Bell and Howell Reviews

Long hours, travel, use of personal vehicle, use of personal tools, low pay and lifelong assignment of intellectual property. The corporation is For Sale and hasn't turned a profit in years . . . Bell and Howell Non-Disclosure, Restrictive Covenant and Assignment of Intellectual Property Agreement 8 pages of Legal jargon that assigns anything you develop for the rest of your life to Bell and Howell! Beware! Signing this will put you at a disadvantage when looking for your next job!

I work in the field to service our customers with electro mechanical repairs, software and general service needs on a wide variety of equipment. This is the largest segment of employment within Bell and Howell. The geographic range we cover is large particularly because we are taking on additional vendors for which we service in addition to the equipment that used to be manufactured by us when we were in a manufacturing role. Due to the broadness of the area we cover we are often shorthanded during the day due to people being on the road or out of town. Work life balance is hard to manage with having to be on call 24/7 and often leads to sleep deprivation and feeling poorly during the normal work day as a result. The company is resistant to hire the appropriate help as overhead costs are carefully monitored to appeal to the revenue needs of the capital investment company that owns us. This is also complicated by the fact that we have had only two 2 percent raises in the last 10 or 11 years as well as no 401k contribution for nearly as long. These financial detriments are said to be maintained until at which point we can be sold so long term outlook is not good in this area. Long term positives are not in the offerings any time soon and we are told as much. Our failure to follow market trends and modify our protocols have placed us in this undesirable position and outlook is weak and although there is some growth with service personnel it is in the way of lower paid and minimally experienced help which does not bode well for adequate growth potential going forward. Perhaps we may be fortunate to be absorbed by a better run organization that will have a clearer vision for our future than the current grab any service we can muster approach. We have become jack of all trades and masters of none which is unfortunate as our service specialties were highly regarded at one time. Currently stress, lack of sleep, withholding prior financial benefits and loss of direction and minimal upper managerial communication is what you experience as an employee. I hope that these things change soon but there is no indication of such for a long time if ever..