Pros
None whatsoever. Run, don't do it
Cons
I left Allied Universal 8 months ago and was reluctant to make a negative review. With AUS being the third-largest private company in the world, I assumed that maybe I just ended up on a bad account, and other accounts treated their employees better. But after reading a recent TIME Magazine article about the company, I realize that this is not the case, and jobseekers deserve to know what to expect. I started working for Allied Universal in 2019 as a flex officer in a SOC for a large bank. During my interview process, the account manager offered me two options: work 2nd shift with Tuesdays and Wednesdays off for $14.00/hour, or be on-call for an extra $0.50/hour and the possibility of getting paid 40 hours for a 16-24 hour work week (based on need for on-call availability). I accepted the flex officer position, and it quickly became one of my biggest professional regrets. Within less than a month of completing training, I was immediately severely overworked. I was forced to work 13 straight days on rotating shifts. I would work 3 PM-11 PM Monday, 7 AM-3 PM Tuesday, come back at 11 PM that night and work until 7 AM Wednesday morning, then work 7 AM-7 PM the next 2 days in a row, and so on. It got to a point where I had to take a week off (unpaid) due to mental health concerns because I was so overworked. My supervisors thought I had already quit, and admitted to me that they wouldn't have blamed me. After 6 months on-call, I was given the opportunity to select a permanent shift. I chose 2nd shift, mostly because someone had just been fired and their days off were Friday and Saturday, and I wanted that shift because I knew it would be the closest thing to a weekend I would get for a while. This also quickly proved itself to be a mistake. The bank I worked for had a cafeteria where real, decent food was prepared daily. 1st shift got to enjoy this benefit. Sadly, 2nd shift did not, because the cafeteria closed at 2 PM. Now this part is more the bank's fault than Allied Universal's fault. But we would repeatedly ask for tiny incentives to raise morale, such as $5 food vouchers for the vending machines/snack area. This was constantly ignored. It wasn't long before morale sank even lower. Around the same time that I switched to a permanent position, account contract renegotiations opened. At the end of renegotiations, we lost the following benefits: tuition reimbursement, paid time off, and good healthcare. When I began, healthcare was 100% covered, and the plans were good. After these renegotiations, healthcare was 80% covered, and the plans were supplemental, to the point that an urgent care check up cost $200. The consolation prize? a $3/hour raise and 3 total paid sick days per year. Things continued to spiral from there. Turnover was so unbelievably high that we'd bring on 5 new hires and lose 4 of them within less than 2 months. Concerns about fraternization and favoritism arose as attractive young women skyrocketed through the ranks while seasoned veterans remained stagnant. Promotions for unqualified officers led to power trips and verbal altercations. Call-outs were at an all-time high and no one wanted to come in for overtime, so officers were left with unscheduled 16 hour shifts and expected to come back in 8 hours later for their next shift. Morale and culture continued to sink to subterranean levels. Then comes COVID. Our entire job was done virtually, monitoring cameras, answering calls and disarming alarms. When every single employee from the bank started working from home, as did our Allied Universal managers and admins, we were forced to continue working in office, full-time. Nearly 3 months into the pandemic, our managers were still debating about whether masks LOOKED professional enough, rather than caring about our safety. They installed PVC and plexiglass shields between workstations, and that was it. We were left to fend for ourselves, no hazard pay, nothing at all. A couple of years in, I had been promoted to 2nd shift supervisor. This came with a $1/hour raise, and lifted me from $19/hour to $20/hour. Shortly after, the starting rate for base level console operators rose to $19/hour. This means that I had been an employee for nearly 3 years, had 3 "promotions" and multiple "raises" (the annual raise was $0.25/hour), and was making $1/hour more than the people I was training. When I asked for more money, my boss looked me in the eyes and said: "if you don't like it, you can look for a job elsewhere." So I did. Towards the end of my time at Allied Universal, I was promoted to a new position they created just to get me out of the way for more supervisors to be trained up, and to reduce how much negativity I was able to spread to newer officers (and I did, I warned trainees about what they would have to encounter and how things used to be, but can you blame me?) The new post was pointless, and came with a $0.40/hour raise. Although I was no longer a console operator or a supervisor, I was required to continue wearing the same uniform (but the attractive young woman one cubicle away from me got a new uniform, shocking right?) When I gave my 2 weeks notice, my boss told me he would pay me out my unused sick days on my final paycheck. 8 months later, I still haven't seen that money, and I never will. That's pretty much my breakdown of my 3+ years at Allied Universal. A tale of favoritism, morale-breaking incompetency, absolute apathy from management (not to mention blatant racism, ageism, and fraternization), and a complete lack of morals. I am sure there are some good accounts out there that treat their officers with dignity, respect, and encouragement. But between personal experiences and knowledge gained from reading other peoples' experiences, I warn each of you reading this to stay as far away as possible.
