This review takes a different approach. This is for those of us who knew exactly the beast we were about to enter a relationship with.Working for this employer was 'stop gap employment'. We knew the pay was by the employer’s own admission in publicly released Press Releases and Quarterly Earnings reports, the lowest in the technical call center industry within the United States. We knew they review individual state labor laws to find and target states that do not have any active livable wage campaigns or minimum wage laws that exceed the threshold for this employer. That threshold being 8.75 cents an hour. To put it more bluntly I quote Chris Rock, "We'd pay you less, but we can't!" We knew the company pain points for we even read the Quarter Financial Results and investor reports.
We read with interest the 10K report filed in March of 2018 that discussed the pain of being found guilty by the US Department of Labor for withholding wages and entering into a settlement agreement on January 18th, 2018 paying back to Work at Home agents over $30K in back wages and related damages.
We read all the Indeed reviews. We read all the Glassdoor reviews. We even Read the 10K filed in March of 2018 that proclaimed, "As of December 31st, 2017, we have 1,688 who are work-from-home agents and 88 who are corporate employees". 88 Corporate Employees folks.That is it!
Which leads me to this. The most intriguing thing about Support.com is just how well-oiled the business process plan is. To steal a line from the Movie Big Short and modify it, "You can't hate them, they are so transparent in self-interest that you kind of respect them for it". For the Black Belts of Six Sigma did a fantastic job of creating a complete in network model with one single point of entry that simply pulls from a never-ending stream of desperate human capital lured by the prospects of working at home. And within that well-oiled machine are cruel and ingenious process points that assure maximum exploitation of labor with minimum investment in employee and infrastructure. Nowhere is this seen better in action then during employee on-boarding and employee off-boarding. For employee on-boarding, all infrastructure required to perform one’s job must be provided by the employee. That just does not mean one’s home infrastructure ( a quiet space, computer, high speed internet, USB Phone, etc.) Some potential employees would find the tradeoff reasonable. 'I provide the computer, high speed internet, USB Phone, etc) and you provide a wage without me investing in transit. Indeed, Support counts on that trade off. No, the infrastructure is deeper than that. The entire imaging process of your computer, meaning all the software necessary to perform the job must be individually installed and managed by you. Think of the savings for the employer. Use the data point above. 1,688 work at home agents, with an attrition rate of 88 percent, an average worker lasting between three and six months,all responsible for the imaging of one’s computer during on-boarding. This attempt to save money backfires because the entire training period and production period is mired in nothing more than individual employees with all unique machines, running into all sorts of software issues that are often tracked back to low end machines or improperly configured or used software and home infrastructure. Support should embrace modern day IaaS SaaS concepts rather then trying to offset the cost to an employee making just above min wage.
For employee on-boarding, Healthcare is not provided until 90 days of employment is satisfied. Since the average attrition rate for Support employee is 88 percent, with an industry average of lasting no more than three months to six months you can see why. It Makes perfect cruel business sense.
For employee on-boarding, one’s first paycheck is a mailed paper check. Why invest in the employee when we falsely believe we have uncapped resources available to replace them. OR is it something more cynical? Is is that the urban and rural poor who may get snatched up by this employer have a higher rate of being unbanked. This means that 10 million Americans do not have a bank account and often resort to check cashing or other pay to release cash models. Support knows that this segment are accustomed to waiting to cash a check, that it can be presented as 'you'll get paid, don't worry.' You decide.
Testing And exams during training. Many BPO's do this. They sit with the client and promise a wide range of SLA’s and take great pride in demonstrating that employees will be tested prior to supporting the client. The tests are designed as nothing more than legalese fluff. The employer does not want you to fail a test, because failure of an exam requires them to navigate Unemployment Insurance law differently then had you resigned or been terminated due to conduct. That is why employers such as Support will do anything they possibly can to insure you pass them. Research if you have a claim open under a prior employer, how long the duration is and take a realist approach to these exams if you intend to leave. It is the only way to exit Support with them later opting for a No Contest of a claim, since it is not filed against them. If you opt later to resign Support will contest the claim.The Quiz period and final exam is a very narrow window in which done correctly you can exit the company and Support will not interfere with existing open UI benefit claims because they can't under most states.
The true cost of home infrastructure investment by individual employees paid slightly above min wage is hidden. The math just doesn't add up. The targeted economic brackets that decide to go in with Support have either another member of the household supplementing, contributing too or offsetting the necessary infrastructure or the employee has a retirement or pension benefit coming into the household.
Support com reported a revenue of 17 million in March of 2018. The CFO sensing a PR crisis managed to lower his public cash pay rate to the high 70s. The CEO however, reported earning cash only, roughly half a million in 2017.
Support is one of the most exploitative firms I have seen. One would have to look at the garment industry, nail salons and farm labor to find an equal.
