Echo Global Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Echo Global full-time for less than a year

Pros – Training is thorough, great opportunity for advancement, amazing work environment! The Dallas branch is amazing, we have a great view of downtown (The best balcony in Dallas!), the work environment is fun, energetic, and laid back! Beer Fridays and contest really keep friendly competition within the branch and our management is great and always full of encouragement!

Cons – Hey if you don't like putting in hard work, like sales jobs, or waking up early then it's probably not the place for you.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Echo Global full-time for more than a year

Pros – There's tons of room for growth, they're adding new branches and each branch is growing, including Chicago. All but one Branch Manager is an internal promotion, and every supervisor is promoted from within. Fun atmosphere, very energetic, the company realizes that sales is sometimes a grind and will incent not only with things like beer Fridays but also with outside sales trips. This really engages the sales force and acts as a light at the end of the tunnel--but one that's attainable. Higher-than-normal commission percentage for customer and carrier sales reps.

Cons – Rapid growth leads to growing pains, i.e., leadership territorial disputes. There's not a lot of "low-hanging fruit," which actually is a plus, but that means that to advance you either wait for growth or create your own opportunity.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't be afraid to make investments in developing your existing employees. You're putting a ton of money into training, which is great, but the existing talent would love to see some development as well.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Echo Global full-time

Pros – Fun atmosphere, especially on Fridays

Cons – Stuck in an office on phones all day

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Echo Global full-time

Pros – Well known name, Broad customer base, frequently Expanding

Cons – Not trained in some aspects of the industry, Won't contract out IT issues, just cut commissions

Advice to Senior Management – Train employees in all aspects of the business. Don't Cut commissions and expect the same business and hard work from employees

Current Employee – been working at Echo Global full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The IT dept at Echo is top notch. The entire team wants to make a great product. The IT managers are great. They can be a tad bit arrogant, but name me one IT manager who isn't one of the most arrogant people you've meet. There is a real chance for advancement in this dept, which is rare for IT. And it isn't based on favorites, but skill level. However...

Cons – The Executives do not give us any respect or time to do what's right. They're constantly pushing us to do things quick and easy.

The pay and benefit structure do not match the market. The health insurance plan for families is the worst I've ever seen offered to an IT dept. The co-pay is almost $800/month. Most employees with families do not use Echo's insurance cause the cost is too high. It's cheaper for them to purchase it online or use their spouse's plan.

The 401k matching is the bare minimum a company can offer and still legally be able to state they have matching 401k. It's all based on very long term vestments so you'll never see the matching $.

They claim your bonuses is a max of 5%, but in reality it's only maxes out at 2.5%, vs. the standard 10% offered by most IT places. The upper management does not see bonuses as a way to reward you for hard work, instead they see it as some chicken feed to throw at you so they can say they handed out bonuses.

 The high turnover rate reflects the lack of benefits, and yet they still haven't figured it out.

Advice to Senior Management – Give your IT dept a real competitive bonus structure. Pay for most of their health insurance, which is pretty standard for IT dept. The current benefits structure makes me NOT want to work hard or work overtime. We had record profits the last 2 years mainly due to new products pushed out via overtime by IT. But yet the IT dept is constantly given the cold shoulder.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Echo Global full-time

Pros – Two weeks of all-expense paid classroom training in Chicago
Young culture, 'Beer Fridays'
Competitive salary for entry level position
Good place to obtain industry knowledge and experience

Cons – Meetings upon meetings (group and one-on-one), day after day, management shadowing you on the phones, and your supervisor sits just feet away from you in an office environment with no walls and no privacy. Metrics are sent out about every two hours. New hires are expected to make 80-100 cold calls, send out two quotes to new clients, achieve 20% talk time on the phones, and add about 30 leads a day (which you aren't allowed to do during office hours). If you have a question or task for your supervisor, they most likely don't have time for you right now because they're stretched thin among 15-20 sales reps.

In December, Echo redesigned its commission structure and nearly all sales reps who were making commission saw a significant decrease in their paychecks - and Echo can change commission anytime it wants to, so we could see another pay cut in the near future. If you're a new hire, you won't make commission for at least a year after you hit the sales floor (unless you get obscenely lucky), and the incentives are few and far between ('free dinner' or 'fancy office chair' are the incentives offered for hitting goals, and they're tough to hit). Also, Echo's Accounts Receivable department exists only to establish and extend credit/buffer days, so you are responsible for obtaining payment from your clients - and commission is based off of what your customers have paid. If your client goes into collections and defaults, you are responsible for about 22% of what they owe...this will be deducted from your paycheck.

When it comes to actually selling, what you find is that you're selling an average product at an average or inflated price in an extremely saturated market. Most businesses you call are very happy with their 'current transportation solution' and have no reason to switch, plus they're annoyed at the amount of calls they get everyday from 3PLs just like you. It's tough to sell on service in an economy where so many businesses just care about price. Bottom line - there are definitely worse jobs out there. These are just things I wish I knew before I took the job.

Advice to Senior Management – Trust your employees and dangle carrots in front of them - their only motivation to achieve goals right now is to keep management off their back. Coercion is NOT the same as motivation, especially not in sales. Give employees some level of autonomy and privacy, along with challenging but attainable goals & incentives, and productivity will increase.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Echo Global full-time

Pros – great work environment, fun people, potential to make alot of money

Cons – hard to move out of sales roll

Current Employee – been working at Echo Global full-time for more than a year

Pros – Really good people. Fun atmosphere. Potential to make decent money. I started right out of college and feel I'm advancing my business knowledge.

Cons – A lot of time on the phones. You can do well but it takes a lot of effort.

Advice to Senior Management – Maintain the upbeat culture. Keep hiring people with possitive attitudes. Keep up the social events and sports teams.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Echo Global

Pros – The people that I work with are awesome. I am not micromanaged. The company is growing rapidly (room for growth).

Cons – The company is growing rapidly, which means growing pains. There are many acquisistions, which brings new knowledge.

Advice to Senior Management – Please take into consideration what your employees are telling you. Many of us have been doing this for years. Many of us feel you don't want to improve process and there are no ways but your ways. I promise that if you implement some of the changes we suggest, your company would run smoother and be more profitable.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Echo Global full-time for less than a year

Pros – Well there are no pros. First of all working in freight, or transportation is one step above being a car salesmen. The only people dumber than the management at Echo, are the dirty truck drivers, and shady immigrant "owners" of small trucking companies. The have no concept of leadership, especially in the Arizona Office. They bought out Advantage transportation, and those are the worst people on the planet.

Cons – Mid level management is clueless. They think they are so much better than the employees. Especially in the "carrier sales" department. These managers were the kiss ass type, and barely booked loads. I worked there 11 months, did not have 1 review, or goal setting session. The AZ office is run by all Advantage transportation employees, and they are clueless how to run a business. I have been in the indusrty for years, the AZ office has maybey one more year before they close it.

Advice to Senior Management – Yelling at people is not managment. In the AZ office they just yell, literally all day. The employees work in fear daily, not to take lunch, and working 7am to 530-600 pm is "manditorty" with no overtime pay. The business they are practicing is illigal. The AZ managers spend all day hiding info from the Chicago office, so they dont get yelled at. They are miserable people in a miserable job. DONT EVER WORK THERE.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company