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Pacific Office Automation

Engaged Employer

Pacific Office Automation reviews

3.0

48% would recommend to a friend

(518 total reviews)
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Adam Pritchett

72% approve of CEO

46% positive business outlook

Pacific Office Automation has an employee rating of 3.0 out of 5 stars, based on 518 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Pacific Office Automation employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

518 reviews
3.0
Dec 16, 2014

It's a Grind

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

It's a career, rewards those who work hard, no ceiling on how much you can make, company grows every year

Cons

One of the toughest sales jobs you'll ever come across, no work life balance,

5.0
Dec 12, 2014

Sky's the limit

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Previously I worked at another sales job replacing windshields and the company was corrupt with only one goal in mind, make money for the owners and upper management. I left that job with a sour taste in my mouth about sales until I started at Pacific Office Automation in 2011. I have been with POA for about 4 years now and couldn’t be happier. This company is well structured with the mentality of keeping their employees happy and in return the company will succeed. This is a growing company and always adapting to new technology, solutions and sales tactics. They provide great benefits (medical, dental & vision), 401K with 100+ % match program, and incentive trips (Boston, San Diego, Vegas, Florida, etc). Support and guidance is always available from your manager and coworkers when needed. This is not just a temporary job, this is a career with endless opportunity to make great money and have stability.

Cons

You will have to be a team player and not just focused on yourself, but the people you work with. Your goal should be to help your team succeed and in return they will help you succeed. If you’re not willing to put in the time and work hard to succeed, this isn’t the place for you.

1.0
Dec 10, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I worked as as sales rep for Pacific Office Automation for 3.5 years. The one good thing to take away from this job was a solid understanding of the sales process and some sales skills.

Cons

What are the downsides of working at Pacific Office Automation? First I would like to clarify some information in some prior posts that was not 100% accurate. Some posts by prior sales reps, regarding compensation, were inaccurate, POA, does not pay a salary. All sales people are COMMISSION ONLY, and commissions are based on the profit in your sales. You're paid initially on a "non-recoverable draw." I'm not going to explain what that is here, but prior to taking a position you should understand your compensation, especially as the industry is fighting against being commoditized. With that said, the real issues at POA begin and end with culture. Firstly, you are essentially selling a service, but the service department is constantly technically strained, poorly managed, and understaffed, these issues are euphemistically referred to as growing pains. On top of this, I take a moral objection with how well the technicians and admin staff are compensated based on the cost of living in Seattle. Honestly, the technicians should unionize, they would have amazing bargaining power; allow me to explain why. Often, if more than one technician out of roughly 50+ technicians in the Seattle office, you're customers WILL call and complain about service as the department will now run 2-3 days behind. Remember, as a sales person who is being paid to sell, you're also required to manage all of your clients, which the more you have, the better as some reps WILL have significantly more develop territories, as a rule, selling to your current customers is much more profitable than new clients. But, I digress, back to taking time off. To take time off, for sales people, you'll have to justify your PTO and why you're leaving, taking off any time during the end of the month was unacceptable and would almost never be approved. Accompanied with the "7-to-7" workday (7-to-7, refers to the mentality that everyone should, by default, be in the office at 7am and to stay until 7pm), it will start to feel like your office is running your life. Now, the part that truly drove me from the job. The language. I believe, how we speak to each other on a daily basis, especially in a positive team environment, is very important. Which is why constructive criticism from a direct manager and his manager comes bundled with being derided with expletives. Yelling, swearing, and public shaming (in the bi-weekly all-sales video conferences) are the norm for the management to communicate company values. When raising this as a concern with management will, you will be told to grow thicker skin and the HR department is non-existant On a non-cultural note, internal systems are antiquated, the internal CRM, was contracted and designed from scratch by a third party and rarely works, and you'll be stuck using an older hosted system that has not been updated in almost 10 years. The ERP and monitoring systems are rarely ever accurate and customer billing is terrible, I, on more than one occasion had a client that wasn't billed for over a year and you will be required to handle these issues with your client after the fact. Overall, as a career decision for someone seeking to become a serious professional, this is the sales job that you "get your feet wet" in. It's not much of a career decision, because they hire, or prey on young people freshly out of college. They open speak of seeking people with little or no other sales experience, because they don't want them to be spoiled and learn "bad habits." I would say that because upper management, with the rare exception, has never worked anywhere else. Imagine someone, hired right out of college, telling you that this is one of the best places in the country to work.

Viewing 487 - 489 of 518 Reviews

Glassdoor has 533 Pacific Office Automation reviews submitted anonymously by Pacific Office Automation employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Pacific Office Automation is right for you.