field service technician

field repair technician

graphic designer

channel manager

staff auditor

ACCO Brands

I was hired to do a particular job in the department of fairly new hires themselves. It started out well, manager was nice and willing to train. About midway through my brief 2 weeks with the company, every one on the team began to distance themselves from me. I was not allowed to ask questions or even speak to my teammates (even though they willingly wanted to help). It was absolutely ridicules. Instead of doing what I was hired to do in my area of expertise, I was put on random projects that felt likes tests. No one in the office really smiled or was friendly at all. A few were nice but they were far away from where I sat. It was a terrible work culture where people seemed miserable to be working there. I stayed late many nights to get ahead for the next day, but it seemed useless without any support from my manager. The kicker is the lack of communication. Apparently, my manager felt it was easier to keep her coaching and mentoring a secret than to offer me any feedback. I have always been open to feedback and enjoy one-on-ones with my manager... at ACCO that isn't a thing. Instead, my manager went the junior high route and spoke to the VP (I guess they are best friends) and then let me go because they were shocked after 2 weeks I was not at their level of expertise. I did the very best I could (working alone) for the brief 2 weeks I was there, but without support and training you cannot expect miracles to happen. The BEST part is they blamed my "lack of Excel" skills, and I actually took a test to see where I really was with my skills and I was Intermediate (which they knew while hiring me) but played it off as I lied about it. Very shady management structure. I would say unless you have years of experience in corporate environment and old-school office practices than by all means apply to work here, but if you are in any way, shape, or form unique and offer refreshing perspectives, than look elsewhere where you will be appreciated for your abilities to think creatively and troubleshoot.

Welcome back to Middle School where you’re continually threatened to be wrote up. You'll be asked what can be better but NOTHING will change. Management says “its the same everywhere else” they’re right; you’ll get better benefits, more PTO upfront, better work/life balance, bonuses, sick/personal time. Who wants to work for a place you have to work 1 year for 1 week, 2 years for 2 weeks, and 5-8 years for 3 weeks. Your union bows down to the company and doesnt realize the union is means to leverage negations. The company wants you to beck and call at their whim but when you need the tiniest bit of help you get “not a contract year” or just a flat out “no” you only have about six months of work to make the most money you can. The other six months have fun getting text messages (unprofessional) from your managers that “youre called off” or “youre going to an off shift come monday” and being sent home when times are slow. If youre looking for steady and competitive run far far away from Acco especially in Alexandria. Youre just a number and disposable. Doesnt matter how long you’ve been there either. You can put your two weeks notice in and all you’ll get it “lets do an exit interview. Dont let the door hit you on the way out” such a shame for a place that used to have topped out employment to becoming a place needing 20+ union jobs. Completely degrading. Imagine working somewhere that your wages are diminished by 3-5 dollars in union dues and health insurance. No bonus or incentive to work there. No work parties. Demanded to pass every audit and annual training for them to profit but not distribute to you as the driving force for there success. Seniority based plant and can be bumped and laid off if someone who has more time in than you. Inconsistent, degrading, and favoritism is what you can expect at Acco Brands. Stay there you are or seek out other places to work


I have been with my current employer ACCO brands for 13 years and prior to that I was with Xerox for a year and a half. Over the years at ACCO I have held many different positions in the shared sales organization from Account Executive to Regional Account Team Lead and most recently for the past 5 years have been the Commercial National Sales / Account Manager for all of ACCO Brands.  As the National Sales / Account Manager my main points of contact were the Staples HQ in Framingham MA, and their most recent acquisition of Corporate Express in Broomfield CO.  
 I have spent many years calling on high-level customers and end-users throughout the different positions for ACCO and have a deep understanding of what drives these customers / businesses.  During this time managing the account I has developed multiple sales tools and programs to motivate sales teams and to drive revenue for both his employer and his customers.  
 Calling on the Staples account was a very interesting and challenging position since I  was managing the largest customer in the company’s scope.  This National Sales Account had a yearly sales target of $85 million dollars.  In a very challenging office products industry, my account increased year over year sales revenue in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and since the accounts were not growing I needed to use strategies to expand our exposure into non-traditional support categories to ensure I would achieve my targets for year-end.



Will tell you that they will hire you on full-time after 90 days if going through a recruiting agency.  Minimum time that it takes to get hired on is 7-8 months.  Will keep telling you that they want to see 30 more days of improved activity before they make the committment.  This can go on for over a year.  Some people went almost 18 months with no health insurance, benefits, or commission payout.  They bank your commission until they hire you on full-time, so you will be working hourly without commission until you're full time. Truthfully, it seems like they are waiting for you to quit after 8 months so they don't have to pay out.  They will never admit this, but they don't want to pay out commissions. Transparency is a big problem here.  Nothing happens quickly and you don't get credit for a sale until it ships out of the warehouse.  Many times they will ship orders out in small increments over several months, so will have a tougher time hitting quota.  Good people.  Good place to start and build a resume, but definitely a revolving door.  I would suggest anyone interested to do 6 months to a year and get out.  Preferably after you get your banked commissions.

A typical day at ACCO would be one of receiving requests that would need to be organized and delegated out to my team.  Answering questions and supporting the ACCO sales team and supporting any issues that might come up from within my area.  Helping to resolve issues or questions that may come up from other areas in the company that affected my team.  
I learned that I really enjoyed finding solutions to issues, that I thoroughly enjoyed helping others in the company.  That supervising is a service to the team I was managing...that I not only served the customer and the company as a whole, but that I was there to help my team, making sure they understood all that was expected of them and were given all the tools and knowledge to perform their jobs in the best possible manner.
The hardest part of the job would have been when being presented with an unreasonable deadline due date. 
The most enjoyable part of the job was, meeting those unreasonable deadline due dates....I also found I really enjoyed helping others.  I would be asked by others for help in explaining how something worked, i.e. software or a program....helping those on my team and seeing them prosper was a complete joy.

You never know where you are working or what shift you are working daily/weekly/monthly. There is a brutal turnover rate that is a reflection of poor hiring as well as the atmosphere behind the facade that purges the less tenured employees. Do not be engaged, dont ask questions, don't make suggestions, don't try to improve processes, just conform and things will go easier for you. Manager and Supervisor turnover rates are high as well but I can only speculate as to why that trend began and what to associate it with. There is a union entrenched in Alexandria and it protects the chronic behaviors that drive good workers away and stagnates growth and teamwork among the rest. Inconsistencies in everything from training and work procedures, to quality standards and safety procedures makes you realize quickly that the standards you need to adhere to are quite low. Don't ask don't tell is the unofficial quality policy on the floor. Dealing with the state of decay regarding the building, equipment and machinery is a constant challenge as well with no budget for repairs or upgrades, or at least thats what I was always told. 

I usually operate off of a PM schedule and take calls on CB radio for any issues that need fixing on production lines. I
I have learned all troubleshooting skills for the machinery in the facility and how to operate them.
Management team is professional and try to equip me with the tools and information I need to complete my task throughout the day.
My co-workers are trained well and have the knowledge needed to complete their jobs and are good people to work with.
The hardest part of my job is finding things that are to challenging at the moment to get the machinery in the facility operational when they need to be fully functional for the operators and it takes a little more time than it should to fix. But it happens.
I enjoy working here its close to home has a good equipped maintenance shop and always people who have enough experience to help you when you need it.

I was retaliated against by a supervisor one of the HR reps told me to keep quiet about it. The plant manager has his favorites and if you don't make the cut he will use you as a scape goat at the first sign of trouble.  This place has become a very difficult place to work.  They will make you work on holidays often and will only pay you a portion of what they owe you. Example; if you work a 12 hour shift on a holiday they will only pay you for 8 hours of the holiday. If you take your own personal day they will make you use a full 12 hours of your vacation so you run out faster.  They do not give promotions to their employees that have been at Acco for longer and in most cases they hire outside the company even if the person has less experience. They then make the experience employee train the person who took the position they deserved.  I personally had a supervisor back me up to a machine to intimidate me and the plant manager said it was my fault and defended the supervisor.  This place is a not a place you want to work at long term.

ACCO is a company of many companies, they started as a paper clip company and over time have expanded into many different consumer products. ACCO has the potential to be great, but they are holding themselves back on innovation. Unfortunately they are always one step behind everyone else. It's really hard to advance at this company because they operate SO lean, I mean LEAN.... There is just no room for growth. If you are happy staying in your same position for your career you will be fine. There is an uneasy feeling with everyone due to the amount of layoffs that are constantly happening. A lot of the high level leadership has been at the company for decades and does not have the experience from other companies. Overall a good company, but really need to get with digital innovation as paper and pens are going away.

Its a good place to "get your feet wet" and then move on to a real job. This is a very disorganized operation from the top down to the lowest. Top management has a problem with micromanaging things that they should not be doing. There is no opportunity for advancement, position wise or financially in the electrical maintenance field. They are using the "Bell Curve" pay-scale scam, so don't ever expect much more than you are hired in at. They will try and lure you in by promising high top out pay, but you will never get there. There are no evaluations or performance reviews. You will receive a one a year % raise based on where you start on the "bell curve". There is no incentive to do better. Just do your time until the right opportunity comes along. I would recommend that anyone even considering a maintenance job at Acco to talk to someone that is working there presently and get their opinion.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Field service technician 2 salaries reported	$27.75 per hour
Field repair technician 5 salaries reported	$27.50 per hour
Graphic designer 4 salaries reported	$47,388 per year
Channel manager 4 salaries reported	$58,474 per year
Staff auditor 1 salary reported	$72,500 per year

Working at ACCO Brands: Company Overview and Reviews

ACCO Brands

ACCO Brands Ratings

Popular jobs at ACCO Brands

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected