Working at Sitel Corporation — Reviews by Employees

Sitel is a typical corporate business. They love and encourage turnover to keep employee cost down. You are never viewed as more than a number and are never given respect. If you make an effort to seperate yourself from everyone else by working hard, you will not be rewarded but rather punished by being given other less competent people's work to do. Management hand picks who they want to advance into open positions. Yeah, they go through the whole application process, but they already have their minds made up. I am a former member of management and assues you I have sat in on meetings where these specific things are discussed. The site manager at the time was a horrible boss and a horrible person in general. He had no idea how to do his job and spent most of his time trying to figure out better and more efficient ways of firing people whtiout having to pay them unemployment. This too was discussed ad nauseum in management meetings.

Sitel is a very dishonest company who has no regard for their employees. They are a prime example of a company that will do anything, and I DO mean anything, to cut a few cents. They have no regard for you as a person, an employee, or a human. They will do anything and everything they can to lower the bottom dollar, including defrauding numbers to their clients (something else I personally witnessed) and flat out lying at unemployment hearings (something else I saw first hand).

Avoid Sitel at all costs. I have been working since I was 18 and have only had 6 jobs in the last 15 years, mainly because I always have good tenure. I worked at Sitel for 2 years before I couldn't take it anymore. It was easily the worst place I ever worked. You will be happier as a trashman or janitor. Seriously.

this place sucks big time. i was hired as a bilingual agent and then slowly but surely they started finding petty reasons to get rid of us because we got paid more and was allowed overtime. the new operations manager for the verizon wireless pp project was a b@@@@ to us and firing us for stuff that she let slide the english queue. when she fired me for having my cellphone in hand while i was walking in the door to start my shift she commented that she was gonna get rid of all of "you bilinguals" and you know she did. appx 3months later she was fired and now they want more bilinguals for this project.. nobody wants it. you suck!!!

I worked at SItel for almost 2 years. When I started off in training it was from 6 in the morning to 2:30pm. The first day of training my car was overheating when getting there and I had to turn it off cause smoke was pouring from under the hood. Mind you, I parked in a unmarked fair parking space, but the security guard insisted that I move my car because they wanted to save those spaces for the new people comming to apply. (No respect for anyone who actually works there from day 1). I explained my car was going to be ruined if i started it up again, but he began to threaten me, so I moved it(stupid me!)

Training was very fast paced and not enough time then they throw you on the floor and the people who are suppost to be helping you are gossiping about how stupid everyone is who came out of training(like they dont remember their first day, what sad people).

Managment consisted of people who kissed butt and made their way up to that posistion, but didnt have any knowledge and made lots of mistakes. The people who worked hard were usually being repremanded for idiotic things like not taking break on time even though calls cut into your break time or being legitimetely sick even if brought doctors notes...but the people screwing around being loud and not taking calls who were friendly with the managers didnt get repremanded at all.

I had lots of friends there and that was the only thing that kept me sane.

Alot of customers calling in would abuse you verbally on the phone and even thought the client DIrectv didnt allow abuse of staff in their customer contracts, sitel never acted on enforcing that you just have to take the sexual harrasment on the phone from dirty male customers and be told by them they were going to kill you etc.

ALL the chairs were broken and yes i cut myself on sharp edges on the desk too, like a previous person noted. The keyboards and screens were usually broken and Id come in and there would be no working computers aside from the ones taken up already.So id wait with no pay till one opened up.

The janitors mopped the carpets. The desks had trash every where and were filthy. Trash cant were always full and the bathrooms smelled horrible constantly so much that I would almost throw up in there. They redid the roof once with Aluminum Chloride(demanded to know what it was to HR) and everyone in the building had an allergic reaction to it and became ill and only pregnant women were allowed to leave. the fumes had come throught the AC ducts!! HR stated that it was completely safe and under OSHA standards, but that doesnt make sense since they let pregnant women leave. they are such liars.

THere were actually alot of fueds between employees and fights between girls and guys threatening etc, it was like highschool, and the rude security guards would have to escort them out. ONe girl who was being harrassed by another girl got fired even though she didnt respond or say anything back to her verbal abuse. They do not stand up for their good employees what so ever.

ALot of people were depressed there, and scared to death of screwing up and losing their jobs over something tiny.

I really wouldnt suggest working here, and dont ever try to file for unemployment if they say you can quit in leue of getting fired for something absurd, because they will fight it to the death in court, trust me i know. THey will say you voluntarilly without good cause EVEN THOUGH THEY TOLD YOU THEY WILL FIRE YOU if you didnt quit to make it look better for you. In all reality, and even a manager told me after i quit, it makes less paper work for them if you quit in leue of termination and they dont pay unemployment benefits.

I worked for sitel from Feb '02-Aug. '02. I had just moved to Augusta, GA and was looking for a job. A pal of mine told me to try this place. It was my first call center job (have had several more since then). I walked in took a 15 minute test and was hired on the spot (shows you how tough the hiring practices are). Our first job was to do trouble shooting for AOL. It was 9.50 an hour. The training was 2 weeks. The trainer was this old creep named Mike, but he was funny so it was cool. We hit the floor and the job was easy (mostly telling old people how to open email). I as surprised that I got a good shift (M-F 9-5). The director when we got there was cool. Then of course about 3 weeks later he quit and we got this asshole Canadian guy. He was just a real jerk. EVeryone there was like a bully. There was this big redneck assitant manager. He thought one time that I hung up on a customer. I didn't. He proceeds to pull me off the phone and tell me that if he ever sees that again he was gonna kick my ass from the desk to the parking lot. I told his boss about it and he supposedly got a write up. He continued to act like an ass. Even the security gaurd was an asshole. If you didn't have your badge he would make you stand outside and wait for your boss to come to identify you. He would always yell at me for wearing sunglasses in the building. I broke my regular glasses and had to wear these. He knew that but would make me show him that they were prescription at least 4 times a week. Sitel doesn't care about you at all. It was about a 12 mile drive to Sitel from my home. I would show up at 9am and be told that the call volume was low. I then would be sent home with no pay. They would also make you get off the phone and wait in the building or in the shopping center for a couple of hours until the call volume went up. Again no pay. My supervsor Mary was a two faced bitch. She would act like she was on your side and then turn arond and tell the director how you felt. For example: I was acking her why we couldn't change assignments. I wanted to work later. She told me there was freeze. I said I wanted to know why that was. She told me that she agreed with me that we were being jerked around on this project. She then went and told the director. He called me into his office the next day and asked me if I still wanted a job. I had to lie and say yes. The final straw came in August. They sent AOL to India so we had to move to another project. One random day they called us in and told us we were gonna be telemarketers for Gateway. I was not going to do that and quit. On a side note: on that day if you were off they didn't give you the option to go to gateway they just fired you. My two friends Franchelle and Rodney were off that day and next thing they were out of a job. Stay away from this hell hole!

Sitel is a great place to work if your local fast food place is not hiring. Location is great close to most areas. Pay is not too bad but not enough for the job you do or the amount of responsibility you have. Training is very inadequate. You spend weeks learning the importance of acronyms that your customers could care less about. The actual learning comes from trial and error when you are thrown on the phones. Weeks of Sitel training leaves you little prepared for the job at hand. The benefits are good or comparable to most companies. Co-workers are great and many frienships are formed commiserating on the horrible job we face each day. The coaches are great and do their best to help. The coaches are learning the same way the agents do, by trial and error. Sitel offers promotions but it seams that some of the best agents with top scores are neglected. The schedules are good provided your "stats" give you top pick. The workplace is clean and comfortable. The site rules dictate the respect you receive. Even though Sitel hires human beings, the company treats you like a robot and in a way, expects agents to treat customers like robots as well. Instead of treating customers like the individuals that they are, agents are encouraged to follow a "call sequencing model". Call "grading" is based on following this model rather than how you handle the call and how satisfied your customer might be. The job seems secure enough although certain deviations from the rules seems to be tolerated for some and not for others. Agents get respect from the coaches and the coaches are eager and willing to help. The company rules tend to border on dis-respect to its agents. You follow a computer generated schedule. You do your best to help the customer but you must try to make your calls allow you to take your breaks as close to your schedule as possible. If a call runs into your breaks or lunches you are "out of adherence" and it could be held against you when shift bids come along. Even though this is beyond your control, it is held against you. The biggest degradation is when you need a bathroom break. Just like grade school, you are required to raise your hand and get "permission". You are allowed to use the "personal aux" to do your business but are encouraged not to. When given permission you are told to "make it quick"! The job can make you feel very insignificant and just a voice on the phone! With the lack of proper training and the robotic way you have to face your job there is no way to finish a day and feel good about the job you have done. Sitel is a hiring mecca. While the economy is poor, many people will flock to Sitel as they hire constantly. People will accept the degradation of being treated like a robot for a paycheck and benefits. I suspect as the economy improves Sitel will lose alot of good people looking for more respect. I see a high turnover rate as the economy gets better. If you do not mind robotic work and being treated like a third grader, Sitel is the place for you! If there is another place to work other than Sitel, I suggest taking the job. If there is there is nothing left of your un-employment and nothing else is available, Sitel is the place to work! Otherwise, be prepared to be treated like a robot, get inadequate training, take daily abuse from angry customers for a dollar or so above minimum wage. Follow the rules and be prepared to do fast talking to your customers. Your work schedule depends on how fast you get them off the phone and how close you are to taking your breaks on schedule. Remember to do your call sequencing model no matter how it doesn't relate to your customer. Remeber to mention the "relationship manager" even if it does not relate to the customer because you will be graded on it! Remember, it isn't all about the customer experience with you. It is about how you follow the call sequencing model. After all, all customers respond to that robotic model... Not! Work for Sitel if there is no other choice... Trust me... You will go home with a headache every day, but it is a job...

This was a horrible horrible place to work! Incompetent upper management no one could answer a question or help you horrible pay making 9.50 an hour after being there for 4 years!!!!!!!!!!! I trianed classes and my calls were played in classes to teach people. No respect horrible hours and uncomfortable working conditions. Fights broke out on call room floors. Second year on the job an employee killed a supervisor for firing him. After that we did have better security but work enviorment was not better they will hire anyone regardless of back ground.But be prepared to be scared to walk out to your car when you get off,

Found pay rate reasonable.
There is very little respect on managements behalf leading to on the job stress and lack of moral.
Benefits were meager but acceptable. No sick time etc.
No real job security as many jobs are moving to asia.
Work life balance was reasonable.
Growth potential if one ran with a given group (relationship driven)
Location was excellent. free parking.
Co-worker competence has deteriated as better agents found alternate employment.
Work environment was adequate but had no securty after midnight.

It would seem the local management has done more to reduce client volume than increase it. It is difficult to explain but its safe to say that it could dissapear from the local call center landscape in the near future, if the current management continues with its "don't rock the boat" attitude. After more than six years with this group I was in the end greatly dissapointed that a greater effort was not being made to retain business locally. I have moved on to hopefully better things. I, however, understand the outsourcing industry is dollar driven and apparently has no employee loyalties. Sad really.

5 weeks of intense training, not enough since there is a lot to learn if you want to give decent customer service.
You are thrown to the floor not even close to be prepared, horrible stress. Banking customer support can be extremely complex, this is not a MacDonald job. Volume of calls is heavy I did 65 a day needed around 100, forget it. Not for everybody. Everything else was O.K..

When I started with Sitel in Longview,Tx, back in 2005 I immediately started to notice how if you kiss butt you automatically get the "special projects" to do. The supervisors will write you up for anything and everything they can because that is what Sitel corporate is telling them to do.(I know this because I used to sit in on many many many conference calls with the client as well as corporate) Sitel doesn't care as long as they get their money from the clients. They c an care less about you as an agent/employee. The pay wasnt to bad I mean I started out making $6.75/hr and by the time I quit in 2008 I was making $10.80/hour. My co-workers were something else too. It seemed like all of the screw ups got to do whatever they wanted and never got in trouble, but those of us that actually worked our rear ends off got nothing and no kind of recognition whatsoever. Everyone that I know that still works their says they are scared to do death to call in for fear of being fired. All I have to say is I feel so sorry for my friends that still work their!!!!

Pay: Pretty decent compared to some other jobs, but is still one of the lowest paying call centers in Moncton.

Respect: You get respect when something is wanted from you, otherwise you're just a robot.

Benefits: They do have a not-to-shabby benefits package, if they keep you long enough to become eligible.

Job security: This is kind of a grey area with Sitel... I worked there for a year and five months, and did alright in that time, but really it depends on who and if they like you. Usually once employees reach a year of service (which comes with a raise and better benefits) they start to replace them with new hires, which saves them many payroll dollars. I saw many, many of my co-workers fired for silly reasons when reaching these milestones.

Work/Life Balance: It's alright, you can get some crappy shifts in a bid, but they don't really ask you to work O/T or come in on a day off, so that's good.

Career Potential/Growth: Not many agents are kept long enough to move up at all, and few of those who are able to don't.

Location: No complaints here, it's in one of the city's industrial parks, about 10-15 minute drive from downtown and low-traffic area, other than tractor-trailers.

Co-worker Competance: My co-workers were the ONLY reason I stayed there more than a week. Most of them are bright, pleasant people who don't deserve to be stuck working in such a place.

Work environment: Desks are broken and sharp edges exposed (I don't know how many times I've cut myself).. 90% of the chairs are broken and torn to pieces. Carpets are stained, the garbage bags are NEVER changed, just the contents are emptied into a large can and put back. On the bright side, the walls are painted in bright, fun colors!