Toxic and unreasonable - Customer Support Aspen Systems Employee Review

1.0
24 July 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Lisa Lawrence is a very nice person.

Cons

I have never experienced a toxic workplace like that at Aspen Systems. I was very poorly trained during a boring, demoralizing 1-2 months of 8 hour days in a classroom that was a very light touch on many aspects of Canopy, their ERP software. After that, I was rapidly thrown into a toxic mess of stress and anxiety with sky-high expectations and constant, niggling criticism of my every effort. Personal timekeeping for work tasks is reported in 6 minute increments, which is incredibly restrictive and frustrating. Also, if you need to step away for an hour to a doctor’s appointment or something similar you have to take time off in 4 hour increments, which is just laziness on the part of managers. Every staff member at Aspen that I encountered had at least one (or more) major negative personal issue(s) that were the proverbial "elephant(s) in the room" and contributed in big ways to the unhappy, poorly adjusted working environment. Not to mention the politics and backstabbing. Communication is sorely lacking, mind-reading and perfection are expected, down to the tiniest details. Canopy is a massive beast of inefficiency and needless complexity which is about 20 years out of date, and the staff is forever scrambling to patch it to keep it relevant to their customers increasingly complex, often ridiculous needs. Many Canopy customers were obviously promised the moon when they purchased a license, and it's left to staff take the brunt of abuse when those promises can't be delivered on. I honestly tried my best there but the unconstructive lack of guidance and unreasonable work demands that followed on the initial non-training on Canopy sank my chances. Also, if you're not a "chosen one" by one or more managers there, and part of the cliquey, arbitrary "in-crowd" your chances of success there are nil. A massive overhaul of staff and software product is in order at Aspen Systems, but nepotism is a major factor. A year I wish I could get back, and a total, unhappy waste of time. Also, the health insurance benefit is a joke, with a $5,000/$10,000 deductible that makes it useless - a doctor took one look at my card and laughed. Work/life balance? Don't even think about it.

Explore other reviews about Aspen Systems

5.0
18 Apr 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great leadership, has an incredible product, and truly cares about their staff

Cons

No Cons, just a great place

5.0
29 Apr 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The true 'caring' doesn't stop with the employees, who are treated like family. The CUSTOMER is also very much cared for, in a sincere and true way. Every employee seems to be primarily driven by the fact that they want a happy and satisfied customer. If there are situations which are challenging, staff representing sometimes every department quickly huddles to create the best solution possible, with the customer's need being the biggest variable. The ongoing support plan offered is second-to-none with regard to value for the dollars, and includes a block of monthly hours for the flagship software services, and rights to all software upgrades. Services are provided 24/7, 365, and again, the driving force seems to always be the closure of an issue in the quickest manner possible, with a pleased customer at the end. An obvious benefit to this is a highly 'reference-able' customer base, but even THAT doesn't seem to primarily drive the service mentality and core philosophies. The company wants a happy base who uses and exercises the product to its fullest potential, and gets directly involved with the product's future. Nice place to work, particularly when the customers are so nice, too.

Cons

The facility shares a parking lot with a very large and popular 'Lifetime Fitness'. Lifetime's customers are lunatic drivers in and out of the parking lot, focusing it would seem only on getting back to work after their lunchtime workout, and the lot can actually be a dangerous place to maneuver around.

4
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