Poor Management and "market leaders" - Anonymous employee Access Employee Review

3.0
Feb 7, 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Every year benefits keep improving. It's obvious leadership is listening to SOME suggestions from their team members.

Cons

Reading through the reviews you can see management was and still is one of the biggest problems throughout Access. I wrote a review a year and a half ago and everything is still pretty much the same and in some cases have gotten worse. I would love to be more specific and name locations or give specific examples but I don't want to have to deal with the fallout. I have bills to pay and unfortunately better the devil I know than having to start over. Severe lack of communication - we haven't had a branch meeting in months. There is no such thing as morning huddles. The manager talks to a select few during the day and doesn't bother talking to the others. I have no idea what is going on half of the time and have been caught off guard several times. Manager feels like all they are doing is telling us what we already know and doesn't see a need for weekly meetings. Simple solution there - stop talking to specific individuals only and have a brief morning meeting to get everyone on the same sheet of music. Bam, easy fix. Reviews are a joke. They are just some words written down to satisfy a requirement. No real thought or effort are put into them. The manager does not set a good example. We need to do the right thing even when no one is looking. This pertains mainly to VIP visits. There is the usual spit and polish one would expect when visitors are expected. But then there is the changes in the way we do things ONLY during the visit and then go back to everything as usual after the visit and make a joke about it. If it is something that has to be done while visitors are here then it stands to reason we probably should be doing it regularly, no matter how much you may think it's stupid. Either that or take the heat and explain why we may not be doing something that the visitor may thing is necessary. Does not listen to or appreciate suggestions. Numerous suggestions are glossed over or there is the immediate knee jerk reaction of "no, we can't do that". Their way is the only way. Is not open to change. Just because it's how it has always been done doesn't mean it's always the best or more efficient way. One small change in scheduling could prove more efficient and place less stress on some team members. This particular manager does not think they are doing anything wrong because on paper they are doing everything right. Deadlines are being met, quotas are being met most of the time, etc. But behind the scenes is a different story. This manager thinks they know it all because they had training 20 years ago and supervised a bunch of people. It's never too late to learn something new and be more open minded. Supplies are spotty because we are constantly trying to save money and order from the cheapest vendor.

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Access Response
8y
Thank you very, very much for such a thorough review. I encourage you to please reach out to me directly. My email address is ralston@accesscorp.com. I take both confidentiality and my open door policy VERY SERIOUSLY and I can help to improve your situation with more specifics – and, of course, you have my word that there will be absolutely no retaliation for you sharing your views directly with me. If you are uncomfortable reaching out to me, please contact your local human resources leadership. Furthermore, I do understand that you are uncomfortable, or downright afraid, of communicating to your immediate supervisor and local leadership about these issues, which is a terrible situation to be in, so I appreciate you taking the time to post this review here. Again, please reach out to me directly, I can help and want to help. I do want to be clear that a lot of what you outline here is NOT the case in every Access location, nor is every Access location – and we have over 70 locations in 6 countries – having the same leadership issues you outline. So, please, I really do encourage you to reach out to me or to human resource leadership so that we can take a direct approach to solving the issues you are experiencing at your location. I am glad that you do see the benefits are improving. We do work hard to continue to evaluate and improve our total compensation package, including benefits, based on what we hear from the team - - so, yes, we are listening. To be clear, we listen to ALL the suggestions from team members, but we can only do SOME of them. We have to prioritize our efforts and investments. The fact that you have not had a branch meeting in months is – quite frankly – infuriating to me. This will change and, in fact, by the time that I am posting this review, this should have changed. I have been working directly with our EVP of Operations, who oversees all US Operations, on this and he has been working with all his leaders to ensure that branch meetings are happening regularly. If you still have not had a meeting, contact me directly, PLEASE. Also, any manager that feels a team meeting is for leadership to tell you what to do then they have the wrong impression. Team meetings are an opportunity for leaders to share information with you and the team, but also to RECEIVE information from you and the team about what is happening in the facility, out on the road with the clients, with our equipment and vehicles, etc, and to respond to questions and concerns of the team. Next, I totally agree that we have many, many team members and leaders who would greatly benefit from more training and development, especially leadership training and training on the development others, including better formal reviews of team members, which is why we have recently hired a Director of Learning and Development who started earlier this year. Who, after less than 2 months on the job, has already created a 2018 schedule that includes over 80 training and development opportunities. So, while this will not be an immediate fix, we are heading in the right direction quickly and are making significant investments here. Personally, I would like share that I talked to our Director of Learning and Development one-on-one about the desire to specifically train and educate our leadership across the entire organization to LISTEN to our team members (among other ways to provide value to our team members). While this review was NOT the reason for my conversation with our new Director, this conversation took place within about a week of you posting this review. Listening is like any skill or muscle, listening skills need to be practiced and worked on to be improved and used properly, so we are actively incorporating that into our learning and development opportunities. In summary, please know that I DO CARE about a lot more than the reports and the figures, as do all other executive team members and many, many leaders Access, and we want to make Access a great place to have a career on this incredible journey and opportunity of life, but we will never accomplish that goal without continuous evolving and improving – and we need feedback like this in order to do so. Again, I am sorry that you feel you are not able to work with your local leadership to provide this feedback, but appreciate you sending in your thoughts here. I do ask that, if I cannot solve these issues that you please (if you are able to), change your “approve of CEO” rating to red or, at least yellow. My actions are only as good as those felt by every team member and I should not receive a green approval rating, if I cannot solve these issues. Everything that happens here at Access is ultimately my responsibility and I take that charge very seriously. Thanks, again, and please do reach out to me directly at ralston@accesscorp.com, Rob

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CEO approval
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Pros

Trusted by coworkers to get teamwork done. No micromanaging, Pays is appropriate.

Cons

None I can think of.

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Access Response
2mo
Thank you for sharing your experience with Access. We’re glad to hear that you feel trusted, supported, and empowered through teamwork, and that our approach to autonomy and fair compensation has been positive for you. We appreciate your continued contributions and are grateful to have you as part of our team.
1.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Teammates work together and most management at VP level and below care for their teams.

Cons

Lack of communication and accountability at executive leadership level, benefits are expensive, doesn't promote from within, do not pay commissions on time and sometimes not at all. OTE is unachievable

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