Uncaring, Abusive Owners that take Micro-management to the Extreme - Anonymous employee Longent Employee Review

1.0
23 May 2019
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Gives you a chance to see Dilbert comics and bad boss memes first hand. - Their poor industry reputation means that their bar for hiring must be dropping. - Their staggering employee turn-over means it doesn't take long for "the new guy" to become "the veteran".

Cons

The owners' inability to trust their employees has resulted in a toxic company culture. Just like how the owner points the blame in his reply back at another poor Glassdoor reviewer, he sees any complaints or suggestions for improvement as shortcomings on the employee's side and never on his own, no matter how sound or based on facts they may be. Because the owner ("CEO") doesn't trust you, you will be told exactly when, where, and how to do your job. Need to work from home to take care of a sick loved one? Too bad. Have a suggestion on how to improve? It's wrong. Think you can figure out your own travel itinerary? You can't. Have you developed a new spreadsheet that will help you do your job? Stop wasting time and go back to the decrepit tools you've been given. You get the point. The co-owner takes the distrust to another level. As far as I can tell, she is at the office for two main reasons: to track the timing of everyone’s comings and goings and to dissect your travel expense report to a level that would make crime scene investigators jealous (you better not have checked in to your hotel too early!). The co-owner’s desk is stationed at the window in the front corner of the building so that she can observe and make note of when you arrived, how long you were gone to the lunch, who you left with, and when you left for the day. Think that a salaried position means a forty hour workweek? Think again. Think you know best when you should take your lunch? Nope. You might read what I’ve written and think, “This can’t be true. No company is this bad.” I don’t blame you. I didn’t think it was possible either. Fortunately, you don’t have to take my word for it: Feel free to reach out to any former employee on a leading professional networking site. I bet you they will confirm what I say and might even have some stories of their own to share.

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Longent Response
7y
Dear Anonymous, I'd like to say that I'm very disappointed that your experience at Longent was perceived to be this contentious. We do believe that our people are our greatest asset. As such, we offer a very diverse and inclusive work force, great pay, lots of educational opportunity, comfortable and friendly office environment, as much responsibility as one can handle and plenty of paid time off. Additionally, as a small company, we are very proud of the benefits we have been able to offer to our employees which include 401K, Holiday and PTO pay (w/ rollover of unused PTO days), Medical, Dental, Vision and Life Insurance, Cooperative Education Program, Continuing Education Reimbursement, Job specific training and Certifications and a generous end of year bonus based the company's financial performance. Despite your experience at Longent, I do believe that Longent has managed to assemble the best group of professionals since the inception of the company, which can be evidenced by the caliber of work being completed by our employees, the rapid addition of new customers and our outstanding performance last year. Maybe you left too early or it was simply not the right fit. If you have worked at Longent, you would know that all of our managers and myself maintain an open door policy. I do believe that the majority of our people are more than comfortable talking with anyone else in the organization, regardless of title or tenure. With that in mind, I really can't place when someone in recent years has asked to migrate back to a spreadsheet from our proven CRM tool. Longent has not used spreadsheets to track our opportunities and projects since 2013, so yes, if someone asked to use a spreadsheet instead of our CRM tool it would have been met with reluctance. Not that it matters, but I did want to point out that Longent is owned by one person (no co-owners) and the only locations with a corner view of our parking lot are a set of cubicles and our conference room. Admittedly, several employees have a view of the parking lot including myself. Rest assured that no one has been assigned the role of documenting everyone's comings and goings. I'd like to believe that the owner of a company with more than 3 decades of industry experience being actively engaged in the business is a plus. If this oversight is perceived as micromanaging, I suppose we share different perceptions. When you have 40 or more other families depending on the success of the company, you try to make sure things are going well. Believe it or not the phrase "Trust but Verify" is prudent advice. It's unfortunate if you found the Verify part too invasive. Yes, we are financially prudent. We review invoices, time sheets and expense reports. Plus, if a team member struggles to meet deadlines or finish assignments according to our standards questions will be asked. I would hope that happens everywhere. Longent has never denied anyone from being able to care for a sick loved one. Having spent a week in the hospital with a sick child, I do not expect or want anyone to attempt to work when caring for a loved one. I'm certain that trying to do both is more stressful and less productive than just focussing on the care of the family member. As mentioned before, we offer plenty of PTO. It's available and should always be used when sick or caring for a loved one. It's just the right thing to do. For better or worse, I'm of the mindset that the harder you work the luckier you get. This applies to academics, athletics and the business world. So yes, we do expect employees to put in the effort needed to complete their commitments. Experience tells us that this means averaging a 40 hour work week. Since leaving Longent, I do hope that you have discovered an organization that better meets your expectations and would like to wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Explore other reviews about Longent

5.0
19 Mar 2021
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Knowledgeable workforce with opportunity for advancement.

Cons

The company was fairly small during my tenure. There was a bit of micromanagement during my time there.

5.0
15 Nov 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Great co-workers. Most people in the company get along very well. -Everyone is willing to teach. There's no fear to asking questions. -Tons of opportunities to learn. You will get exposure to almost everything in the business. -Opportunities to travel and see cool places. Longent does business all over the country, particularly in the southeast. This will give you the chance to travel to a variety of customer sites (which means you won't be sitting in an office 100% of the time). This includes office buildings, hospitals, arenas, stadiums, etc. -You will get to use some high-tech equipment for testing. For example: the latest phones, RF scanners, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, etc.

Cons

Traveling is part of the business. Although you likely won't travel a ton as a Co-op, you should be ready to travel and go in the field from time to time.

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