grounds maintenance worker

student intern

pipefitter

equipment operator

refuse collector

City of Lakeland

Not good!   Was hired for customer service but spent most of time filling out redundant reports created just to keep us busy constantly.  The phones were unnecessarily complicated ones that required you to sign in and out of the phone anytime you walked away for a couple of minutes to ask a question or answer the bell at front desk.  Having worked many jobs answering phones, this was totally new to me and not easy to remember to do. This policy was in place because managers had no trust in their employees to not be goofing off!  They wanted you busy every moment of the day and most of that was wasted on redundAnt reports. Another thing was that your bathroom break was timed and better be short! Unpleasant and unfriendly place to work in that department for sure!  So happy to nolonger work there! They were all about customer service at the mental stress expense of their employees!  

Working for the City of Lakeland facilities cleaning department was an extremely negative experience. The work environment is toxic, filled with constant gossip and unnecessary drama. Instead of focusing on professionalism and teamwork, many employees are more concerned with being in each other’s business.

Supervision is poor to nonexistent. Employees are not held accountable, and laziness is tolerated. My supervisor, Vanny Wang, was by far the worst supervisor I have ever encountered—unprofessional, gossip-driven, and a direct contributor to the toxic environment. Leadership fails to set a standard or provide meaningful guidance, and as a result, the facilities themselves are often left in unacceptable condition.

Overall, this department is an embarrassment to the city. It is poorly managed, unprofessional, and not a place I would recommend to anyone seeking stable or respectful employment.

I think the city is overall a good place to work but that really depends on your personality. For the people that are driven and need to progress it may not be the place to work. The way things are structured here everyone is treated the same weather you accomplish all the work assigned or none of the work assigned. The job security is so strong it can make dealing with disgruntle employees next to impossible. Different rules apply to different people. Even though there are clear guidelines and rules they are very seldom followed. The Human Resource Department is of little use to most situations. Being in a union department is  honestly the only way to have any protection as an employee. Sadly the city is not what it was 20 years ago.  

I've worked for this company for just under 13 years. 

Employees enjoy good training opportunities with our City University but it's hard to advance your career due to a hiring freeze that has been in place now for several years.

Many of the Energy Delivery Employees are now a part of the UWUA and enjoy steady merit increases and advancement opportunities in spite of the hiring freeze in place for the rest of the employees.  

The City of Lakeland offers benefits and a pension plan and in spite of the challenging economy, they have retained most of their employees using the strategy to freeze any opening created by a retiring employee and not hiring any new employees unless the position is critical to operations.

The firefighters' job is great. Always have details that need to be tended to and the training is top notch. Lakeland has some of the best equipment and instructors in the industry. I learned so much from the men and women that I worked with there, they are to be applauded for the day to day work and at such a high cost to self. Management got better over the years and has raised the bar so that every employee needs to perform well or will be under review. The hardest part of the job is the stress that it places on your health and family. The best part of the job is the relationships and experiences you have.

Flexible work environment giving you the freedom to cross train and perform numerous different tasks from day to day.

Good work environment close groups of helpful fellow employees.

Due to it being local government it is slightly frustrating as to slow movement of getting things done at times.

As holding a lead role for many years managers trusted in me to hold extra responsibilities and decision making for them or in their absence.

Unique ability to assist both internal and external customers, as well as work with numerous outside vendors on both software and hardware products.

Do not expect any help from management for anything. Being in a union doesn't help either because its set-up that you don't pay for it so why would the union help you with anything. You're better off keeping to yourself. Don't injure yourself while working, I've seen employees treated poorly for it as if it was all their fault. You will not advance.  During storms you have to stay at work and work for 16 hours and have to sleep on a cot at work. Sooooo much childish gossip. You feel like it's childish junior high environment.

Most unhappy set of people I have ever come across. Very lazy folks.  No work ethics, and 85% has a high school level education. Everyone have a story about the number of years before they enter the drop. Tax payers money at work! People does the bare minimum,  and just sit around and wait for retirement. Since the City of Lakeland does not take out Social Security, everyone is awaiting a pension.  No one wants to train new employees because they do not want to be replaced. If you have strong work ethics, a higher education level, and like to get your work done, this is definitely not the place for you. To move up, you have to befriend a person in that department.

Patrons have blatant disrespect for your job/responsibility; kids are absolutely out of control and parents do nothing to help; sometimes 200+ kids are watched by 3 lifeguards; kids disobey rules and there is nothing lifeguards can do even if you tell them to leave after breaking rules 10+ times they will not leave and parents encourage them to disobey; police sometimes help but very rarely and it takes them a long time to respond; no breaks whatsoever; work 8 hours in sun non stop; must walk up and down beach for hours; also you have to buy your own swimsuit while shirt/shorts provided if you want a swimsuit to wear you must buy it yourself (only one pieces are allowed)

Cleveland Heights Golf Course was a great place to work. Management was easy to work with and the guests were always a pleasure to be around. I was given the ability to develop menus and concepts that I thought would enhance the experience at the club. The staff was what I considered to be part of my family.
    The most challenging part of this work was making so many different people  from different areas of the country satisfied.
   I was able to learn that being flexible in my decision making can be an advantage.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Grounds maintenance worker 20 salaries reported	$23.09 per hour
Student intern 35 salaries reported	$15.37 per hour
Pipefitter 12 salaries reported	$25.33 per hour
Equipment operator 3 salaries reported	$25.86 per hour
Refuse collector 8 salaries reported	$23.78 per hour

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