Pros
Competitive Salary & benefits Co-workers are great to work with (we can all relate to each others gripes) Close to shopping areas Close to RTP (can do interviews without too much trouble) They finally stopped playing musical chairs with the territories and reps are finally getting ingrained in their territories so that they actually grow
Cons
First I agree with about 99.9% of the cons of every other current & past employee. When I first started at Lenovo I truly loved my job and looked forward to a long career here. The sales team (at least the area that I was in), was respected and treated like we mattered. About 1-2 years after I started working there, there were some major changes to the organizational structure and two of the sales divisions were blended and that's when it all went downhill. In my 3.5 years at Lenovo I have literally had about 7 different managers and I have covered about 4-5 different territories. During this time I was "lucky" if I made my number. How could I actually work to make my number when I wasn't even in a territory long enough to remember the names of my account book's CIO's? (Luckily SOMEONE realized this was why reps were not making their number). We are treated as if we are completely dispensable and we are now being replaced by contractors who are underpaid and do not get anywhere near what a regular rep gets in commission. This I'm sure has a positive effect on the bottom line but a very negative effect on the workers. Not only the contractors who are not being treated fairly (and were lied to about the potential of their positions before being hired) but also the regulars who are becoming more of a financial liability instead of an asset. Managers are hired based on who they have grown close to or what they could be holding over Lenovo's head (ie, possible HR issues). They preach about how they want to write big checks and reward overachievers, but when you overachieve they start raising your quota so that you don't achieve more than they want to pay you for and then if they allow you to "blow it out", they'll cap you in the end. Then the next qtr they double your quota so that you don't blow it out again or better yet not make your number at all so that they will reap the benefits of your revenue without having to pay you a dime for it. Either way Lenovo is going to try to get their money back. And then they wonder why reps sandbag...we have to be just as underhanded as management just to get a paycheck! Due to layoffs we have lost all of our resources and EVERYTHING lands on our laps and the inside team barely has a chance to prospect. We have ridiculous metrics, where we not only get to be so overworked that the majority of us are working at night and on the weekends but we also have to put in writing what we are doing. So we get to do and journal our work day. We are micromanaged and treated like little children who need to be kept on a short leash. Most of the managers' main focus is "make me look good in front of my boss" instead of "let me help you look good in front of my boss". Some of the team managers were horrible floor reps that either barely made their number and/or was on plan (about to be "reassigned" for poor performance) the qtr before they were promoted. How can I respect a manager that can't even manage their own territory?? What can they offer me that they couldn't even offer themselves? Lenovo has become a complete joke to work for and NO ONE is happy with the exception of a few of the lazy managers and execs who are reaping the benefits of the sales reps daily stresses without lifting a finger to assist. Everyone is just waiting for the economy to fully recover so that we can all hightail it out of there. Oh and can we please get rid of the IBM Legacy processes??? It's 2010 for Pete's sake!!
