customer service representative

nursing assistant

desktop support technician

software engineer

senior accountant

Computer Generated Solutions, Inc.

Working here you will quickly realize that the managers are a clique which includes the head honcho who has every excuse in the book to try to make himself look like your friend and not the bad guy. If you have a problem, they will just blame Fuji, the company that contracts them. They will blame Fuji for everything from the lousy benefits, lack of raises, low pay, inferior equipment...everything. 

The next thing you will learn is that everybody has to follow the rules, except for the managers who will blatantly violate every rule they have in place including dress code, personal phone calls, foul language, screaming and talking loudly despite it being a professional call center, having personal head phones on listening to music, ignoring their staff, standing around other people's desks for as much 30 minutes and sometimes more. They will do all of this, and be the first to complain about how overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated they are. 

You will now start you job. Placed in a cubicle with a cheap Dell computer working off their low-rent programs that hardly work and constantly crash. You provide tech support for companies who refuse to train their employees in the slightest. You're lucky if the person who answers the phone knows how to turn a machine on and off. Dont expect your managers to stand up for you and tell these companies that they should better train these people. Their job is to bend to every whim of their clients and when anything goes wrong they will find the lowest possible person on the totem pole to throw under the bus whether it is their fault or not. Which leads me to my next point, that you will be accused of doing things wrong that you will not remember doing, because you did not do them. This is because the person that trains you, doesnt know how to do the job either. If you have a question, each person you ask will tell you something different and when it's wrong...You're stuck taking the blame. 

You're going to start believing that if you work hard, you will climb the ladder. You wont, unless you manage to get on certain managers good sides. Then you are granted carte blanche to blatantly do whatever you please even if you are directly in front of a manager. Because you have become "one of them". They will provide you with resources not given to those of the same job because they want you to climb to level 2. Which sounds great in theory until you realize that the level 2 technicians...dont get paid much more than you, but they want you to believe that becoming level 2 is a good thing to trick you into working harder, to get on a managers good side so you can be granted immunity from the rules. 

After several months you finally begin to "earn" paid time off. See you dont get a set # of vacation days. You dont get any sick days or personal days. You get your PTO and that is it and there will be days you are forced to not come to work despite the company being open 365 days a year and if you want to get paid, you have to use your PTO even though you did not request to have the day off. It does not matter. There is no holiday pay for working holidays. And manager incompetence combined with their rules will keep you working past your clock-out time and all overtime has to be approved...so good luck trying to get paid for that 15 minutes you were stuck there because your manager didnt answer your IMs for the last 30 minutes until you were about to shut your computer down to punch out. You're stuck, and they're going to fight having to pay you. That or the manager will have left 30-60 minutes early and will not be available to do their job. Because rules dont apply to them as I stated before. 

You will easily figure out who are the manager's "friends". They get special treatment, extra help, the best schedules, and I'm sure a few benefits I'm not even aware of. They also like to spend time together outside of work to forge these relationships while trying to claim there is no favoritism or nepotism. 

Now several issues will arise and you will want to look to Human Resources to assist you in dealing with these issues. Think again. The HR person is a puppet who's strings are pulled by management. She is their friend, not your advocate as she should be and her sole purpose on the job is to make up excuses for her friends and their friends. Her favorite tactic is the ol' Head Buried in the Sand. No matter how blatantly obvious a problem is, she will pretend it doesn't exist. She will set up a meeting with the boss, who will sit you down and figure out some way to blame it on Fuji. Tell you how he's on your side, pat you on your head and send you back to your desk thinking all is well when really you're just happy to have made it out of the "meeting" maintaining to bite your tongue. 

If you are a masochist, this is the job for you. If you like to feel, empty, dead inside, like your wasting your time and energy. If you like feeling depressed and miserable...Apply immediately. If you are a friend of one of the managers who will make sure you're in the clique....Apply immediately. If you are not either of these things, you're better off getting a root canal with no novacane.

I worked in the Tampa office for 2 years and I'm telling you... if you have any other options then please go seek them.

Management:: 
They're called team leads. Some were ok but others acted as if they were bothered with YOU when you had a customer asking to speak to a supervisor. Some of them would even make you get back on the phone (after you've tried to deescalate the call) and tell you to basically try it again. I understood they were fully loaded with their own work but reps should not feel at fault when a customer is asking for a supervisor. Thats how a lot of us felt when we told the sups they had a call. 

Shift: 
I've worked here 2 years and can not get a schedule change if my life depended on it. I've been working the 230 - 11pm shift since I was hired - weekends off (thats the good part). *NOTE* If you just applied or were just hired chances are they will try to get you on the night shift. Also, they really want you to be on time to work which is understandable but when it's time to leave you have to clock out a minute late so they can make sure the calls are clear. The good thing about that is simply that it's only a minute...

Training:
You will be trained decently in the beginning. You will have a lot of help for OJT. Once you hit the floor, trying to find assistance can sometimes feel impossible. Again, Im not a rookie I was one of the VETS here @ CGS and even I didn't have all the answers. Sometimes when I needed help to find the answer  - LITERALLY NO ONE WAS AVAILABLE. 

Promotions: 
I've seen a couple people move to Quality Assurance but not much. I've seen a couple veteran reps attempt to become team leads. Some made it some did not. The team lead promotion goes something like this -- Upper management gives you a 30 day trial as a team lead with all their responsibilities and dead lines. You will not get a raise during this time. If at the end of the trial period they feel you did good they will keep you. I've seen a lot of knowledgeable veterans try this and fail ( in upper management's eyes ). I've also seen upper management hire outside of the company instead of within because they thought none of our reps were ready..( You'd think within would be first option because vets know whats going on on these calls ) Honestly, I've never tried to be a team lead because I think the process is a joke. 


Pay: 
You will be paid $10.50 an hour - $11.00 if you're bilingual -
I've heard about what team leads get paid but will not comment on it because I can't confirm it.

Pros: 
I have been going on about the bad things at this company so now I feel like I should at least try think the hardest I can about some good things. On a good day where you don't have any questions.. The day may feel to breeze by and you can stay to your self in your cubicle. They do offer a a lot over time when things get busy and most of the times you can sign up for unlimited hours. If you want to work open to close for 2 weeks you can. You earn 10 hours of paid time off on every month anniversary that you are employed. 

1 more con: 
You have 8 points to receive before you're fired. You get 1 point for missing a day 1/2 point for missing a shift which is ok. BUT -- Kid is sick?? Tough.. you're getting a point. Got in a accident on the way here??? You better not be late!!! That's half a point!!! Mom died??? WHO CARES DON'T MISS WORK OR YOU WILL GET A POINT. No doctors note or any note even legal will help you. This is how it is. I've never had a problem with points but I'm adding this because others do. 

And that is my review. Just to be clear, I am not an angry ex employee. I did not get fired. I chose to free myself from the prison. Better options are available. If you need a job asap then go with CGS but be clear... this is just a stepping stone to bigger and better things.

This is an enjoyable office to work in, with many friendly coworkers, fun contests with monetary rewards and a casual laid back atmosphere. There is almost always a pot luck or company funded meal each week. The management is friendly and accommodating and willing to go to great lengths to compromise with any issues that might develop. The training is excellent and thorough. Employees are constantly taking required courses to expand their knowledge base of company products, services, and policies.
However, there is a wage freeze that has been in effect since 2008 and the pay rate you agreed to when hired will never change. People who have worked at this office for over ten years are still earning the salaries that they had in 2008. There are no raises, ever. Employees are expected to work holidays with no compensation if the holidays fall on their regularly scheduled hours.  
Still, it is a great work environment. When the management created new schedules to cooperate with their contracts, I was unable to find transportation to and from work as my carpool's schedule differed greatly. I went up the chain of command from my team lead manager all the way to the director of operations for the district, but despite their many considerable efforts, we were unable to find a workable solution and I was forced in the end to submit my two weeks notice.
While working for CGS, I earned many awards both monetary and documented, for perfect attendance, promptness, and exceptional  customer reviews and quality control reviews.
CGS is a call-center employer, handling many diverse accounts, from  technical to retail, all under one roof. One queue may be resolving the issues of a helicopter pilot in accessing his company email and another queue two feet away might be assisting an elderly lady in operating the new coffee maker she just purchased. Each queue has different policies for documentation and resolution of the call. 
The queue I was assigned was required to track orders, solve hardware and network issues or malfunctions, replace defective equipment, answer complex billing questions, while simultaneously documenting the serial number of the device, the name, primary contact number, order number, and address and tracking number of the customer and a description of the reason of the call and how we complied with company policies in resolving the customer's problem in four different systems.
Each queue operates on a shift bid system. This means every three months all employees in the queue competed with each other to win the 9-5 schedules which were in high demand. We were graded on how short our calls were, how well documented our calls were, whether we complied with company policy, and how quickly we were ready for the next call. If a customer called in and failed to give the right information or hung up, we were unable to document the call properly and that counted against us in our stats.
Those employees who had the best stats were awarded the best shifts. But those shifts are always subject to change at a moment's notice because the contract might change their mind without notice and require everyone in the queue to change their schedules immediately.

As a newcomer at CGS, you are simply another body to management.

During training, higher ups will come visit and speak with you, allow you to ask questions, and sugarcoat you, praising you for your time and telling you that you're an asset and how they make their money from your work. 

When it really comes down to it however, you just another body to take calls, have policies put onto you, not seen for who you are or your current situation. You will be shieled from the harsh reality of the job during training, then thrown to the wolves on the floor. You'll be lucky to get quick responses from leadership if you need assistance with a call or don't know a process yet. The training contains a lot of useless information, and not enough information on practical process that you'll need to know when working the actual job.

Understaffing issues quickly become your problem, as they struggle to build up the workforce onsite. You'll be told that you can take calls at your own pace and at your own flow, but you'll really just be following what a tool tells you. If the tool is unable to help, expect to be stuck trying to figure out what you'll need to do in order to resolve an issue. More often than not, the real challenge of this job lies with battling higher tiers of support and management so that you're able to get your customer the solution that will actually resolve their problem. 

You'll need to follow up with customers who couldn't get their issue resolved on the first call, but you're expected to do this in-between calls. Time to follow up/work with customers who need additional help from you is rarely approved. Management will tell you to work on these while on call with another customer, expecting you to divert attention from a priority customer on the line, just so you can catch up on work you should have time to do. If you can't finish working all of your ongoing cases within your shift, you'll be forced to stay past your shift and finish it, if you get unlucky and receive a call in the last few minutes of your shift, there's nothing you can do about it, no matter how long the call will take. Do not allow management to lie to you about performance metrics and average call time not mattering a whole lot, you will be watched, pinged, and coached for it. 

The operations manager is incompetent and knows nothing about actually working the job. They are simply there to bend the knee to the client, without having any compassion or understanding of your unique situation. Benefits come out of your pay and don't start for three months after training. Use this job for nothing more than the experience, you'll not be going anywhere higher with this company until at least a year of employment (with no raises either). You don't get holidays off, there is no paid sick time, you'll have to use the tiny amount of PTO you accrue per hour of work to take those days off.

Your experience in the field does not matter, your pay and treatment will be the same whether you're coming from no experience in IT or a full bachelors degree.

I interviewed over the phone for a tech support position & was hired along with about a dozen other people. (First red flag - no in-person interview.) I was told that I'd be working 9-5:30 during training & that I'd pick a shift afterward.

After I got there, I was informed that this was a rotating shift position. Like myself, a lot of other people were unaware of this until we were told to sign waivers that we had 100% availability.

The first half of the first 2 classes consisted of a long list of things that would result in termination, nonpayment for hours worked, and/or ineligibility for promotion. For example, being 5 minutes late one time for any reason during the first 90 days puts you on "final warning" status. Of course it's reasonable to expect that employees be punctual, but the severity of many policies gives the impression that this is some sort of reform school for tech personnel. Missing any time for any reason (other than family death or jury duty) during the first 90 days is prohibited. (This isn't just about attendance - it's a way to hold on to very overqualified personnel.)

Another example: If you've ever worked in a call center, you are familiar with headsets. They're company property. Typically, they remain on company property. CGS expects each analyst to check out a headset, sign a form with the serial number, and keep it on his/her person, even at home. If the headset is stolen (and apparently theft is not unusual - trainers advise employees to not leave headsets on their desks), the analyst has to pay over $70 to replace it.

I was surprised to find out that with 8 years of experience, I was one of the less experienced people in the class. It's not unusual for experienced IT personnel to take entry level jobs as a supplement, but an entire class of vastly overqualified people doing a $10/hour entry-level job is kind of strange.

I had been told that there was room for advancement. There isn't. The entire company is basically one tier 1 helpdesk with a tiny handful of tier 2 personnel. In the event that one of those rare positions is vacated, you're competing with the rest of the company for it. There's no opportunity for advancement for most people, regardless of performance or qualifications. This is definitely a dead-end job.

This is a unique form of job scam. The company recruits vastly overqualified people for low-paying entry-level work by promising room for growth. It then holds on to those people by making it virtually impossible to schedule a job interview.

CGS is a diversified company and they have alot of different departments in USA, Europe and Asia.  Just alone in Tampa, FL, probably about 6 or more including famous company such as, Honeywell, IBM, Sprint, Elizabeth Arden, to just name a few. However, for the Tampa region, it's mostly Tech Support or CS Support. For my department, we are growing tremendously.

Great Team Leadership but 1 person. If you're one who strives to advance your skills and starting in the IT/Tech industry, then this is a good starting position.  If you have the TL mindset and willingness to learn, they will support you, if not then you won't survive. 

I've worked for a Call Center before, I'd say by far CGS does recognize your achievement and awards you for it. If you're a hard worker and enjoy helping/doing support within the tech side, then money won't matter. More importantly, they do not have high turnover rates. They keep growing and expanding. 

Personally, I enjoy it regardless of pay. I love doing research, learning new things and the fact that within my department we have more power than regular CSR. It's really hard to get fired unless you're not willing to put an effort to your job.

Those that thinks they have clicks, honestly, from previous experience and call center, CGS (my department specifically) do not do the clicks. If you don't do your job, of course no one will know you, which can be construed as favortism. I've only been with the company since Oct 2014, and within 2 months after training, I'm known by many and yet I don't know everyone of them. 

Have the passion to do your job, go above and beyond, show willingness and be helpful at the same time by sharing knowledge, then you won't have to worry about what people or leadership say about you or security job.

My only comment to upper level, increase starting pay and promotions salary. Implement a new department or area for those that in need of help or supervisors (floor walking doesn't help much) so this way supervisor can worry about their own jobs and employees. This will help improve employees metrics, efficiency, increase quality service while producing achieving quantity goal.

Interview consisted of 2 Managers basically conducting orientation for 16 "Interviewees". Not exactly a formal interview since the consensus is they hire anyone that passes their pre-employment test.

Three weeks of paid training starts you off (at least in the area I worked in). There is a LOT to learn, including 13 systems that you will likely use every day. Some are easy to pick up, most are not. They are cluttered and older than they should be for the type of work you are doing. A few of them are reviewed by the trainer, but, the ones you use most often are "self study" videos that you follow thru by clicking here and there. There are two tests during training, one after week one and another at the end of week three.

There will be opportunities to sit with current associates taking live calls so you can get an idea of what's going on which will help, depending on the person you are sitting with. Either way, you will not likely be prepared when you are thrown to the wolves for OJT for week 4-5. They will tell you that your OJT calls will be simple calls using only 1-2 systems but this is not the case. You will get the same calls as seasoned associates and a couple of floor walkers to help you along the way. This is a very stressful experience for many.

The most unbelievable aspect of working for CGS is the fact that you must clock out to go to the restroom. That was a shocker. I didn't realize companies even still practiced this in this day and age. They will flat out tell you they are not paying you to go to the bathroom-do it on your break or lunch! Just, wow.

Would I recommend working for CGS? If you are living at home with little to no bills and can muddle your way thru a mess of outdated systems, sure. If you have a mortgage, or rent, a car payment, insurance, utilities, credit cards, child care or any other expense that most adults have, no. The hourly pay rate is not a living wage and if you opt for insurance thru them expect to see a hefty amount taken from that bi-weekly paycheck.

PROS
This is a Customer Service call center job. If you enjoy customer service, there are a variety of contracts and responsibilities.
Paid Time Off is earned monthly and increases with time (initially, equivalent to about 3 weeks vacation).

CONS
If you are out of a job and employment ran out, this is a way to make a paycheck.
Unfair/Unequal treatment - examples:
- company attendance policy is not enforced across the board (at 8 points, you are supposed to be terminated, but we had an associate with 10 points and he was not);
- Even if you are obviously sick (like the flu), if you don't have a doctor's note, you still get charged a point if you call out sick - AND you cannot use your PTO hours to cover your sick time.
- they reward poor employees far too much, giving them "point buy-back coupons" to reduce the number of points against them;
- PTO (paid time off) requests are denied for no reason, while others get their requests;
- during interview, was told I could earn a raise in 6-12 months, but a few months after hire, was told there had been a wage freeze in effect for several years;
- shift bid process is arbitrary;
- once you are hired into a specific queue, it is impossible to get out (no lateral transfers);
- they do so few call monitors, that your meager "bonus" is usually based on one call monitor (bonus is about $100 a month on average - or less);
- the rewards for top employees are almost non-existent.
- Pay is very low ($10.50 per hour) for the large responsibilities of the job.
- When you ask for PTO (even far in advance), they don't approve it until the Friday before, so you cannot plan a vacation.
- Top leadership from New York come to visit from time to time to talk to employees. but nothing changes.

Advice to Management
Allow a program where employees rate their Team Leads and Managers.
Enforce company policies (like attendance) among all employees.
Develop a spreadsheet showing dates & number of employees where PTO is allowed so employees can plan vacations.

What is the best part of working at the company?
There is an opportunity to work on highly visible initiatives with meaningful ownership and autonomy. Employees on the corporate side are often exposed to a wide variety of operational and strategic challenges, and I had the opportunity to work alongside several talented coworkers and collaborative external agency partners who genuinely cared about producing strong work under demanding circumstances.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The organization operates in a near-constant state of urgency, where shifting priorities and emergency-level execution become normalized. Teams are expected to absorb high workloads with extremely lean staffing and very little operational redundancy, which contributes heavily to stress and burnout, particularly during major launches or organizational transitions.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The corporate culture often felt reactive rather than strategically aligned. Despite most collaboration occurring through Microsoft Teams and remote meetings, the company maintained a rigid in-office structure that frequently felt disconnected from the actual nature of the work. Leadership dynamics sometimes made modernization efforts and operational best practices difficult to advance consistently, which contributed to uncertainty and hesitation around strategic initiatives.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Most days involved balancing multiple high-priority initiatives simultaneously while responding to shifting requests, operational issues, and tight deadlines. The pace was consistently fast, and much of the work required adapting quickly to changing priorities while managing large-scale projects with limited staffing support.

okay so when i started here it was great! the training lacked a little but as long as you asked plenty of questions during training and pay attention you will get it. class training lasts for two weeks then on the floor training (actually answering calls and talking to customers) was for 2 to 3 weeks; dont be afraid to ask plenty of questions you also get to shadow other employees. now work environment hard to find help from supervision always have to get up and look for someone to help you with troubleshooting on a call not many supervisors know what they are doing with troubleshooting either; its a typical call center so yes you gotta deal with angry customers so you gotta remain calm no matter what; breaks are timed so if you back late thats deduction out of your money and its hard to make 40 hours a week because of that; pay sucks i wouldnt recommend staying here long unless you are looking to advance within the company there are no raises there is benefits but are not good in my opinion; they are very flexible with your schedule if you need time off just let the manager know and he can work with you with your schedule;they look out for people who are in school , if you have disability or kids; so it use to be laid back you could eat at your desk but now we are under new management so no longer can eat at desk which affects your breaks; they have fooda come here to serve in the break room but the food is highly expensive. its restaurants and stores near by but is it worth it to leave and risk being late? nope i also order food online or bring a lunch...as far as the experience i loved it learning how to fix computers;but overall not good and its getting worse. i say its good for experience if you need it with hardware and software knowledge on the computers or if you need experience in a call center. good luck to the new comers!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Customer service representative 11 salaries reported	$16.00 per hour
Nursing assistant 1 salary reported	$22.50 per hour
Desktop support technician 3 salaries reported	$23.33 per hour
Software engineer 4 salaries reported	$102,375 per year
Senior accountant 4 salaries reported	$107,500 per year

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