Pros
Excellent work experience with amazing co-workers. There are plentiful opportunities to move horizontally within the business hierarchy (whether you want to or not), thereby expanding knowledge and experience for that bright and glorious day when you are finally able to find a real career with benefits and acceptable salaries.
Cons
Very little chance for upward advancement. The pay is insulting; over 5 yrs went from $13/hr to $16/hr despite a stellar performance, a 4-year business degree from a prestigious university, protected veteran status, and unparalleled business solutions through multiple team and individual projects—the lack of advancement seems intentional as top-performing employees are frequently shuffled to new teams so they can get a “too new to rate” review of their performance every year as justification for minimal pay increases; previous team experience does not carry over for the annual reviews. Free weekend work was frequently encouraged despite policy (“how soon can you get this for me? I need it by Monday.” Instructions provided at closing time on Friday). Some of the first-level supervisors are micromanaging Type-A personalities (though most were great and the culture was supposed to change), which discourages applications for supervisory roles and encourages a hostile and fear-inducing work environment. Employees frequently “disappear.” Fired? Quit suddenly without notice? Taken out back with Old Yeller? No one knows, but seeing your friends disappearing certainly gives the vibe of a “strongman dictatorship.” Most of my fellow co-workers seemed afraid to speak out against the injustices and abuses, usually told they should “be happy you even have a job.” Those few brave patriots who took advantage of senior management’s open door policy know all too well—XPO will never pay you an acceptable fraction of your worth. Previous work history/protected veteran status/talents above and beyond the job description/education level have no bearing on pay or benefits. Innovation is encouraged (it is in the company core values), but you won’t see a dime of the cost savings...best case scenario is “Employee of the Month” with a paid day off and maybe a cheap gift card...nice gestures, but this is an employee-created recognition program since management seems indifferent. Annual pay increases are not reflective of job performance. Ideas/projects are stolen frequently (personal experience as well as the stated reason for many employee departures) and those employees who exerted the most effort toward a project might get a $0.45/hr pay raise each year. Project saves the customer $600k annually in labor force restructuring? Not good enough for XPO (and the company will deny your unemployment after you finally can’t take it anymore and quit; this company is stingier than Scrooge McDuck). Company takes advantage of cheap labor markets without any visible or audible remorse for the cruel business structure. Managers pussyfoot when confronted about employee neglect, but are happy to provide monthly details of how fat someone else’s bank account is getting from the employees’ labors, as well as bragging how XPO is the number one logistics provider and a Fortune 500 company. Managers instruct supervisors to hound employees for better productivity immediately upon return from FMLA (I have caught several friends crying at their desks throughout the years who confided this to me, though I have no personal experience). Warehouse employees have worked seven-day work weeks for more than a year straight including most holidays; while the overtime pay is welcome, it does not come close to making up for the sin of severe underpayment to new college graduates having hopes of someday retiring debt-free. The implicit message to the employees is “hard work doesn’t pay, but if you give up all of your personal time, we’ll get you a wee bit closer to your target salary and dream of a stable career.” Opportunity cost is too high—start looking for a better job and keep your resume polished throughout your time with XPO. Advice to current employees—do not allow the company to tell you that your ingenious ideas are their property. Keep extremely detailed accounts of all your projects as well as an estimate of annual cost savings/cost avoidances. If they do tell you your ideas are their property, and they will, the implicit message is that you should stick to the bare minimum job description and shouldn’t go above and beyond in helping their customers. Your supervisors will hear your pleas for pay representative of performance, but those pleas fall on deaf ears all the way up the hierarchy to the CEO. General Motors employees will tell you XPO is a great place to start to get recognition and a possible offer from GM, but statistically there is a very low chance of that happening within ten years, all the while earning poverty wages. It isn’t worth the wait or hassle.
