manager

director

customer service representative

project manager

engineer

NiSource

The CSR role for Nisource consists of taking customer service and 
 gas emergency calls for Columbia Gas of PA, MD, VA, OH, KY customers. Your typical day can be good or bad depending on the types of calls you are getting and how busy the call center is. Some days you will have all decent customers who are just calling to set up a payment arrangement or to pay a bill or start service. Other days you will get terrible calls from customers who just want to complain or are just idiots in general and are looking for an argument. As time goes on you will find yourself biting your tongue more and more and for me that is the worst part of this job as sometimes you just want to tell someone off. The pros to this job are: 1. The PTO is amazing as you get 3 weeks of vacation and 5 floating holidays starting your first year, which is great and if you set up your vacation calendar nice enough you can have PTO scheduled every month and 7 sick days to use if you need them. Plus, a doctor visit day and a wellness day. You can schedule time off in 4 to 8 hour increments. 2.) Co workers are all very nice and friendly people who are willing to assist you. What I've found is most of your likes and dislikes and opinions are the same that most others here share too. 3.) Management here is good and so is my TL. Every manager here has started out as a CSR and they know where you are coming from when you voice your concerns and they are friendly and eager to help when needed. Plus, they do not act like they are above you because they are a manager which is something I've experienced at other work places. 4.) Opportunity for advancement and other career opportunities are endless. New Nisource jobs are posted every Wednesday on Mysource.com. Since I've started here, I've applied and interviewed for other roles in the company, two of which I recently interviewed for and am waiting to hear back from. 5.) Great activities they have here such as customer service week, spirit week, spinning the wheel, etc. It seems childish, but it helps make the week go faster and keeps your spirits high and gives you something to look forward to besides talking to customers on the phones. For me this is the most enjoyable part of the job. 6.) The dress code is pretty chill company wide as you are allowed to wear jeans and casual clothes. You don't have to get all dressed up as is required by other jobs I've worked at. Cons: 1.) Lack of communication with other departments within the company. We as the call center handle a variety of calls, some of which are follow ups for issues handled by another department. Some of the departments within Nisource and not good at following up or getting back to the customer and we have to deal with them when they call back angry and we look stupid and useless as we are unable to help them. I've brought this issue up with management before but was advised there is nothing that can be done as it is handled through another department. Also, employees from other departments apparently outrank us and can be borderline rude to us without anything being done. 2.) Safety obsessed culture. I agree safety is important but this company takes it to a whole new level. I've seen warehouses and factories with lesser safety guidelines than we have. For example, when you are outside on break or lunch you are not allowed to text and walk which is ridiculous as it's my choice and I am an adult and only get so long to be on break so I want to use my time off to the fullest. The friendly emails reminding people to look out for bees to avoid being stung and not to touch wild animals like isn't that commonsense? 3.) Forcing agents to be upskilled into other states instead of asking for volunteers. I think it's unfair some agents are constantly being moved to other states to train without their consent and there's other agents who have been there for years and have never been asked. I wish someone would ask me as I want the opportunity to learn a new skill. 4.) Some of the rules we have to follow are ridiculous. You get 8 minutes of unavailable time a day and agents are so afraid and feel bad for using it when in reality it's paid time off the phones you are allotted. I use unavailable daily and have never been over on time or had anything said to me. Another issue is the breaks and lunch schedules. It changes daily and if you are even seconds late from a break or lunch, it affects you in the shift bid for next month. Then there is the monthly shift bid based on seniority and whether or not you've called off within the month prior. I am okay with the shift bid as I don't call off a lot and am flexible but I feel having rotating schedules like the senior CSRs and TLs have would raise company morality with a lot of people. Maybe give CSRs the option to either compete in the shift bid or to have a rotating schedule. Overall, this job has both it's pros and cons. If customer service is your thing and you like assisting customers and are looking for a good career working for a respected company with great PTO and advancement opportunities apply today. If you do not like strict rules or assisting customers then I'd advise not to apply.

Working here was an okay job for the first year I had no problems at all. Day to day Monday through Friday like any job. However after that year past management seemed to just start pushing agents to the side and not wanting to listen to their complaints, or when they needed help. You’ll email them, email them, sametime(chat) them, and get no response sometimes you’d have to message a few of their team leads to get an answer. Can’t express your concerns when you do you’ll have the whole call center look at you like you’re a scrub. No progression here at all, you’ll sit at this desk for year after year. Trying to move up to another state(which was promises in the training) stayed “upskilling is a guarantee” WHERE?? When you’d apply for positions they pick their favorites or people who JUST started there with little to no experience about the calls coming in. Very strict on schedules can’t be more than5 mins before going on to break. So if you start your 1st break at 445 you can go at 440 or 500 pm. No later or that’ll mess up your schedule for next month. Employees you sit next to will have you wanting to pull your hair out. They talk about everyone in the call center have no remorse if you hear what they say about you. Again CANT bring up to the TLs they’ll throw shade too. Be careful walking past them in the morning at the smoke shack it’ll get real quiet real fast ..other depts don’t do their job at all expect you to do it when it’s back office work and you take billing calls. Tls will sweep everything you say under a rug, type what they want to happen and make you sign off like you don’t have anything you’d like to say. Yearly reviews don’t ever seem to matter because they never change. I got ignored a lot and expected to be high in quality. How if you’re in a bad work environment? No one cares you’re just a number in their seat taking calls they got away from.  Every call you take another rep told them the wrong thing.. the avaya (headphone) is always wrong. Customers can hear your neighbors.  Make sure you come back on break or lunch 2 mins before you’re due back or you’ll be late that’s how bad it’s messed up. Never records correct number of calls or talk time acw or hold. Nothing but, again, favorites here.. if you don’t kiss a** you’ll get no where. I’m sorry I won’t be a brown noser.. also the breaks are so far apart from each other. They tell you if that happens to message them and they’ll take care of it. NOPE again !!!! Take the BREAK OR LUNCH 3-4 hrs apart from start time or don’t take one at all.. there’s people that are pregnant or need sugar ASAP at certain times. & they say no. You go by what they think you should take. Start at 7 your first break til 1030-11. Lunch at 1 last break at 245.. Not allowed to eat on phone either obviously. you like that then go for it but this job is full of stress I wouldn’t recommend.

•	Prepared statement of work, cost benefit analysis, risk assessment, project and resource plans, and managed project communications at all levels of the organization.
•	Acted as a liaison between Columbia Gas and IBM (current IT service provider)
•	Took a complete ownership in modeling and documenting the end-user’s AS-IS workflow and TO-BE business processes.
•	Facilitated and mediated JAD sessions with development, business, and executive teams to elicit and analyze needs and define system specifications, prepared gap analysis, documented and defined business requirements, functional specifications, use cases, workflows, data models and data migration, and wireframes and design concepts, interacting with development teams to ensure successful development of requirements.
•	Created QA and UAT test strategies, including regression and integration testing, wrote test scripts, end-to-end testing scenarios and test plans, managed testing, defect reporting and change requests.
•	Designed and implemented basic SQL queries for QA testing and report data validation with SOA.
•	Developed, documented, and implemented new processes and procedures across multiple business groups.
•	Oversaw resolution of system issues through first line production support and coordination with technology teams.
•	Support and maintained Request IT, Access IT and Problem Tickets (TSRM) and also supported all the escalation or any IT related issues for the customers.
•	Work with third party vendor to deploy multiple projects.
•	Created, tested, and deployed various SharePoint sites including creating document libraries, lists, links [to other web sites and SharePoint sites] and web parts and their content using SharePoint 2010  
•	Provided companywide training for SharePoint 2010

Management is terrible. Ignores you when you need help however will be the first one to call you out on a mistake! Half of management has been there less than a year and has no management experience. Management should dress professional if CSRs are informed to, however some of the Team Leads dress like they crawled out of bed and some of them their clothes don't even cover their stomach.
You're expected not to have your cell phone out while at work which is understandable however when Team Leaders and Upper Management and H.R. is either at their desk or walking through the center on their phones and its evident they are on a personal call something needs done. H.R. is only there to coax people into saying things happened which don't actually happen when the company wants to get rid of someone.
Everyone gossips regardless if its a Team Lead, Upper Management,  Senior Representative, or CSR however there is a time and place for certain gossip which the management staff need to learn!!
All in all.. This place can rip you to pieces and tear you to sheds.  Peope are vicious.. People you think are your friends are not so you can't let your guard down....
Do your job and go home... If not somone wil make up a rumor and it will spread like wildfire..

NiSource has changed drastically from a fantastic company that truly cared for their employees to the opposite.  If you’re a political player, you’ll do well here, make lots of money, and you won’t have any true responsibility.  Just come in, attend meetings, and collect the money!  However, if you have integrity, and want to make a difference, keep going.  Run, don’t walk, RUN from NiSource.  Lots of games, micromanaging, disrespect, unprofessional environment.  
Forget about growth potential, you’ll do all the work while your boss takes credit, and holds you back from moving on, or being promoted.  It’s highly possible he/she will also throw you under the bus.  
NiSource loves to brag about how they’re voted “Best Place to Work “.....I’m not sure how that is achieved.  
Completely inefficient processes, and don’t even think about an IT department that is dependable.  
Save yourself the frustration of job hunting again in a year, as NiSource is also re-organization happy.

They pile to much work on the leads then crack the whip on the ones that are actually trying and let the ones that have been slacking off to roam freely around the building. I sent numerous reports about my issues that never got addressed, instead the situations were always turned on me and how I should handle it better, then the icing on the cake I get told I should bring my issues to my manager more often! For what reason it’s a waste of time to send an email when I send an email not only to my manager but her manager as well and no response back they  might as well tell me to go kick rocks. I don’t recommend working here because if you do tend to speak your mind or show that you are frustrated they won’t try to help solve your issues but rather move towards shoving you out the door. They tell you they are all for you and to be there for you, yeah what ever, I’ve been around people enough to be able to read them like a book don’t patronize your people listen to them and actually see why they are frustrated or take the time to talk about that email or discuss the issues they have with that employee instead of giving that fake smile and bold face lying then find ways to get rid of them.

NiSource is both a great place to work and a horrible place. If you have a manager that you can work with it's beyond wonderful. If your manager is a jerk, and there are a lot of those, good luck.  And since the management turns over a fair amount you are going to experience both.  If you are at corp HQ in Indiana its a right to work state and you can get a HUGE bonus one day and be gone a week later because you got a new manager who doesn't like your style.  I worked with groups who were collaborative and shared everything that got a new manager and suddenly it was heads down and mouth shut, do your work and go home.  Then he retired and it was back to collaboration.
Most line level employees stay there forever because its the best place to work in the area as far as pay and bennies are concerned.  And MOST of the time its a great place to work.
If you are a management level employee it's a going to me a challenge.  Good luck.  Enjoy your time there and the learning experience... then move on before your ulcer gets too bad.

Coming up on nearly a decade with this company. I am happy with my job most of the time, but it used to be much better. Upper management prefers to keep poor employees around who say "yes" to all requests rather than critical thinkers. Company feels like is has no direction right now, when as close as 2-3 years ago it felt like every job had a real purpose. Massive layoffs in 2020 in favor of outsourced work to India felt like a betrayal; employee morale quickly went in the tank and has not recovered. If you can get and hold a job here, it's pretty good, but advancement only happens one of two ways: either someone retires, or you are in good with someone higher on the food chain. 

I am well compensated and feel I receive recognition regularly for a job well done. The struggle that hundreds (if not thousands) of employees continue to deal with is lack of adequate staffing (mostly driven by early retirements and increasingly high turnover). Those who remain often feel set up for failure because there is simply too much work for any given person. More than ever, with thousands of employees working remotely now, the Company needs to seriously reassess the degree to which it is honoring our values and keeping our commitments to our employees. Greater focus on improving employee experience and retention is sorely needed. And give middle management the resources that are needed to actually implement and sustain improvements and changes. In our industry, employees aren’t widgets that can simply be replaced quickly. The tangible and intangible costs of losing high performing, experienced employees are always far greater than the costs of making more of an effort to retain them. 

The company offers really good benefits and a great training program but that's where the good ended. It is is almost impossible to have a positive day because yoy will inevitably get a customer who believes that you can treat customer service like trash or people who yoy simply cannot help and your have to hear them cry and beg on the phone for help and it makes it difficult to not allow it to bother toy for the rest of the day. They also push a program called "the power of one" in which they work out the math and show you just how much revenue is lost per hour, day, month, and year if just one person calls off one day, all in an effort to gaslight yoy into believing that calling off is equivalent to personally shredding money in front of management. Lastly they lie about the hours you will work just to get you to start and then pull the rug out from under yoy once you start in the hope that you'll relent because you already started. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Manager 3 salaries reported	$122,000 per year
Director 1 salary reported	$200,100 per year
Customer service representative 1 salary reported	$291,500 per year
Project manager 5 salaries reported	$88,440 per year
Engineer 5 salaries reported	$119,280 per year

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