customer service representative

customer care specialist

customer service/sales representative

bilingual customer service associate

team leader

I came to HGS because I had been on unemployment throughout Covid-19 and needed a job I could work from home. While job searching, there were very few companies that provided the necessary equipment, but HGS did, so that was the first thing that drew me in. 
I knew several people that were current employees who loved it and so I got referred by one of them that has been with the company for more than 5 years and had only great things to say about working for them. 
The starting wage was very fair considering it was a 100% remote position AND they supplied everything you needed. The classroom training for the account that I am on was exceptional. I was a little put off at first because training was 7 weeks long and I have never had to train that long for any position I have ever held. But that was a combination of the classroom training, which is held virtually, and the on-the-job training. 
I have been with them since October 2021 and I have really only two things that I would like to provide feedback on for change. The first thing is that it seems as though when you are getting your calls while in the on-the-job training floor, the calls are routed to come in mostly to that group of employees and they do come in back to back. Now, this is good because you have to be certified as an agent, and so the more calls you are getting, the better your chances of meeting the required conversion rating are and being certified. I was consecutively, every single week being talked up about how they can see me as a Team Lead in no time, just keep doing exactly what your doing, you are amazing, etc etc etc. I was told by multiple TLs that I was always at the very top of the list of all employees on that account for my conversion rating, so when they were looking for me for my numbers on their reports, they always knew to look in the top 3 or so! In order to certify, they have a formula that is used based on how many calls you take that are sellable calls and that gets divided by how many of those calls you actually "sold" to. So, I certified at the end of November or beginning of December which is when those from my class group that made it through should have certified. We use a platform called Slack to communicate with our peers and our TLs and they appoint mentors to answer questions for us as we are new to taking calls and you just type a question and then someone answers it so you can move on with your call. While in the OJT room, which is training, many many people jump to quickly answer your questions almost always. For some reason, I was not moved to the regular Slack forum for a long while after I certified and they told me it was because they just had so many more coming from training and they were trying to possibly restructure how they assigned us all to the TLs. So, I went with it even though everyone else from my group got moved, but I was on a different team within the training room on the floor, so I just didn't get too worked up about it. But finally, they "graduated" me and assigned me to a specific TL and I was moved out of the training room. I hit conversion goal the very first month and let me tell you, my bonus was AMAZING! I don't know if I am allowed to say how much, so I won't disclose that. Now, ever since then which was very beginning of December, I have not managed to meet the conversion rating which is a required weekly goal. They are not going to let you sit there and collect your hourly and not meet their goal, which is also the goal in order to get your bonuses each month. So, not only am I being written up for not meeting the goal, I am also not getting any of my bonus money. I have had compliance errors which are part of the requirements, if you are reading certain things, you must read them verbatim, and if you don't, they dock you for it, and if you get even one, 50% of your bonus for the month is gone right off the top! I am okay with that, but I also feel like they pick your calls apart and dock you for compliance errors that are not true compliance errors, like typing an address wrong on an application. 
Also, the calls that come in to the agents that are certified are few and far between on this account and I have been told that it is because they route most of them to the ones that are in OJT so they can get them certified. Well, so there goes my conversion rating along with many others. Basically, you have to make the very most of EVERY SINGLE CALL because even one call that COULD have been sellable and you don't sell it, that is going to take you down. 
Also, once out of the OJT room, answers to our questions sometimes never happen or they take 15 minutes and you cannot leave your caller on hold that long waiting for an answer. They have tried to rectify this recently by all of us being assigned to like a Zoom room so that our calls can be listened to live and they can help a fewer number of people in a group. However, we still sometimes do not get a response at all, or it takes too long and so you just use your best judgement and clear the call. 
I know this has gotten terribly long, but I just feel that it is important to share these things because I LOVED it here at first and now, I have been looking diligently for another work from home opportunity that doesn't require me to work 40 hours a week and isn't as stressful trying to meet certain ratings that sometimes seem impossible because the calls are mostly being routed to the trainees.

1.5/5 stars
My gut instinct told me avoid this HGS role and I didn’t listen to it, so here we are! This was sold to me as a customer focused role that is not scripted or stats based with solid training. Instead what we actually get is a focus of box ticking on the calls, saying things in a certain way (a script), following a set structure, and you must not deviate from the structure. Do not dare question the holy structure, however robotic it feels and unhelpful to the customer experience it may be. Your calls will be marked, as is standard practice of course, but however good your customer service skills are it doesn’t matter anywhere near as much as following the set call script & structure or as collecting caller data. It is splitting hairs on a whole other level



Out of training from the word go you’ll be getting chased for call work time. Take a quick loo break and you may get a message from a manager asking whats happening. Half your 121 time will be based around stats with targets on improving these. It is micromanagement on steroids but try asking for support on a difficult call and you may be waiting a while. 
                       Try asking a general question directly to a manager and you may get garble like this, hi just reconfirming my pay query has been resolved as my schedule still shows as awol (showing as awol in error), to then receive back as a response, a copy and paste reply of the managers previous message from the week before, which included copying my prior message to that in, so not actually answering my question. Similar things to this happened, more than once. 
To be fair to management, ask them to resolve anything and they will, but when you ask a general question there is that attitude of them not wanting to know

The support is lacking. The training in the beginning not really good enough and their priority was getting people to pass an end of training roleplay, rather than really getting to grips with the job.
                When taking calls on a new topic, It is deemed good enough to get an hours worth of training. Then apparently be qualified in that said topic and we’re talking getting calls marked & feedback on that basis. Then being literally told by management “well aren’t you trained on that” on occasion when needing extra support. 

All in all there is a negative vibe and even working from home it can be picked up upon. Even within any feedback given, its all negative. "you've done really well on this call but........"
 I found for me that essentially it is in many ways an easy enough role which is made unnecessarily challenging and can be stressful as a result. There is talent working there and its shame there isn’t a clear pathway for people to see where they can go onto, if they can go onto anywhere within this role

No review would be complete with the plus points of which there are a handful
Colleagues are great. Presently most of the time there are long gaps between calls. Fortnightly pay. You will learn something from this role as it covers some broad subjects. There is a sense on some of these calls that we are helping this person and I had some very genuine and lovely calls with those calling in

If you're looking for job double standards, this is the workplace for you. The Constant change in policy for those on the floor will give you whiplash. 

If you're working in one of the Social Media accounts it is very strict in terms of what you can do. They will likely assign you to a media account that has a large quota but nothing to respond to as all the posts are negative. 

The workplace environment is silent. There's a stiffness. You are not allowed to use anything other than Pandora, Lunch breaks are 30 minutes while your other breaks are about 10 - 15 minutes. 

No writing utensils, no wandering about your desk. If you do not meet the quota (Which is evaluated every 2 weeks) You are put on probation and will be terminated if you do not reach this quota. 

What you can reply to is very limited. You will not reach your quota. if you are less than a second late from your breaks (Using the Bathroom, you walk slowly, etc) You will receive a warning. If you're up to three you're fired. 

The Management does not abide by their own policies. 

1.) No food of any type is allowed at the desk. The only acceptions being Hard Candy or Gum. (If you cannot eat hard candy or gum, well that's too bad. Fruit Snacks? nope. Trail Mix for those eating healthy? Nope.)  

The Managers would walk in every day and each has a bag of Chipotle at their desks. Drinks with open tops are also not allowed. 

2.) No writing utensils are allowed at the desks. At first, we were allowed whiteboards to break up the endless dealing with negative comments and to give our eyes a  break from the computers. 

That policy changed and no one heard about it until about a week later when I got reprimanded for it on the floor in front of my co-workers. 

3.) No Cell-Phones on the floor. Every manager and team lead walked around with phones out of their pockets. On them, doing whatever they wished. Phones are prohibited on the floor and grounds for immediate termination. UNLESS you're a manager and can do whatever you want. 


----

FAVORITISM is ALWAYS present. There are clear employees they like more for one reason or another so that they can slide with anything. Be it workplace related aggression or anything like that. 


Managers will brush everything off to your team-leads no matter how severe the issue. If your team lead is not there (In which case mine was never present because HGS never has enough people to properly staff it.) Then you're SOL. 

If you don't mind sitting, not talking to anyone, or having at the very least a choice of music you can enjoy, then you'll love working here. If you're fine with workplace favoritism with no room to push upwards despite putting your best foot forward, then this is the place for you.

Other than that you're valued as a dollar sign and a tag number. That is ALL you will be here. 

- Notes of a former employee.

There is constant changes & high turnover at HGS. The attendance policy changed for the second time since starting which gets depressing at times. I enjoy my job & am grateful that they hired me. Depends on the client you work for but wish the starting pay was hire as I am on the lower paying scale. There was a lot to learn in training & we received a long period of training.
We get paid by the minute but when you use PTO for an appointment its only used in hourly increments.
Holidays we are closed the only way you get paid for them is you have to work 4 -10 hour days that week & have to be on time the day after the holiday or you receive no holiday pay. Your schedules are determined by a department in India break & lunch schedules are always inconsistent. We had a food truck that we had to pay for our own meal but most everyone was late coming back from lunch due to the long line but it counted against you.
A lot of pressure is put on you for certification & keeping your call times & after call numbers low but have teammates always trying to giving good advice. Only issue is you get sloppy notes or no notes on an account. Whatever client you work on there is an up sale that you are required to do on each call even if it doesn't refer to the call. If you are not a multitasker this will be a hard job.
If you have to use the restroom before your breaks or lunch it counts against you unless you have a doctors note.I have awesome Team Leaders who want us to succeed & are helpful also understanding.
Like anywhere you have to watch your back. I don't  think its wise too have family members working on the same client together. 
I consider HGS the second chance company for some employees. 
Once you start at HGS and they explain the No Cell Phone & No pens & paper policy you will understand completely.
We have whiteboards on our desk that you will need to buy dry erase markers. 
Need to offer an employee wellness plan as most people sit all day.

Pay is sad w/little room for advancement. What advancement you can get will quickly be taken away when you're moved to a new department and have to start again at ground up. This happens because HGS over-hires since there is a large employee turnover rate. People drop like flies especially during training. This company hires like crazy but then not enough people quit as they probably anticipated (lol) so then they have to skip groups of people around from department to department every couple of months to compensate for over-hiring. This happened multiple times while I was there and I worked there less than a year...
The most you can begin w/is $12 but it's not often that people start at max. Most departments start off at $10 or $11/hr during training (note: $11/hr departments have the highest call volumes and usually require Spanish fluency) which lasts several months then go up to $10.50 after training. You'll get a raise after 6 months, the max being 26 cents. You do the math, it's not great. 
PTO is even worse. For every 80 hours worked you get 2 hours of PTO.  You can request time off 48 hours in advance but you of course won't get paid, and when you don't request time in advance you will get what is called an occurrence, and you can only have 4 every 6 months. 
Most of the management is nice enough but unreliable and really inconsistent. Rules and policies change every few weeks and you'll only know after you've been coached for breaking a new rule that no one told you about ahead of time. All the HR department (2 people) does is sit there and look pretty. 
What else? Basically it's an entry level job with high inbound call volume, pay does not match the amount of work by far, and PTO and benefits fall short as well. It's a good place to work as a last resort but if you can get a better paying job just go for it, because it's a sad paycheck especially after taxes. Which reminds me, payroll almost always gets your hours wrong so every employee is responsible for going over their timesheet meticulously and emailing people who take days to respond if you want to get paid correctly or on time. I'd say this position is more of a stepping stone to get some call center experience before going off to a better paying job.

Pro
You can work at home.

Cons
1.No Overtime
2. They can V time you (V time means they send you home)
3.Told by the operations manager not to call the help desk do to the employee from the help desk lying to me and being rude.

4. The supervisor line is often to busy and good luck getting a hold of a tl.
5. We only have two-tier tech support employees. ( good luck waiting with out pay)

6. They lie for example you are told by Human Resources that you will get paid for the time you are out. (READ THE POLICY AS THIS IS A LIE)

7. They count on you not reading the employee manual they will pay up to a max 3 hours and anytime you spend with supervisors and making calls about the issues.

8 . Keep your own payroll log as there are mistakes. It is not my job to double check someone else and you can see your hours worked on your home pc.

9. Cover your butt recently I had tech issues I was out for 6 days I will not get paid as much as I was told by hr and it was a pain I had to prove I did not have packet loss and still the company refuses to see it.  I take pictures of errors and I may also record conversations, If something is put in chat I copy it and post it in notes. Had I not covered my but I would have been fired also since we only have two tech support agents not being paid if it takes them two days to get back to you is not fair.

10. Privacy Violations my new tl stated her kid unplugged her internet. This is a violation of the company's privacy rules but would she get fired nope. 

11. Tl is not professional my new tl called me rude and said I was over exaggerating when I had no way to get a hold of her and I was on a call when she pulled us into a breakout room to show us something. She also trash talked another tl which is not professional. Not to mention how she handles tech issues situations.

12. Most of the time tls do not read. Tls do not read for example sometimes I would post something and they totally miss the point or ignore it. 

13. They over hire

14. Benefits are pointless if you do not make enough to use them. 
I make 11.00 (Pay differs per contract) I work about 40 give or take and benefits are $120.00 per pay period. When you add in the cost of living it is not enough. To cover and the thing I may need to get done.

There are more cons but in the end, be careful

I worked there for over 9 years. In that time I capped out at the max of 11.50 an hour for CSR's. You get a "bonus" each year after you are capped out, but it doesn't compound, so basically if you were to receive for instance a .50 cent raise at another job, then a year later you get another .50 cents that's compounding. Not HGS. If you meet all of your yearly requirements you may get 200 or 240 a year total, lets say you were lucky enough to get a 300 dollar bonus. It averages about .25 cents an hour. Unless you expect to kiss up to your team lead, 9 times out of 10 you will be stuck as a representative unless you're friends or related to someone who is in the upper management. My last account I was on, I had to train my supervisor to know how to do my job. I applied for positions to move up multiple times throughout my tenure and was always given the excuse that I didn't have enough experience. The only way to get the experience was for your bosses to let you off of the phone to do extra stuff, and if you're actually good at your job or you don't suck up to them; that won't happen. If you have a decent client, thats great, but most of the time the good clients are on the accounts that the callers just suck. If you have a decent account where the caller's aren't jerks, then typically the clients are unrealistic. If you do luck out and get promoted, depending on the account, the clients can take your job away overnight. There is an account where if the client doesn't like you, you get no notice, your team gets no notice. HGS just finds you a new position within the company on a different account. Management doesn't know what they're doing half of the time, especially if they have to scramble because they were moved. I went through at least 7 team leaders on the account I was on in about 2 years because client had unrealistic expectations of what they were wanting, or they didn't like that the team leader stood up to them with their expectations. Even the account coordinator doesn't have job security on certain accounts

Over the course of three years with HGS, I found that promises of development, progression, and internal opportunities were consistently unfulfilled. Despite being told repeatedly that I’d be given the chance to work across different lines of business to build my skillset, those opportunities never materialized. In reality, there is little to no genuine career progression within the organization, regardless of effort, experience, or aspirations.

HGS operates with a worrying lack of job security. Whether it’s fixed-term contracts or abrupt redundancies, employees are often left in uncertain positions without clear communication or transitional support. Rather than investing in people, the company seems to view staff as replaceable — expected to deliver a high workload for minimal pay, with little recognition or reward.

I personally expressed interest in progressing to the IT service desk based on my qualifications and studies, and was told I’d be a strong fit — yet I wasn’t even granted an interview. Most recently, after interviewing for a role on the DSCC campaign (which was postponed multiple times), I was told by the hiring manager that my interview had been one of the best that week. However, I later received a conflicting message from recruitment, stating I was no longer being considered. Promises of a future vacancy in April were made and then retracted, leaving me completely in the dark.

Now, after all that, HGS has reached out again regarding a vacancy on the same campaign. While I appreciate the outreach, I can’t overlook the repeated false promises, the lack of integrity in communication, and the absence of real leadership. I’ve since accepted a role with another organization — one that offers a competitive salary, tangible career progression, and an environment that values employee development.

Based on my experience, I would not consider working for HGS again, nor could I recommend it to anyone seeking long-term growth or career satisfaction. If anything, HGS is where careers stall — not where they thrive.

When I get into work I know that I am going to have colleagues that will help me  and always have a friendly statement to make.  We may not all be in one office building, and we are scattered across Canada, but through Team we all are in one place, and it is like we are in an office together without all the noise.  Sometimes the toughest challenges we have, my fellow Team Leaders and I, is that our time is often short for getting things done, but all of us seem to manage it.

I have learned to be a better person, to help when needed and not to be afraid to ask for help either. Our management team goes out of its way to help when they can, keeping within Company Policies.

I know if I am having a tough day and I need to speak to someone, my fellow Team Leaders are there to help, and to just have a conversation with one of them, helps ease that day, and makes that problem seem small compared to the problems in Canada today.  I know after my Heart Attack, the company and staff were so accommodating with my Leave of Absence and my return to work, everyone has been so amazing through that time of struggle for me.

The hardest part of our job is managing our Teams and meeting with each and every agent on our team in 30 days.  Sometimes we feel the task will never be done, but we all seem to have it well in hand.

I love this job, working at home helps me focus better on tasks because I do not have the distractions of an Office.  

I would definitely recommend that people work for HGS Canada Inc., and I have made many a referral to this company, I am not worried about the recognition for those referral's, I am looking to help the company succeed.


I have been working here for 4 years now, I was able to get a better place a care, you can make commission on top of your salary, you get to pick your own schedule through a preference form you fill  or if you are a student you get to pick whatever hours you want, you can pick as much as hours you want as other workers give their hours often, you can work up to 60 hours, and you can also give all hours if you want, we get 6 sick/off days in Ontario, you can just decide not to go to work a min before your shift start, and you can collect vacation hours, I was able once to take a whole month paid, it is a customer services job so your 8 hours shift is just people are upset and you need to help which you can't always help so you gotta absorb their anger but dont take it to heart, if you are sensitive this is not the right place for you, your support staff and team leader are incredible, but managment and their rules are not always the best and things change a lot which you don't really have a saying in it you kind of just need to accept to keep your job, not any room for promotion unless you applied for like a support or team leader postion in the company, not much of a pay increase but could get off calls if that what you want, overall i was able to make a good living and balance with my university in past few years so i kind of able to get a degree because of this job, i would probably still be working here as a part time even when i graduate just for the job security and the good support staff 

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