Pros
There aren't many good reasons to work for Reynolds & Reynolds (formerly Universal Computer Systems). The top reason is they do provide excellent training. Unfortunately much of that training does not translate to positions with other companies and will only get any recognition at your new job if the new company is familiar with UCS/R&R. UCS/R&R has several events (Christmas Party, Company Picnic, Cookout, Sports Leagues, Golf Tournaments, Birthday Parties, etc...) throughout the year that can be fun. However, the underlying reason for all of the these events is to make people forget about the quality (or lack there of) of their working environment and low pay. And it doesn't help when management requires that you attend these events.
Cons
This list can vary greatly depending on the department you work in. Many of the VPs have very different mindsets on how things should be run, so every department has a little different set of policies. From my experience: - Low pay. UCS/R&R typically only hires new graduates and they specifically look for high risk/reward people that will be willing to accept low starting salaries. Last I heard they were still trying to get people to accept starting salaries below 30K and were telling people that this was competitive. I was with the company for several years. I new several people working at other companies that received more in salary adjustments in 1 year than I did in my entire tenure. Paid Time Off - You get the standard holiday package offered by most companies but the vacation/sick days are pitiful. When you start with the company, you will pretty much have no vacation for your first year and no sick days for your first 4-6 months. After that you will get 10 vacation days and 6 sick days (4 require a Dr note). There will be no increase in vacation until year 6. All vacation must be approved by your supervisor and manager and must be requested at least 2 weeks prior to the intended time out of office. If your supervisor/manager does not check their requests often enough, your vacation may be denied so it is best to put in request at least 1 month in advance. - Poor Advancement Opportunities. If you are a woman with ambition, you might as well go else where. The owner once had a woman VP. She got pregnant just before being promoted and then quit after maternity leave. The owner is now jaded regarding women in power and will not promote women higher than a manager level. Advancement in many departments is also slow. Many of the supervisors in my department where not promoted until they had been with the company for 6-8 years. - Long Hours. There are several departments now that work on an hourly rate and are no longer subject to long hours. Unfortunately I was not one of them. My department was not allowed to work less than 8 hours per day and we were expected to work 10+. I worked 16 hr days, weekend, holidays, etc... and never received any compensation (pay, day off, etc...). - Poor Management. Our employee review forms were riddled with examples of managment's screwed up priorities. Rather than rewarding hard work and quality, they focused on the average number of hours worked, participation in company events, company loyalty (despite not giving us a reason to be loyal), etc... Many promotions are also based on these factors rather than people who actually deserve management roles. My last supervisor was a bad leader and did a very poor job assessing his team's strengths and weaknesses. For example, his description of me to management was that of a work horse with no leadership qualities but when we did a peer review I ranked higher in every catagory (including leadership) than all of my co-workers. - Testing. You are always being tested. The company performs random drug tests that never really seem to be that random. Everytime someone comes back from vacation, especially if they left the country, they will be tested. There is also a Certification Testing process. It is a series of 16 tests covering information pertaining to the automobile industry and the company's software. There is constant pressure from management to complete these certifications. Oh, and your not allowed to study during working hours. All certification preparation is to be done on your own time at home. - Big Brother. The owner is very paranoid about industry espionage so he installed electronic key pads on almost every door in the building. I would have to input my code 4 times just to get to my desk each morning. But the worst part of it is that they collect the data from each time you enter your code and use it to track your activity (hours worked, when you leave your floor, how long you took for lunch, did you leave before 5pm). - Turnover. UCS/R&R has a very high turnover rate. There was a systems guy who left the company in the late 90s and before leaving he ran a report showing the number of terminations in a 1 year period. It averaged out to almost 3 people per day for an entire year. For a company of less than 2000, that is huge turnover. My department of less than 20 people, saw 35 people leave over a 5 year stretch. - Dress Code. This has changed significantly in the last few years and has become more relaxed. During my time with the company most departments had to wear suits every day and some still do.