Working at Wackenhut Corporation — Reviews by Employees

I no longer work for Wackenhut. My only issue with the company was with payroll. On my post I worked 48 hours a week which gave me 16 hours overtime per pay period. I originally only worked weekends for 16 hours a week then when the part time mid night shift position opened, I asked for it in addition to working days on the weekends. This caused me to work two double shifts back to back which was not a problem. I actually enjoyed it and never had an issue with sleep. Because of the two doubles from Friday night to Sunday afternoon, I had overtime every pay period. After the first check with my new hours showed I was short some money paid to me. I recalculated everything and determined my check was short by the overtime exactly. This happened every following check after the first. I complained constantly and was always told the same thing. "your balance pay will be on your next check". This caused Wackenhut to owe me every pay period. I did some more investigating and discovered why my and every other officer who worked overtime were shorted on our pay. Wackenhut budgeted their payroll and they only budgeted for a 40 hour work week. Initially I thought it only happened at our post but I often heard officers from other posts complaining of the same thing. When I conveyed my findings to my fellow officers I was removed from my site and given a more inconvenient site as punishment.

Years later back home in Metro Detroit. The security company I worked for lost the contract to Wackenhut. I was asked by the client to stay on with the new company. I explained to my fellow officers of my history with Wackenhut. I proceeded anyway knowing full well of their business practices back in Ohio. Guess what!!
When our first pay day came, I was the only officer who did not have a payroll check. All the other officers got their checks and they were all correct. But no check for me. I quit that very day. Litterally walked off the job after verbally abusing the contract manager and accusing him of prejudice against me because of my past history with Wackenhut.

I hate Wackenhut and will never work for nor reccomend them to any company.

Cronyism & nepotism; Zero leadership and no planning or organizational skills evident; the Area Office is devoid of security and management abilities. Nobody gets promoted around here unless they are related or are brown-nosers (or both). Wackenhut continues to lose business at an astounding rate, yet there are (never) any changes in Area-level management. Based on experiences here and the comments posted from Indiana and Toledo, I guess the Regional VP retired a few years ago but didn't tell anybody in Florida and continues to get his check. Incompetence and mediocrity are the standard; they are intimidated by knowledge and motivation. Area management prefers to keep everybody in their place. You wouldn't find out about a new contract (on the few times they get new business) with higher pay or closer to your home unless you bump into sombody in uniform at the gas station and ask where they work-Area Office does not communicate anything to the guards. May be a great place to work if you're the boss's neice or wife or if you have absolutely no desire for career advancement.

The consulting and investigations unit (CN & I) is the worst place to work. The parent company G4S might be o.k. but CN & I is run by the old MJM Investigations. The atmosphere is awful. Management is run by VP who thinks he knows everything but actually knows very little. The whole unit is mismanaged at every level from HR (canceling our health insurance without owning up to it, loosing benefits) to evaluations (which have become a complete joke) to day-to-day operations (they spend so much time watching you, it is hard to get your work done). It is a ship of fools run by fools who claim to be all knowing. Favoritism, lying, fabricating stories and condensing attitudes are core values for the management along with complete nonsense. The employees have zero respect for management because there is zero respect from above. You can't even say "happy Friday" without getting in trouble. Oh yes, the VP enjoys laying people off came dressed as the "grim reaper", not funny when the atmosphere is so negative. You have to watch your back the minute you step in the building. Awful, awful work atmosphere.

Promotions are given on the basis of who kisses whose derriere rather than job performance and/or seniority. Silly suck-ups are given perks for spying on coworkers. The humorous part is that the 'golden boys' who burn up the phone lines calling sleazy majors with reports on others are generally the same as those who habitually steal from the companies they guard. One golden boy who bragged about having a major in his pocket (yes, he was attractive and, yes, the major was a man) was leaving his one-man post unattended for hours each shift until caught and relieved by one of the street captains. Wackenhut may once have been a good company but it would not appear, in my humble opinion, that there is no pride left or many scruples. The logo on their trucks looks for all the world as if it says GAS rather than G4S and perhaps the former interpretation is the correct one. They'll never tell; it would mean disclosing a corporate secret.

I worked for this company for a short period, but I resigned. Reasons: the company's wretched modus operandi, the power struggle amongst the supervisory staff, and the demeaning treatment given to the regular security guards. Total chaos.

When Lasalle Bank was bought out by Bank Of America, Wackenhut took over security operations from Securitas. Wackenhut swore to the officers that they were a quality company and we shouldn't believe all the rumors swirling around about how terrible they are, then they immediately changed our pay from $14:37 which we signed a letter of consignment for, to a dollar more than what we were making before the takeover.
The officers went from having a sitting post inside of the banks we were trusted to protect to standing outside all day, regardless if the conditions. The main problem is the way Bank Of America runs their security, but no one seems to care about the pain associated with 9-10 hous of standing all day. My feet, knees, ankles and back are killing me, but I need the job so I'll hang on until the economy recovers, then I'm gone.

You want to talk about a bad company. Look at the Toledo office of wackenhut. WOW... they do not have one competent field supervisor who knows what they are doing. They wont let the site supervisors do their job without sticking there fingers in it, and discrimination is an everyday thing with this office. You be sure that you will NEVER NEVER NEVER get a pay raise. If you are new you will work every holiday imaginable. If you make waves and try and fight for what you are entitled to recieve they will just terminate you for no reason expecially if you are not liked by the field supervisors. Your releif doesnt show up on time too bad.. SIt there and wait and hope that someone is coming. YOu have to use your own personally owned vehicle to work out of half the time and dont expect to be compensated for using it and if for some reason you do get compensation it wont be much..I'd advise any company looking to hire wackenhut or G4S to do any security for you to reconsider. There has to be a better option.....,

I just got hired on and from what ive seen they are a ok company. They have alot of CPOS who are like 60 years old who served as MPs back in the 60s who have no knowledge of security but get that title just cause what they did 40years ago. They need to go off of security background experiance.

Get ready to be spied on. You will constantly be monitored, whether through GPS equipment tracking your every move in the broken vehicle you are required to drive constantly, or through binoculars from a fat loser with no family life. Very strongly considering taking a minimum wage job over this nasty little place.

Here in San Diego, we are all Super T/Os!!!! Wackenhut life on the Beat!!!