Ultimate Manifestation of Chicago Booth Thinking - Anonymous employee Zayo Employee Review

3.0
Apr 9, 2015
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- location, smart people, unique network assets, work-life balance is getting better, awesome career growth opportunity if you were here pre-Abovenet, effective use of salesforce.com, interesting/challenging work at times, people are held responsible for their results, company is doing well financially which means job security, opportunities to learn a lot are available. Zayo really does have some great things to offer.

Cons

- Dan Caruso holds an MBA from Chicago Booth and this hyper-analytic way of thinking is present at every turn in the org. The bottom line is Dan believes everyone is expendable and the morale of his troops couldn't be of less concern to him when juxtaposed to shareholder returns. He/senior management is laser focused on lofty EBITDA/equity IRR growth aspirations to the point of staggering myopia. Over the years he has said that if we perform well for our investors, it will benefit the employees, that these interests are not mutually exclusive. This may have been true in Zayo's early days when we needed PE capital, but this argument he continues to make no longer holds water and believe me, I've tried to buy it. Upper management squeezes for EBITDA wherever they can and this is especially true with compensation. They are brutally tightfisted with raises (esp. cash) so the idea that shareholder value isn't growing to the detriment of it's employees is disingenuous, sorry. He is a smart man but his crusade in life/Zayo is to create shareholder value, not a satisfying place to work and that's just the reality of it. Zayo grew during the recession when people would work insane hours for peanuts and it seems that the powers that be mostly believe that this is still the case. The new RSU program is nice but waiting 15 months to see any benefit from your hard work is a long time. Opportunities to make any real money like a lot of people did via the equity grant programs during the early days are gone. - This could be a great place to work and that's the most frustrating part. I suspect good people will leave in the coming months. Zayo claims to want the best and brightest but refuse to put their money where their mouth is (unless you have a Booth MBA).

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5.0
Jul 5, 2026
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CEO approval
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Pros

Remote work. Transparent with good culture & leadership. Solid infrastructure.

Cons

Nothing to report at the moment.

5.0
Jun 11, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent sales enablement, tools, and internal support. Leadership has done a good job creating an environment where Enterprise Account Executives can focus on selling instead of getting bogged down by administrative tasks. CRM data is clean, processes are organized, and responsibilities between Sales, Customer Success, and Account Management are clearly defined. It’s refreshing to work for a company that invests in the systems and structure needed to help its sales teams succeed.

Cons

Ongoing integration efforts following the Crown Castle Fiber acquisition mean some processes and systems are still evolving. As with most enterprise sales roles, building pipeline requires significant self-sourcing and prospecting across a large territory. The product portfolio is extensive, which creates a bit of a learning curve for new hires but also provides opportunities to solve complex customer challenges.

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