Nortel Networks Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Nortel Networks

Pros – Innovative, dynamic work.
Great colleagues.
Nice facilities.

Cons – Lack of career growth potential.
Management pressure for self-success over company and employee success.
Years of talent cutting and mismanagement.

Advice to Senior Management – Work hard and enjoy life. Acknowledge the successes and failures around you and reward all those below you who have allowed you and the company to succeed.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Nortel Networks

Pros – Complete lack of accountability (if that is what you are looking for), Lack of vision & strategy allows you to pretty much do whatever you want - regardless of how it might impact the business (call it creative license), Out of touch with customers - so anyone can claim to know what the customer wants, You get to be around gifted people - whose gifts go completely to waste

Cons – Working on project after project that gets canned, No opportunities for promotion, the rare person who is promoted leaves you scratching your head as to what possible attributes account for said promotion, belief that great technology will lead to a great business

Advice to Senior Management – Collect members of janitorial staff, assign them your jobs.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Nortel Networks

Pros – It was a very nice place to work until 2000. From there it all started going downhill. The pros that existed in the good times have been all wiped out.

Cons – Constant layoffs
Very bad quality of execuitve management
Executive management forces project managers to do offshoring/outsourcing without reality checks

Advice to Senior Management – You should be ashamed about how you destroyed a company with >10o yeras of history. it did not have to be this way.

Former Employee – worked at Nortel Networks

Pros – Great technology. Lots of great people. Great facilities. Pretty decent flex-time arrangements & work from home options. Great pay & benefits.

Cons – The company has been in a death spiral for years & is now in bankruptcy protection. For the last few years senior management has been shifting jobs to contractors in India & elsewhere. As they've been down sizing for years, there has been little room for career evolution and many folks are simply stuck waiting for the lay off notice.

Advice to Senior Management – None to give - the company is being dismantled & sold for the pieces. To companies who would look at ex-norlet execs? Avoid at all costs!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Nortel Networks

Pros – Whole life balance and generally high caliber of employees.

Cons – Uncertainty.
Still some teflon coated deadwood even after 16+ rounds of headcount reductions.

Advice to Senior Management – Make bigger decisions, faster. Invest more in your people.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Nortel Networks

Pros – Nortel was once a great company. It still has solid technology a large installed base and Great Customers

Cons – Poor image as a result of all the public issues and the recent bankruptcy process. The Company continues to be dragged down by its past. At the same time, a complete lack of Strategy and Vision at the most senior levels plagues it constantly and prevents it from moving forward.

By its actions, the most senior management team has no real regard for employees and in fact continues to attack its largest asset as it reduces costs. The combination of lack of regard and lack of vision makes it very difficult to have hope things will get better.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop talking about making hard decisions - make them. Listen to your people. Build a vision and strategy, not vague marketing slogans

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Nortel Networks

Pros – - good compensation package, though being cut back
- first rate engineering team "on the shop floor"
- Nortel name still stands for high quality, good craftsmanship

Cons – - bankruptcy protection -- sums it up
- 6 sigma and enormous process has slain innovative core of the company
- death of 1000 cuts ... 8+ years of constant downsizing and reorganization
- senior management team brought in with little or now telecom experience
- the culture of "GE" -- teams are forced to put folks in "bottom 15%", then fire them (better to be a mediocre player in a crappy group than an outstanding one in a group of gods)
- employees are our most valuable asset -- at least they've stopped actually telling people that lie

Advice to Senior Management – - trust the people who do their jobs
- learn the industry, and pick your bets and organizational structure and STICK WITH IT for > 1 year...
- make it fun again

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Nortel Networks

Pros – Fair compensation and a good work/life balance is much appreciated, but I think the main reason I like working at Nortel is the social makeup of my team. It is a good group of people who have worked together for a few years and have developed a good symbiosis. This might not be the case in other teams, however.

Cons – Poor senior management decision making over the last few years has doomed this company. A lack of understanding at the VP level about the products that their are responsible for has lead to many programs being chopped for the wrong reasons.

Advice to Senior Management – I think that part of the Chapter 11 restructuring should be to do some selective house-cleaning at the middle and senior management levels.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Nortel Networks

Pros – The compensation has been reasonable. They used to be a great company to work for.

Cons – Poor management and leadership. During the difficult times, perhaps bellcurving all remaining empolyees was not the best way to keep the majority motivated. Managing reductions through the endless least iffective employee chop and rewarding only those seen to be most effective leaves the only reward for the biggest area under the curve as being "happy" to keep their job.

Advice to Senior Management – Being progressive is more than mandatory "own it" processes. It is about listening to what your employees are already saying, good managers should be able to listen to what their employees are not saying too.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Nortel Networks

Pros – The people I work with, my customers and the opportunity for advancement.

Cons – Currently, the only downside is that the press, particularly the Canadian press, is crucifying us. We need support from the public, employees and our customers if we are to come out of this situation.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep encouraging the employees through recognition and advancement.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend