production worker

packer

assembler

material handler

machine operator

Volt Workforce Solutions

When I came to Volt as a game tester, I was expecting it to be my entry into the gaming industry - a stepping stone, yes, but a good one that I would look back on without regret. A month in, I am severely depressed by my situation, which I perceive as being stuck in a job with no opportunities for advancement and limited potential to help my future prospects.

There was no interview for my position. Instead, I was given a questionnaire and asked when I could come to an orientation. Eager to get a job, any job, I filled out the questionnaire, signed up for an orientation, and showed up ready for an interview. I was surprised to find that the orientation was actually more of a mass-hiring, with several other game testers signing on at the same time. At that point, I was actually somewhat relieved, as anyone who has gone through a grueling job search can probably understand.

The cracks started showing on my first day. Since I signed an NDA, I won't go into detail about our work; however, I will say that the leads became incredibly patronizing as soon as I had a single issue with the hardware. One in particular still finds it necessary to tell me exactly which button to press, even ones that are patently obvious or specified on-screen. Workplace atmosphere was generally tense and bored, a palpable air of "none of us actually want to be here."

My coworkers are probably nice people in their everyday life. Maybe I have an optimistic view of human nature, or maybe I just prefer to believe that people aren't all jerks, but I genuinely believe that they wold be nicer if I encountered them outside of the workplace. There are, however, exceptions. One particular coworker decided that it would be all right to inform me that Volt experience does not count as valid industry experience to most game companies. I am not sure whether this assertion is true. Either way, thank you for your attempt at crushing my dreams, anonymous coworker. I hope you sleep well at night.

The leads, besides being patronizing, are lazy. They would probably dispute this, citing their long hours and early wake-ups, but what am I supposed to think when I look over my shoulder and see them browsing Facebook while I test a buggy game, or when they start loudly making fun of something? I am also ashamed to report that I, the tester, have had to be the one to make sure that bugs were filed correctly on more than one occasion, while the lead urged me to file a particular error as a similar yet distinct error.

Finally, we come to my major complaint with the company at present: the fact that hours are not guaranteed. For game testing, it is apparently company policy to overschedule. This is apparently a contingency in case some people do not show up for their scheduled hours; however, it can mean that someone who shows up for a scheduled shift on time, or even early, does not get any hours and ends up going home with nothing to show for the day but a few extra miles on their odometer or a few dollars missing from their bus change. This was what broke me and inspired me to write this. I cannot stand working for a company that treats me like an interchangeable cogwheel, a mere contingency if another equally interchangeable cogwheel goes missing. It's devaluing, exploitative, dehumanizing, and frankly dishonest business practice, and Volt/VMC should be ashamed of themselves for doing it.

I am staying at Volt only until I can find another job. Once that happens, I will be leaving Volt, and I would not look back.

I have worked at this company for almost a year and a half. I have learned a lot; the trainers are really good at their job and are definitely one of the plus sides to working here.

A typical day at work consists of taking calls 8 hours a day. There is often very little to no time off the work unless you play favorites with management. Early on, they'll try and blind you with lots of time off the phone to do mentoring and floor walking and helping out, but that doesn't apply to senior levels of employment. You do not get any pay raises unless you advance to the next level, and even then you only get the one pay raise. There is no paid days off unless you're willing to jump through hoops such as working 1000 hours in the past 26 weeks and working the day before and after a holiday. You are given a total of 24 sick hours. If you use an hour, you get an hour back in 6 months. You do not get more hours than that for any reason.

Managers can be cool, but a lot of them haven't even taken any calls in the departments they are assigned to be in charge of, so their knowledge of troubleshooting those kinds of products can be very limited. On top of that, very few of them care much more beyond your stats.  Since moving to a senior level, I've had one manager that goes out of his way to try and micromanage me. Keep in mind that this one manager isn't even in my department. He harasses me nearly daily about a seating policy that doesn't exist and every other manager, including Human Resources, just lets him get away with this daily harassment. He is a great manager and is often one that will go above and beyond to help someone out, don't get me wrong. He's very dependable. It's just he has a since of unfound justice that adds stress to an already stressful job.

The hardest part of this job is dealing with the customers. You can go above and beyond for a customer, only to have them still be unhappy and stab you in the back when it comes to a survey response. There are very few policies that allow you to disconnect on a customer, and even when you follow a policy completely, if they get a survey and rate you badly, despite following policy completely you will still be reprimanded. My advice is to never go above and beyond for a customer unless you truly feel they deserve it, because a lot of the time it bites you in the back.

There is also a ton of favoritism going on. A lot of the senior advisors will do anything and everything a manager asks them to without question, all in the hopes of a promotion they will never get. Promotions are rarely given because of performance and knowledge. I know people here that are basically walking encyclopedias of knowledge, who always seem to know how to how to resolve any problem you throw at them and have great work performance that are consistently shut down for promotion in favor of someone that hasn't even taken a single call in the department, or has been in the department for less time than them and have experienced less. It's next to impossible to get a promotion based on your hard work and knowledge.

The most enjoyable part of the job are the customers that are truly thankful for your help, that appreciate your assistance. Another great part of the job is the occasional free lunches from places like Olive Garden and Dominos Pizza. The final great part of the job is the other advisors. There are some cool people that work here.

A typical work day for me consists of processing agent contracts. This means printing them from a special email box seperate from my personal one. Then I date stamp them and clip them together for a special Intake bin to be processed and activated by the data entry team. Additionally, I check background reports that certain states require to be attached to the contracts as their credit will determine if my company will hire them. On top of that, I personally answer emails and phone calls from agents on the status of their contracts and other questions such as how long before they are contracted, when will the advancing be approved, are their licenses expired if so how to renew them, how to become appointed in other states, what are the pre approved states, etc. And very recently I am now answering commissions calls.
I have learned that being approachable and genuine with callers is very important as it can determine if agent will do business with my company. I am the 'gate keeper' so to speak, in the sense that the way I treat the caller makes them feel welcomed or not.
Management and coworkers are integral parts of the process of licensing agents because there are many steps involved before appointment. Since I am a temporary and new to this assignment, working with others is necessary since I don't know all the answers at all. I have to approach management and coworkers with process questions and assistance with paperwork. Having a good working relationship with others is indispensable so commendations and niceties throughout the day are necessary as well to encourage others and get the help I need.
The hardest part of the job for me is when the agents are disagreeable or are disgruntled because the appointment process is too slow for them. Some of the agents do not agree that they cannot write business until they are appointed. Apparently, some companies allow this practice but my company does not so they can sometimes become rude and abrasive towards me over the phone or in emails. This is the opportunity to be nice and understanding.
The most enjoyable part of my job is the feeling that my work is fulfilling because I am helping someone reach a goal and at the same time working helps me and my family reach our goals!

Volt is the temporary agency for VMC, Inc. We are a sub contractor for Apple iOS products and Spanish speakers also provide support for Mac computers.

Volt only allows certain people to be hired to VMC. There are some 35 Tier 2 Help desk agents and only 2 of them have been moved to VMC after a year or more of service.

I am always afraid that I will lose my job, if call volume goes down the center's General Manager will cut the hours of the bottom 25% of the staff and tell them to go to unemployment to make up the difference. Tell us Apple wants that. BS. I say.

Apple doesn't treat their employees that way, why would they want their subcontractors to do that.

There is a handbook, but it seems that because it's a temporary agency, Volt, can fire you at a moments notice, just by saying your "assignment" has ended.

There is always a great big firing, usually 25-30% of the agents on all tier ones, at the end of May and then the hiring starts. Trainings go non-stop from June to August and if there is no release, then there is another hours cut in October. Hopefully all the people that were just trained will leave and find other jobs.
There are no raises after a years or more tenure.

The managers are almost never women, there are only 4 on tier one phones and the rest of all the managers in the center are men. That includes all of Chat, Spanish, Tier 2, and APAC.

My typical day starts off with logging into mail, ilog, IEX, and other programs. Check the stats for the day before and any surveys that may have come in for me. 

Log into the phone, start taking calls. All inbound calls, unless the customer disconnects or is calling in on the device we are supporting for technical service. Outbound calls can only make up 3% of a days calls. It becomes a sort of, who needs it most, kind of thing. Calls should take no more than 14.5 minutes on average. Call backs need to be set up for anyone that has extensive technical support procedures and will take more than 10 minutes to complete, this keeps average handle time down.

If I knew then, what I know now, I wouldn't work at volt, EVER!

The interview and screening don't ask for anything particular different from anything else, my experience would specifically deal with a place they put me into contact with, while volt doesn't have any particular rules they throw at you at the beginning its because theyre essentially just the middleman, the rules you actually have to abide by will be thrown at you once you've accepted a contract at another location, things like dress code and such will only be discussed at that time, my workplace was apple, and I'll try to be brief and not too detailed, theres metal detectors, understandable for a company dealing with technology, so the dress code is based around simply not wearing or bringing inside metal, so as not to set off the detectors, there are lockers for things you bring, if you bring a coat, there is a coat rack, if you brought food that needs to be kept cold, there are refrigerators available to workers, however bare in mind anyone can open them, the work is extremely simple, but theres a lot of different divisions and sections in those divisions, we had multiple stations and each station did something different, i had learned what to do at about 60-70% of them and then i was moved to another location where i had learned some more in depth things on what i was doing, for the most part, there wasn't many health risks involved in the work i did really, a few safety precautions to pay attention to but nothing drastic, gloves are all over the work stations for the health safety reasons and such, masks were readily available, as well as hand sanitizer.

I started working as a Volt temporary with the hope of becoming a permanent employee at 3M. Unfortunately, Volt was a detriment to a permanent position and this agency continues to undermine my job search.

The Volt workers who transitioned to permanent positions averaged more than 18 months with Volt. Meanwhile, workers were hired from the general populace ahead of them.

The pay was $9.50 per hour, which is demoralizing compared to the $17 earned by regular 3M warehouse workers. In addition, we Volt temporary workers were held to more stringent and unrealistic standards of work, safety, and attendance.

We essentially performed the same work plus all the undesirable work which the regular employees refused. We were not allowed to cheat the productivity numbers whereas the regular employees routinely cheated. During my stay, I witnessed three Volt employees terminated when they became injured (two back injuries and one arm). Regular 3M employees could find excuses to miss work for a couple months at a time, but Volt would not allow reasonable absences.

Volt representatives were unreachable and unavailable to employees and 3M, despite having an office onsite. Eventually, 3M ended the relationship with Volt for this reason and others. Volt stopped paying promised raises around that time. One Volt worker has waited more than six months for back-pay of his 50 cent raise.

I was injured and terminated by Volt. I am currently owed three months of back-pay for a raise. Volt attempted to block my unemployment compensation. Then they obstructed my application for a permanent position at 3M. And now they hinder my application with the new agency at 3M.

In summary, you are better off working elsewhere while you apply for permanent positions because Volt actively sabotages your chances. The pay is substantially lower than other agencies and Volt will continue to torment you after you leave.

Typical day was kinda depressing. You came through the back to an uncovered parking lot. Most days were very hot so walking across the smoldering pavement really starts your day off to a solid 'meh'.

I learned that my knowledge and previous experience meant absolutely nothing. They did not want you deviating from the system (even while it was frequently down). If you had to, which you often did, you had to get credentials from a manager. If you worked the weekend, good luck getting that. I was lucky enough to just email my manager every time I took the liberty (with permission) to put her information.

Management was average, at best. Like previously mentioned, on the weekend they were seldom there. The company puts so much pressure on you to communicate with management about everything and it was obvious the managers did not want to. Often, I would notice certain managers asking for edible bribes to allow certain people to go home early without penalty. Other times, when managers are around, they are having their own personal conversations when you make it very clear, several times, that you need their assistance. However, when they did help, they knew what they were doing or knew who to ask. 

Your co-workers are your life line. Everyone has the same outlook you do. Everyone knows the stuff you have to go through stinks. Your co-workers are your go-to when you need help. They are more reliable than the managers are and, more often than not, know more about what you are doing.

Hardest part of the job is seriously the mental aspect of it. Like any call center job, it is very stressful. If you are not used to the environment, stay away. It is not a good starting point as far as call centers go. 

Most enjoyable part of the day was sitting around doing nothing. You are able to bid for unpaid 'breaks'. Sometimes it turned into you leaving early. Sure your pay was short, but it was a nice option for when you get a REALLY bad call.

A typical day begins by clocking in at your specified time and immediatly taking calls; there is no getting ready or relaxing, you are expected to come in a work, which is why they monitor everyone with computer Aux states, such as: Availble, On Call, Outbound Call, After Call Work, Meeting, etc. You are not to be in an Aux when you are not scheduled for it. It is a very independent job, even though you are surrounded by co-workers. When not on Break, socializing even while waiting for a call to come in is prohibited. As for management, about half of the management is very capable. You do not earn vacation time or paid time off, and as an advisor you are only allotted 24 sick hours which reset after 6 months of when you used any. For example, you use 2 sick hours in June, so you would get those two back in December. Mangement has also since the beginning, alludes to rewards, bonuses, promotions, and desired shifts. But rarely do any of these opportunities arrive, when they do they are very difficult to earn as it is based on competition and only the employee who notches the next best gets a reward that is no where near the effort it takes to compete for it. It is run as an always business first, from top to bottom. For almost a year one could lobby for a small schedule change such as having consecutive days off, the response you will recieve from management and HR is: "We can not accomadate your request." It is all about "Business needs." The pay is fair starting off, but when you start taking more responsibilties your role is nearly twice as expansive and important yet employers feel it is only worth one extra dollar. Word of advice to anyone wanting to be a Senior Advisor, it's not worth the extra dollar.

Handled the tasks of general preventative building maintenance, repair of air conditioning, janitorial and light heater
	•	  Responsible for the troubleshooting, inspecting and validating the repairs as per the requirements of residents or association
	•	 Handled the tasks of maintaining janitorial supplies that includes ordering, inventory controls and supply pick up
	•	  Responsible for assisted board members in conducting interviews with prospective landscaping vendors and construction
	•	  Facilitated and scheduled repair problems that required third party vendor work
	•	  Oversaw all contractual works that are provided by construction, landscaping and third part companies that includes approval of completed tasks and final inspection
	•	  Handled the tasks of taking up preventive measurements for maintenance of building, pool, spa and common areas
	•	  Took active part in various inspections programs with OSHEA safety inspector
	•	  Repaired Refrigerator, air conditioning filter and ice machine
	•	  Updated issues regarding maintenance to the management teams
	•	  Handled the tasks of maintaining inventory that includes pick up, ordering and receiving of suppliers
	•	  Set up sound system to be used in case of emergency
	•	  Remodeled bathroom and kitchen settings
	•	  Oversee proper usage of lift facilities and maintained safe operation of all appliances
 
	•	  Responsible for maintaining and repairing of 364 units
	•	 Repaired and installed water closets, showers, cold and hot risers and bathroom plumbing fixtures
	•	  Handled the tasks of troubleshooting steam radiators, clogged pipes and shut-off radiators
	•	 Repaired and replaced light fixtures, ceiling fans, dimmer switches, air conditioners and outlets
	•	  Repaired and installed door hinges, handles, locksets and frames
	•	 Handled the tasks of Installing moldings, paneling, cabinets, shelving, framing, dry walling, windows and decking

Register and admit patients obtaining and verifying demographics and financial information through interviews with patients, family members, or other healthcare providers.  Enters admission and registration information into an online database using a PC or x-terminal.  Inquires and/or performs data entry on various online information systems. Determine payer plan/coverage information based on verification of insurance from patient’s insurance cards.  Explains and obtains signatures on the Important Message form, as required by Medicare and other payers.  Verifies that patient understands what they are signing.  Completes the Medicare secondary Payer documentation. Places armbands on patients’ wrists after verifying identity of patient.  Provides information regarding patient rights and responsibilities and advance directives, which include the Healthcare Directive and Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare. Assign hospital beds based on diagnosis, medical services, and other patient care needs.  Maintains records of inpatient locations.  Complete admission transfers and discharges from nursing units via the on-line computer systems. Collects, secures, and releases patient valuables. Coordinates death procedures, including notification of the organ procurement agency, completion of death certificates, verification of autopsy permits, and obtaining information regarding the disposition of deceased. Answer incoming calls.  Greet patients and visitors when they enter the department.  Provide information to patient and visitors.  Arrange interpreter and family housing services evening and weekends. Inventories and order supplies for the department.  Performs related duties as required.

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