TOP DOWN! So why during the Talent Upgrade did only one high profile exec leave? The goal was a clean sweep of all DISH's deadwood, right? So why are those below the executive level more afraid for their jobs than those above? It's a rhetorical question; everyone in the company knows the answer. But if you want to change something, ANYTHING, you drive it from the top down. Today's culture is still very much bottom up accountability, top down pay and control; hold whoever is at the lowest level most accountable and work your way up. CSRs KNOW they are expendable, and many wise employees at mid-level are intelligent enough to consider themselves the same. No one should ever be untouchable; it should all be based on performance. But as I said above, only one notable (board level) exec left as a result of this process.
Just so you know; there is a program manager I listen to regularly yell at some poor girl in DISH's southern facility about purchase orders and requests for materials issues. She has no power to do anything about it or doesn't understand, and this moderately well-paid multi-year employee is literally yelling (it echoes through the department) at the poor girl almost weekly. This girl is probably scared for her job after the above, can't do anything about it and all she knows is someone who's been around longer than her, and has more power than her (and is clearly unfit for the position) is upset because he didn't get what he wanted. I've watched this manager for years; he is the epitome of what the Talent Upgrade was meant to remove. THIS is your day-to-day culture Joe.
You can send your execs to poke into these issues, but many of us love our jobs at DISH, Joe. We truly want what's best for the company, but only a handful of employees are stubborn/brave/stupid enough to challenge the highest echelons of DISH management trying to do the right thing. Your execs DO NOT respond kindly to having their authority, judgment or "experience" questioned; but you want to change all that, right? Start with this list; they aren't small items but that post in 24/7 Wall Street wasn't a lie. What I think I find most frightening, is your immediate reply that the statements and ranking was "ridiculous". I'm not sure if that's due to your responsibility to the stock holders, but not all of it was invalid Joe. There are problems in DISH; I think a more accurate reply might have been "I'm personally looking into it." I'm not sure if you truly will, but here it is in black and white if you wish to read it.
Don't try to contact me. This is a one-time use login and I won't be using it again. I have already taken time out of my night to try and help make you aware of things you need to be aware of. But more than that, I'd rather leave no further traces that might endanger my job. As much as I want DISH to do well, I have bills to pay.
One last addendum, Joe, the Talent Planning program. Why is it acceptable for senior management to implement a secret second "Performance Appraisal" process annually (which likely supercedes the regular PA process), that determines the overall health and direction of an employee's career, as each of their managers rank their abilities on a SWOT scale, but for which the results are NEVER provided to the employee? How can someone improve their performance if they don't know what they do is wrong? Further, Talent Planning feedback comes DIRECTLY from senior management; don't you think the employee wants to know these results and where their career is going long term even more than they want their manager's annual feedback? A secret "The Skulls"-like second performance appraisal process which the employee themself knows almost nothing about doesn't inspire trust.
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http://blogs.denverpost.com/techkno...title-americas-worst-company-ridiculous/6012/
Read the comments section of this link. All I can say is WOW.
Read the comments section of this link. All I can say is WOW.
I'm absolutely certain he said NONE of this on the survey. The survey isn't anonymous.
Wrong. As bad as corporations can be, what they are allegedly doing at Dish is much worse than typical.So there is nothing wrong at Dish that you don't find at most American corporations today.
So welcome to the American way, now shut up and get back to work.
Quite frankly, I'm surprised the Colorado State Attorney General hasn't come down on them harder and more often. The 10-20% firings every Autumn alone is reason enough for a fine. That should officially be considered a "layoff" not "termination based on cause", no matter what Dish calls it.
Well lets just say I work for a company that thinks like Dish. Where I work in 3 or 4 months I went up in 20 seniority out of 210 employees (in just this one office). Lets just say the higher ups love to fire people.
Well I will not say what we do but I'll say this, I believe we are the fifth largest in United States and Canada. So we aren't a small company.
Hopefully if things go right I will be with another company shortly that respect it employees more.
Well at least they have a better union.
![[me]](https://gravatar.com/avatar/472fc384997f8621540346bbc0cfb9ef132fc5a7f1ea3c18b66c343872754d06?s=96){kind=avatar}
The holiday policy is far from the entire issue but just to clarify, for technicians there is no extra pay for working on holidays. You get paid your regular rate for working that day. You also get a day worth of holiday pay for the pay period the holiday falls, however you get that pay even if the holiday falls on one of your days off. And finally, if you have any sort of not previously planned absence from work for the day preceding as well as the day following the holiday you will not receive the day worth of holiday pay.
As for some of the other issues mentioned, I could not agree more. The metric system seems clearly designed to insure that there is no way anyone can control their own success. There are a number of factors that we have little or no actual control over such as customers canceling jobs, having or not having internet available, and equipment or other problems being counted against the tech.
Many of these same metrics are used to determine promotion. Not that promotion is all that important anyway since the scheduling is not determined by your level but by your job performance so from a corporate income perspective there is no reason to promote technicians since they can pay less for the same or more work. In the nearly two years I have been working there has been only one tech (in our shop of nearly 40 techs) who was lucky enough to get all of his stats to line up at the right time to be qualified for promotion and despite his relative success he quit for another position before his promotion could be carried out.
Not getting promotions may not be all that big of a deal if the company provides reasonable raises, but that is clearly not the case. In my personal case I started work pretty much at the period of performance review, meaning that my first one was a year later and covered my first year of work. During that year I learned a great deal and worked hard. I got to the point that I was doing the same amount of work as the highest level techs about 2 out of every 3 days, I was named as tech of the month for one month (an entirely metric determined title), and learned the technical system so well that the managers often mentioned me as a contact for other techs in case of technical problems. During my job review I was told that my performance was "meeting expectations" and my raise was 0%. I thought that perhaps the issue was an isolated one but discretely asking around I found out that very few guys received raises and the ones who did received very small ones.
As for employee appreciation, it is practically nonexistent. The last holiday season we had no office party or anything of the sort, the only thing in any way festive was a tray of holiday cookies that showed up in the warehouse area one day shortly before christmas. Upon looking at the cookie tray I noticed a little card, picking it up I noticed that it had been sent over by the local company that takes care of the maintenance for our fleet of vans. They provided much more holiday cheer and appreciation than our own actual management.
And the overtime requirements, we have been working required 5th days for a good while now, which means that aside from our regularly scheduled 4 day week of 10 hour days (that are often really 11~13 hours and sometimes more like 15~16) we are required to work a 5th day of exactly the same length. We're told this is because of the amount of work that is building up and we are falling behind, yet I have talked to many customers who have told me they are shocked how quickly we have come out and even some that have told me their appointment was set for days after I was there. On one of my 5th days I even talked to our dispatcher who pointed out that they were having trouble finding jobs they could pull forward so that all the techs in the field would have things to do that day.
The policies in effect do not reward people for doing good work. The difference that we see in payment or bonuses for great work vs barely passable work are small or sometimes nothing at all. Luck plays a much bigger part on bonus payment than actual work performance. There is basically no possibility for advancement or promotion or any sort of career design or planning.
Oh, and one final thing. There was some complaint about weather issues. As techs driving is a part of our job so you would think that perhaps on days with weather so bad that travel is discouraged we would work less but that would be wrong. Snow has not once caused even a lightening of our routing much less any sort of canceling or delaying jobs. I remember one day this past winter which saw a blizzard in our local area. We of course were expected to work a full day, which we all did. As I was returning from my day of work, tired and stressed from the work as well as the driving in the snow storm I unfortunately was involved in a minor traffic incident that was entirely due to the weather conditions. The result of the incident is basically the same as if I had intentionally caused a traffic accident, any additional traffic incident within a year will get basically get me fired, despite the fact that local government and basic logic both say there was no way anyone could have been totally safe driving that day with the weather conditions.
That's about all I've got for now since I have another early morning of work tomorrow and then I have to figure out how to get off of my 5th day this week since I very luckily have a job interview with a different company but I am out of (unpaid) sick time and learned too late to use paid time off for the day.
Many of these same metrics are used to determine promotion. Not that promotion is all that important anyway since the scheduling is not determined by your level but by your job performance so from a corporate income perspective there is no reason to promote technicians since they can pay less for the same or more work. In the nearly two years I have been working there has been only one tech (in our shop of nearly 40 techs) who was lucky enough to get all of his stats to line up at the right time to be qualified for promotion and despite his relative success he quit for another position before his promotion could be carried out.
Not getting promotions may not be all that big of a deal if the company provides reasonable raises, but that is clearly not the case. In my personal case I started work pretty much at the period of performance review, meaning that my first one was a year later and covered my first year of work. During that year I learned a great deal and worked hard. I got to the point that I was doing the same amount of work as the highest level techs about 2 out of every 3 days, I was named as tech of the month for one month (an entirely metric determined title), and learned the technical system so well that the managers often mentioned me as a contact for other techs in case of technical problems. During my job review I was told that my performance was "meeting expectations" and my raise was 0%. I thought that perhaps the issue was an isolated one but discretely asking around I found out that very few guys received raises and the ones who did received very small ones.
As for employee appreciation, it is practically nonexistent. The last holiday season we had no office party or anything of the sort, the only thing in any way festive was a tray of holiday cookies that showed up in the warehouse area one day shortly before christmas. Upon looking at the cookie tray I noticed a little card, picking it up I noticed that it had been sent over by the local company that takes care of the maintenance for our fleet of vans. They provided much more holiday cheer and appreciation than our own actual management.
And the overtime requirements, we have been working required 5th days for a good while now, which means that aside from our regularly scheduled 4 day week of 10 hour days (that are often really 11~13 hours and sometimes more like 15~16) we are required to work a 5th day of exactly the same length. We're told this is because of the amount of work that is building up and we are falling behind, yet I have talked to many customers who have told me they are shocked how quickly we have come out and even some that have told me their appointment was set for days after I was there. On one of my 5th days I even talked to our dispatcher who pointed out that they were having trouble finding jobs they could pull forward so that all the techs in the field would have things to do that day.
The policies in effect do not reward people for doing good work. The difference that we see in payment or bonuses for great work vs barely passable work are small or sometimes nothing at all. Luck plays a much bigger part on bonus payment than actual work performance. There is basically no possibility for advancement or promotion or any sort of career design or planning.
Oh, and one final thing. There was some complaint about weather issues. As techs driving is a part of our job so you would think that perhaps on days with weather so bad that travel is discouraged we would work less but that would be wrong. Snow has not once caused even a lightening of our routing much less any sort of canceling or delaying jobs. I remember one day this past winter which saw a blizzard in our local area. We of course were expected to work a full day, which we all did. As I was returning from my day of work, tired and stressed from the work as well as the driving in the snow storm I unfortunately was involved in a minor traffic incident that was entirely due to the weather conditions. The result of the incident is basically the same as if I had intentionally caused a traffic accident, any additional traffic incident within a year will get basically get me fired, despite the fact that local government and basic logic both say there was no way anyone could have been totally safe driving that day with the weather conditions.
That's about all I've got for now since I have another early morning of work tomorrow and then I have to figure out how to get off of my 5th day this week since I very luckily have a job interview with a different company but I am out of (unpaid) sick time and learned too late to use paid time off for the day.
This is spot on and the only reason i dislike the company. Ill give an example of my usual day. I usually drive 3 hours to a town and 3 hours back. That's 6 hours of drive time so just saying if i were to do two 2 room new connects i would have to complete those both in two hours to be somewhere close to hitting my points per hour. Its basically impossible. Then there are days where i drive all that way to do 1 trouble call so before i even start my job my points per hour is already shot. I do this job because i love the work and i love meeting new folks everyday. That's why we smile that's why were happy to be there. The sad thing is we don't expect much i've been here for over a year and was told im eligible for a promotion if all of my metrics are in order but how can i get them in order when there basically sabotaging me. For the people who are saying Dish can't be the worst company they either haven't worked for them or do not know anyone who works for them. I do this for my family and for customers.
This is the best review I have read about the company and agree 100%:
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-DISH-RVW1866820.htm
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-DISH-RVW1866820.htm
I sorry to bring this up again, but I the Huffington post had an article on this and I just wanted you guys to read these few paragraphs and post what you think. This is from the writer's point of view from a Dish recruiting event.
I had an experience with a recruiter at Dish Network a few years ago that gave me a tremendous perspective on the company's culture. I was at a recruiting event chatting with a young woman who gave me her business card. Her title was Recruiting Manager. "Are you busy?" I asked her.
"We're swamped," she said. "We have so many openings, we're going crazy. In fact, I was hoping we'd meet some likely candidates here at this event, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen." I gaped at her. The event where we were chatting was clearly a networking event for HR and recruiting types.
"What sorts of people are you looking for?" I asked. "Hispanics," she said. I gave a weak laugh. "But really," I said. "Hispanic employees are our best workers," she said. "They don't complain about the pay." I was disoriented. "But --- you realize that you can't favor one ethnic group over another in your hiring, correct?" I asked, fumbling for words. "We'll hire anyone who's qualified," she said. "But we prefer to hire Hispanic people."
"Is your background in recruiting?" I asked her. "No," she said. "I was a Call Center supervisor until a few months ago, when our Recruiting Manager left. They gave me the job." "There are some absolutely essential things you need to know, if you're going to be recruiting for your company," I said. "Are you familiar with the EEOC, for instance?"
"I'm not!" said the young woman, grabbing her pen and notebook. "Is that an association of Hispanic job-seekers? Do you have their number?"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liz-ryan/dish-network-the-countrys_b_1790994.html
I had an experience with a recruiter at Dish Network a few years ago that gave me a tremendous perspective on the company's culture. I was at a recruiting event chatting with a young woman who gave me her business card. Her title was Recruiting Manager. "Are you busy?" I asked her.
"We're swamped," she said. "We have so many openings, we're going crazy. In fact, I was hoping we'd meet some likely candidates here at this event, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen." I gaped at her. The event where we were chatting was clearly a networking event for HR and recruiting types.
"What sorts of people are you looking for?" I asked. "Hispanics," she said. I gave a weak laugh. "But really," I said. "Hispanic employees are our best workers," she said. "They don't complain about the pay." I was disoriented. "But --- you realize that you can't favor one ethnic group over another in your hiring, correct?" I asked, fumbling for words. "We'll hire anyone who's qualified," she said. "But we prefer to hire Hispanic people."
"Is your background in recruiting?" I asked her. "No," she said. "I was a Call Center supervisor until a few months ago, when our Recruiting Manager left. They gave me the job." "There are some absolutely essential things you need to know, if you're going to be recruiting for your company," I said. "Are you familiar with the EEOC, for instance?"
"I'm not!" said the young woman, grabbing her pen and notebook. "Is that an association of Hispanic job-seekers? Do you have their number?"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liz-ryan/dish-network-the-countrys_b_1790994.html
The more I read about their work environment and corporate culture, the more I understand what I've seen and experienced as a customer.
