Working at Harte-Hanks — Reviews by Employees

This office is full of incompetent management or I should say lack there of management. It’s all about politics and whose ass you are willing to kiss and if you aren’t. You are out the door. Client Services Manager Renee is a complete Blonde and the worst offender of showing favoritism.

I spilled some water on the carpet cause i took too big of a gulp and there was a supervisor of near by department walking about and she accused me of spitting since she saw water fly out of my cubicle. Then the ugly old hag had the nerve to lie and say she went around my area and saw wet spots all over the place. Then she had me and another agent written up. Other agent was written up for saying a "F" word and yet the morning agents that work while she's working stated every other word that comes out of that slag is a cuss word. The company is full of ignorant, arrogant and incompetent management. They were talking to each other that they hired 12 extra guys so they could send their regulars to training and now training is over, they can start firing people they don't like to let go of 12 people. They say one thing to your face and another behind your back. If they will CC every single management when they are telling you off, but if you correct their error they quickly reply back to you only without CC management. And if you question the accuracy of your write up or challenge them, they simply let you go. They had a strong group of people with BS and Masters degree on this account i was on, but they are so anal that everyone is leaving and now they can't even find new people to hire that would even pass the basic technical test they give before hiring. I look forward to the day they start loosing big accounts and shut down for good. No body needs a scumbag company that treats you like dirt.

This was once a great company. I cannot say the same about it anymore. The current leadership lacks any confidence from their 90% of their employees. The current leadership lacks focus, direction and leadership. I realize in the current economy that some RIF's are needed, but when you let go of some of your best and most dedicated employees, what do you have left, a bunch of "yes" men and asskissers. Since I am still an employee of this company, I am very hopeful that the senior leaders of this company can get their head out of their asses long enough to see that they are running this company into the ground and can turn things around.

None of the supervisors know the software we are supposed to be supporting. The ones that did have since left the company. One sup who left actually left for a job in food service. Was the salary management position so bad that an hourly position making pizza is better? I guess so. Im just a pee-on at the bottom of the ladder. I take calls all day for a major shipping company that is actually on the Forbes top 100 company's to work for list. Too bad that is not a goal of Harte Hanks. I used to work at the infamous MCI telemarketing call center back in high school and experienced more respect there. Hell, even working for Wal-Mart was more fulfilling. Can you believe I have to ask permission to use the restroom.
One month calls spiked because of an issue with the clients server and every customer of the clients who uses their software was affected. But who was blamed for calls holding and an increase in handle time? Want to experience the meaning behind sh*t rolling down hill? Come join my team.
Whats up with the scheduling. Lunch and breaks a different time everyday one can adjust to. Paid Time Off is a joke. One is required to request time off 14 days in advance but they dont tell you if its approved or not until the day before you specified. No, it does not get approved if you were going to ask. If I make a doctors apt and dont cancel or reschedule with a 48 hour notice I get charged. A real vacation Hahahahahaha buying plane tickes in advance when their cheap and I can afford it Hahahaa will never happen on this account.
But hey the software I support sucks so my support position is secure. The client cares about their customers and will not allow Harte Hanks to outsource to Manila. So its not all bad, i guess.

I totally agree. Harteless Hanks is the worst. They have the worst reputation amongst call centers nation wide. I had a supervisor who said that the 512 memory in the computer was sufficient to run all the applications needed for my position. The system kept freezing up - and I had to reboot 10 to 15 times a day. I finally bitched enough where I finally for the memory upgraded to 2 GIG. It finally was replaced after nearly 3 months of complaining.
Before I was made 'perm' I asked for a raise. (I found out from my agency that Harteless was paying them $19 per hour for my service). That is exactly what I asked for. Nope - no go. Harteless Hanks does not want to pay employees a penny more that what they start at ($14).
Our department finally got an incentive plan – but it was capped at $300 per month. What a joke or what an insult – I’ve not decided yet.
On top of the above – they screwed my out of holiday pay. I came in on Monday following new years very sick (no hangover!!) and had to leave. The company policy is that you must work all day following a holiday to get the pay. There was no way I could work. I told my team lead (a kid) that unlike the immature telemarketers he had worked for in the past – who had called in due to hangovers) I had a legit reason for having to leave early.
I just put in my 2 day notice – the (kid) team lead started to play ‘supervisor’ saying he wanted me to be productive till the end – essentially I told him he was nuts. The way I was treated by this company I have no desire to do anything at all. In fact I was with Harteless Hanks for such a short time I will not bother putting them on my resume.

Few companies will use you and spit you out when they are done with you like this one will. It is not what you know but who you "kiss a##" that determines your future.

this is just about one of the most normal jobs i've ever worked at. so boring. office politics was nasty, but if you can play it here you can play it anywhere.

Pay: Pay seemed to match up with industry averages
Respect: The head of my department could never look up from the ground when passing me in the halls. And this was a small department. The one exception was the day I was laid off. I always said "Hello" anyways. Other than that, you really had to kiss ass to get promoted. Among co-workers there was a general respect but management really showed a lack of respect.
Benefits: They were OK, but as time went on they got worse and worse.
Job Security: The management had no strategic vision and would change organizational structure on what seemed like a monthly basis. Whatever was the flavor of the month that protected management jobs was the structure.
Work Life Balance: This wasn't really too bad but working there was bad on the morale. I know a lot of people that regularly complained about working every weekend but did it anyways.
Career Potential/Growth: HH offered no training and like I mentioned above, the organizational structure shifting with the wind so it was very hard to define a career ladder .
Location: Nondescript industrial office park off the highway in Pflugerville.
Co-worker Competence: There were a lot of really competent and good people there that were beaten down by the incompetence of management
Work Environment: Very conservative and uninspiring. The times they attempted to inject any sort of fun into the environment were usually very lame.

I HATE THESE PEOPLE!! If you have any pride in your work no need to apply. The will take it from you and make you hate every inch of that life sucking place.

Crap pay, normal bennies. job is high pressure but pretty easy. Work a shift and go home. No career ops but it is a job.