field service technician

assembler

builder

truck driver

service technician

Xylem

The culture at work is a very play hard work hard kind of culture which I like a lot and was exactly what I am looking to get out of a workplace. The main issue I had with my experience was that my manager was terrible. I was expected to maintain two different roles, being the only person on my assigned team that was expected to do so. At first I was only responsible for the mechanical side of projects then after a few months I was being tasked with QA/QC responsibilities as well as my mechanical responsibilities. I thought the manager in the QA department was fair and he never complained about my work and told me that he thought I was doing a good job frequently, I actually liked him quite a bit. The manager for the mechanical department however was pretty strict and made the workload pretty stressful. I was being tasked with assignments from two different sides of the projects, sometimes three, and wasn't given much wiggle room for the workload expected completion date. I received little training, most of which was at the very beginning of my time there and most of it was over zoom. When I was taught new things I would use them once the week I was taught them, then I would usually spend the next week doing QA/QC work, then the following 2-3 weeks doing completely unrelated work. After 4-5 weeks I would be re-tasked with doing work I learned how to do a month ago and like most people, I was not able to remember all the instructions so when I finally would get a chance to ask my manager a question which would sometimes take hours because, to their credit they were quite busy, I would get scolded and talked down to like I was stupid. I was told after about a year into the job that 'I should be taking notes' even though it was never suggested and none of my other coworkers ever brought notebooks with them. I feel like from day one I was targeted as a scapegoat for my manager's inadequacies as a mentor, their inadequacy validated by several of my other coworker's opinions as well. I was put on a PIP or personal improvement plan and worked hard to pull out of it, during the middle of which I was told that there was a strong chance that I would be successful in my effort due to my work being done efficiently and thoroughly. Then near the end of the PIP cycle I had one last meeting with my manager and suddenly I was told that they were 'unimpressed' with my recent assignments. Even though I had followed their instructions exactly and had received guidance from my coworker she told me to go to if I had questions. Basically I was told at the last minute that all the work I had been doing was for nothing and that I was going to be let go. This was my first job out of college and I didn't realize that most of the time PIPs are basically a guarantee of the fact that you're going to lose your job. My manager basically let me work my butt off for the false hope that I wouldn't lose my job when I could have been applying for other jobs in my off time and instead of bouncing back and getting another job before being let go, I had to quit at the last moment before getting fired and now I have been struggling to get new employment for over a year. Do yourself a favor and apply at a different company if you value your happiness, your wellbeing, and not being totally taken advantage of by a manager who couldn't care less about your career.

If you're looking for a job with no potential growth or financial gain beyond 30cents every 2 years then this is a job I'd probably recommend your 18 year old son/daughter living in your basement. Some employees here have been with the company over 2+ years and as far as up to 10 years with no more than a $2 raise whereas if you're a new employee you may just be the lucky one or 2 that get paid a little beyond that depending where they feel like placing you. The job you applied for isn't what they'll sign you up for you're placed wherever they need you to be like it or not for example, you applied to an area out back where you can possibly make up to $20hr well thats too bad we need you out front building 600lb modules all day and we'll start you off at $14. Or sometimes they will pay you that 20hr as a temp but as soon as they offer you a permanent position they will try to strip that salary away from you and start you off at $15. People that have been here 3+ years cant even get opportunity there but a new hire temp with basic experience definitely can i guess? No opportunity beyond that for the more experienced and hardworking. They also look for you when you're using the bathroom and time how long you've been in there because it affects their "productivity" so they'll wait for you, sometimes go as far as enter the bathroom and call out for you and ask you why you're taking so long if you're gone for more than 5min. SOS that screams violation. Hasn't been any overtime since the beginning of 2019 and about 9 amazing workers have quit within 2 months. Or fired if they really like you.

This was not an 8 hour job by far. a 60 hour week was a short week, and the demand never ended after work hours, this included all holidays and most weekends. 
I enjoyed the challenges of the job and problem solving, I had hard time getting any assistance from management, specially that they were not local and most issues required local attention. 

There is a huge number of employees who have been there more than 20 years and some are over 40, however they were not nice people. Very territorial and they expected all the help and favors without ever helping others. There is a high sense of entitlement specially that the industry is specific and most people there feel that no one else knows what they know, so they can not be let go.

The hardest part of the job was dealing with other managers who are stubborn and not people I could be friends with outside of work. The director of operations had me written me up twice and made it public, not for anything wrong I did, but as a political statement, and told me behind closed doors, not to worry about it; I mention this to paint a picture of the environment. 

But as I mentioned before, I extremely enjoyed the technical aspect of the job and the challenges that came along with it. I also learned a great deal of management skills and coaching through training and experience; and watching trouble employees turn into effective members was very satisfying

I had high hopes for this job and while working there it turned out to be a complete disappointment. No one wanted to train me not the managers not the team leads and not even any of the association. Everyone was only focused on moving up and getting into the office so they could not do any work. They tossed me around like trash to each department and promised work and it never happened. When you try to talk to them everyone act so busy that they can't even talk to you but can joke and play around with fellow coworkers that are working there. I felt like I had no purpose because no one wanted to do anything with me or to help me understand the job. Most of my days were trying to figure how to clock in and how to figure out how to help out. They excluded me from important meetings and conversations, they placed me with undertrained employees and would not give me any work to do. The upper management absolutely sucks they don't know how to do their jobs and honestly they don't care. Everyone was either taking long vacations or sitting at home. I would not recommend this job at least if you expect it to be good or to be trained. If you like getting mistreated and having mental breakdowns or no one talking or training you then maybe this is the job for you but it definitely was not for me . 

As an Administrative Specialist no day was typical. The managers were good at letting me run my job with little supervision. As supervisor for Reception, there was always something to handle, calls, visitors, safety and security, US mail issues or working with contractors. Scheduling relief operators for the two receptionists was sometimes challenging.

The hardest part was juggling high level executive meetings happening on the same day or usually for 4 days and trying to book meeting rooms or private offices for all parties. The addition of planning catering for the meetings and then planning dinner parties after hours at local restaurants was very challenging.

I enjoyed booking travel for executives and maintaining their expense reports. I also enjoyed training new administrative assistants coming on board or working with new employees to get them acclimated to our building. I also enjoyed planning the annual employee parties or events throughout the year. As one of last admins left in the building, I was very happy to assist all managers with any clerical help they needed. I also enjoyed assisting Human Resources with paperwork or memos.

I loved my job and was truly saddened when the company was purchased by someone else resulting in reduction in workforce.

Work-life balance
This company wants the employee to make a choice your family or your job five twelve hours day then work on Saturday and Sunday no days off...  too much on top of that this company does not give back to their employees no bonus no Christmas money only a ten dollar gift card to united and only for Thanksgiving 🤣🤣

Pay & benefits
Sadly your pay is better depending on your race

Job security and advancement
Sadly it depends on your race to

Management
The managers don't do their job and have little knowledge of how to do their job and because of that the employee does not do their job all things together makes the good employees irrelevant and inevitable for the company to close down at least in the Lubbock location. Not to mention that this is the first company I have ever worked at that race matters not what you know or how well you do your job.

Culture
Bad management from the very top to the very bottom bad employees outnumber the good ones this place is hopeless my advice for everybody is to move on find somewhere else this is not worth it eventually when things pick up I will move on to

Overall
Lost Hope poor managers bad employees and they all found their way to this company in Lubbock I only hope corporate steps in I correctly problems once and for all let go of all the bad managers and the bad employees start over it's your best choice.

I was hired directly in for second shift and this company has decent benefits and good pay. That is where it ends the HR department is useless and literally gives you a number to call because they WILL NOT help. I was on second shift in the paint department and my first two months had no mistakes of serious nature, then i got very ill and had to miss some work which i provided physicians notes for. All of a sudden everything i did was getting picked at, and the lead man on first was going out of his way to complain about not only my work but other painters. Bottom line is i wouldnt brownose and it was getting slow so they tried to get me to quit with those tactics and putting me on  jobs like crushing cans, making hooks from hangers,etc. Well that didnt work for them so i had a personal emergency and called my manager and asked if i could use a paid day off which i had plenty and he approved it. So i show up the next afternoon am called into the office and terminated for attendance because my manager flat out  and said that was an unexcused absence. Bottom line is i made good money and was hired in and they used underhanded tactics to lay me off when all they had to do was lay me off.Stay away from this company.

I worked in 3 different departments during my 8 years. The last two positions were supervisor roles. The last 4 years were absolutely horrible, but the pay kept me there longer than it should have. Management had little understanding of what was going on and would expect unattainable results. If you couldn't meet those results, they expected the numbers to look like you did. In an office of about 100 people, I saw over 45 people, most within a few years of retirement, either quit or be "laid off" within 2 years. It says a lot when people who have worked at a company for 30+ years are willing to start over somewhere else within a couple years of retirement just to get away from Xylem and its poor management, lack of customer service, lack of care for their employees, and treating people like a number. 

All that said, I did work with quite a few hard working and very talented people that were great to be around. We all "trauma bonded" in some ways. Only one or two of the really good ones are still there as everyone else has moved on to better companies - even if it meant taking a pay cut. 

An average day was a good mix of supporting existing accounts, prospecting and creating proposals.

The high purity water business was completely new to me, but I found that the clients tend to be good people in every position I have held. If you enjoy working with people, learning something new is fun and exciting.

I benefited from being surrounded by people with a lifetime of industry knowledge. Their willingness to let me grow while still being accessible was top rate.

I was most involved with the service personnel that supported my sales. I come from a hands-on background, and we connected quite well. We always had a great time executing our projects. 

The most challenging part of the job was my commute. On a good day it was an hour and a half to get into the office. Getting home was usually longer. This is an expected price to pay for great employment in the California Bay Area.

The best part of any job is seeing your efforts come to fruition. To see the client be released of their worry and start to enjoy the benefits of the systems we installed. Priceless.

There are a lot of mid-level micro managers that have been with the company <1 year, but have too much power and decision making capability and tend to use it as they see fit. The boots on the ground employees are definitely looked at as lesser by some engineers and many managers and their opinions are ignored.

Xylem managers hut what used to be successful stand alone companies by operating "lean" which more or less means you get rid of 10-20% of work force and put in useless processes to make it more efficient. The processes don't actually help and you are stuck  with less people doing more work. 

The work itself is fun, but the current management doesn't value everyone and does not promote hard work or pride in the product. The morale effects are unfortunate b/c there are a lot of good people here that used to care about their work and keeping the customer satisfied.

My personal manager is great and he helps me grow, but I will likely be moved under new mgmt soon in another unnecessary restructuring and this outlook is bleak.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Field service technician 84 salaries reported	$30.70 per hour
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Truck driver 8 salaries reported	$29.44 per hour
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