Zayo reviews

3.5

61% would recommend to a friend

(1,285 total reviews)

Steve Smith

60% approve of CEO

56% positive business outlook

Zayo has an employee rating of 3.5 out of 5 stars, based on 1,285 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Zayo employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Telecommunications industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
2.0
Aug 14, 2013

Unsure how to feel. Image seems to be everything.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Hard working colleagues. Close to great food, shopping and metropolitan areas. Easy in and out of airport.

Cons

Incentives vs lower market salary is proving to be high risk given market uncertainty and no knowledge of date of payout. The longer you're there, it may become a wash or perhaps you will even get behind the game. For example, some people have been there for 6 or 7 years. If you take $50k less pay, x 7 years, that's $350K you have to make up before you make money on the equity program. And what if the bubble bursts?

avatar
Zayo Response
12y
Your Cons focus on Incentives vs lower market salary. Your questions are reasonable and I highly encourage you to engage in conversations around them. I think as you understand our overall situation better, your views might evolve. First, we are constantly looking at all aspects of comp plan, including cash components. Every month, we raise the salaries and bonus targets of select individuals. We do this from the perspective of our perception of their value relative to market. We have had some employees leave because there is a gap in their perception versus ours. Usually, this has little to do with the market but more to do with a judgment about the individual. They might be right, but sometimes a new environment is needed to find out. Second, let me address the "longer you're there, it may become a wash...". First, we are increasing cash comp for those who we believe are earning it. So the premise of the point is not something we are in 100% synch. You are correct though that we consider our robust management equity plan in the overall compensation equation. The management plan is flexible in nature. We consistently look at including additional employees in the plan, and in increasing the units for deserving employees. The most relevant counter-point to your ponder , though, is that the value of the plan has been increasing over time. If we maintain an Equity IRR performance of 30%, that means that the overall value of the Common Unit pool is increasing at a >30% rate (it isn't proportional). It isn't a static value. Third, you say "what if the bubble bursts"? This is a natural question given the telecom bubble of the early 2000s. Our responsibility is to build real value, not a temporary illusion of value. Everything we do strategically and tactically -- as highlighted financially in earning supplements -- reflects our commitment to developing long term sustainable value. Fourth, you say "tell people when they can get cash in their equity". See Salesforce Chatter for a long post by me on this topic. One highlight I'll share here though: many of our employees are about to receive a special cash distribution on their management equity. This was just approved by the board, and will be communicated to employees soon. I just happened to be reviewing this post today. The ultimate liquidity would be tied to an IPO, sales of the company, or a major private equity recap. The timing is unclear, as it always would be with EVERY private company. Having said that, some type of event is likely to occur in the next 12 - 24 months.
4.0
Aug 13, 2013

Great place to work

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great people to work with, all very dedicated to getting the job done. Working from home is a giant plus.

Cons

I think training needs to become a higher priority. The long hours may be tough for some people as it makes it difficult to balance work/life.

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Zayo Response
12y
Thanks for the post. I agree that we've made solid progress over past few months on processes and data. We still have a ways to go, but I am optimistic we will be in great shape by early 2014. This is the key to finding a much better work/life balance... and if done right, training should be far simpler because processes and systems will be more intuitive.
2.0
Aug 9, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The people here are very honest, hard working people. There are almost no wasteful nonsense projects driven by upper management. The company is well beyond mere frugality, but I've seen other companies that were in need of that.

Cons

The amount of time required from a department is never a consideration in decision making. "Oh, we'll just have these guys work 16 hours a day until no-one-knows-when." "If we never stop working, and we forsake our personal lives, then we will have 'the privilege to continue'". There's a shortage of project managers on most teams, and it shows. The entire business model seems reliant on salaried people working way more than 40 hours. Anyone who rated "work/life balance" over a 3 is crazy or probably getting laid off some time soon.

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Zayo Response
12y
We need to make big strides in work/life balance. I suspect we have in many areas, but simply haven't in other areas. I am going to ask each group for an assessment of the work hours their teams are putting in... and where we have acute situations (and I know we do!), I am going to ask for a plan to address it. Thanks for the comment.
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