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      Zayo

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      Zayo reviews

      3.5

      61% would recommend to a friend

      (1,285 total reviews)

      Steve Smith

      60% approve of CEO

      56% positive business outlook

      Ratings by demographic groups

      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
      4.0
      Jul 11, 2013

      Solid Company with Challenging Work Environment

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Hardworking group of people with "can do" attitude. Financially sound, growing company. Expectations of employees are high, and the rewards can potentially be significant. Fast-paced environment with lots of opportunity to excel. Management generally does a good job acknowledging individual contributions.

      Cons

      Challenging work/life balance. My life outside of work has definitely suffered, and I am not alone in this sentiment. Management has acknowledged this is an issue, but there are miles to go before some semblance of balance is realized. The culture of "more, more, more, now, now, now" makes this difficult.

      avatar
      Zayo Response
      12y
      I agree I'm not infallible. Insecurity drives many leaders, and I put myself in this class. I know I've made big mistakes in my career. I feel fortunate for having second chances. I believe my career progression has shown I learned from earlier mistakes and shortcomings. You say Senior management is afraid to express opinions. I don't think this is the case, but if it were I wouldn't be the first to know. In any case, it does concern me that some have the perception that i don't listen to "senior management". I would encourage you to share this perception with them. I believe Zayo's senior management team is among the strongest in the industry -- and I can point to our results to defend this view. They/we cannot be the among the strongest if you are correct in your perception. Executives who don't share and listen to one another's views fail. I'm glad you agree that Zayo has excellent people. Excellent people don't tolerate an environment where they are not heard. I also agree that excellent leaders surround themselves with excellent people -- so your comments seem to acknowledge that we have much of what your are looking for already in place. That is, how can we have excellent people who, by your statement, are what effective leaders surround themselves with, if we have leadership that doesn't communicate openly and effectively with one another? I believe I listen to people throughout the organization, especially my most trusted leaders. "Listening" includes reading glassdoor (so I am advantaged from anonymous feedback as well) and chatter (so that i get feedback directly from anyone is organization without filters)... I also have regular round tables. I do have strong views, and some of them I am adamant about (even if they are unconventional). You might not agree with them, but this does not mean that I'm not listening. It might mean I don't want people in our organization losing time debating certain notions. I want them to focus their energy and ideas on areas where we are looking for innovation. Where we need to be in execution mode, I set tone by putting to rest certain debates. This helps us achieve results and avoid unnecessary debates. Perhaps you will come to understand and appreciate this over time, or perhaps your negative views will be solidified. Just know, however, that I believe there is a time for leaders to set the course so as to allow focus to be on execution. When I do this, I need my team to focus on execution. Thanks for your feedback.
      4.0
      Jul 8, 2013

      For my "wet behind the ears" college grads

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      First things first, I truly enjoy working at Zayo. Being a recent grad, I can tell you that I am being exposed to much more exciting business dealings than any of my college buddies. Everyday something new gets thrown my way and the challenge is always stimulating. Some may consider the lack of formal training a con, but I relish in the uneasiness that the Zayo environment fosters. Through this discomfort comes personal and professional growth, and I know that in the future it will pay dividends. I would say 75% of people at Zayo are quality employees, which I suspect is a higher percentage than most companies in the corporate world. The people on my team are awesome and I have a great boss. We seem to manage to have a good time even though we often put crazy hours in. The upper management is razor sharp and the relatively "flat" corporate structure gives you exposure to these bright people that you'd be lucky to find anywhere else. Sitting in a meeting with some of these guys is probably worth 3 MBA credits. Seriously, they're that smart. If you are a hard worker and are willing to put in the hours to learn, Zayo is a great place to be. If you want to be around smart people and see how corporate success is nurtured, Zayo is a great place to be. Zayo is likely to be around for a long time so job security is pretty solid if you "fit in". The people at the office are fun to joke around and grab a beer after work with. If you're like me and aren't an Ivy league genius, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better job to start a career off with than Zayo. You'll develop the skills that will pay in the future (at least that's what I'm hoping will happen).

      Cons

      With all that said, there are some undeniable cons. The hours can be pretty ridiculous. If you have a girlfriend/boyfriend, they will quickly begin to resent Zayo. Granted there are plenty of teams/business units that put in the 8:30-5, but I'm certainly not part of that for better or worse. Because of the long nights, I shutter to even look at what I'm making an hour. During some "fire-drill" weeks, I'm pushing the minimum wage envelope. No joke. This small salary issue segues into another point of contention I've been having. Having read the upper management's Glassdoor review's, I feel uneasy that most have chosen 5 stars for the compensation and benefits rating. For obvious reasons, they want to raise that rating on Glassdoor but I find this to be rather disingenuous. Zayo has been hiring college grads left and right because they know that it is an employers market right now and people like me (and possibly you) will take the job because of the other benefits Zayo can provide, or you can't find another job. The result is a conflicting one for me. On one hand, I love how much I'm learning but on the other, I feel like a corporate peon. My fears tell me that the people who are established at Zayo will cash in big time once they go IPO and I will be left with nothing more than the hope that my experience will help me land an OK job that pays me enough to where I can actually save a few pennies. Compound this feeling with the upper management saying that compensation is worthy of 5 stars and the schism widens in my mind. Like I said above, the upper management is top notch, but when they make claims that distort the truth it makes their intentions seem somewhat dishonest. In a company that prides itself on being transparent, this is cause for pause in my eyes. I loathe unnecessary bureaucracy, so I'm glad there's no arbitrary review process. However, I would appreciate feedback more often. I often feel like I have no idea where I stand with my boss and more experienced colleagues, so I wish that Zayo would find a happy medium between the two extremes. Management is smart enough to figure that out. Working crazy hours for no money is not a whole lot of fun when you feel like your work isn't recognized. One caveat must be understood about this critique. I have only been at Zayo for ~6 months so who knows what will happen. However looking around at others and talking to my co-workers has not done much to lift my optimism about being fairly compensated to say the least.

      avatar
      Zayo Response
      12y
      Thanks for post. I will address your first advice question. First, the compensation question is vague. If "5 stars" means we pay everyone excessively for their contributions, we are NOT 5 stars. However, if "5 stars" means that the overall compensation to employees is appropriately tied to their contributions, I lean toward 5. Perhaps 4 stars would be more accurate, as we are still working toward this goal. The point is that our goal is not to be known for excessive pay. I think companies who pay excessively are living on borrowed time. Second, we retain most of our strong and excellent people. Zayo is viewed as a hot company, with talented people, in a hot industry. We are viewed as the leader and innovator in Bandwidth Infrastructure -- and our competitors are looking to pick off our talent to springboard opportunities for themselves. Yet, we have lost few talented people b/c of compensation. (We have lost several additional talented people for other reasons.) I base this off a review of all voluntary departures over the past 3 months. If our talented people (of which we have many) were unhappy with overall compensation, we would experience mass departures. I recognize that there is a delay between when employees are unhappy with pay versus when they leave. So I don't want to sound conclusive on this. We are watching carefully. Note that our compensation policy is to reward those that make outstanding contributions. We give raises every month. We increase bonus % levels... and pay extra bonus to those who earn it. We use equity as part of compensation -- and we don't view equity as a "nice to have" but as an integral part of compensation. We also believe we increase the value of our employees through rotational programs and the overall entrepreneurial environment we foster. We believe our employees view this as part of what they receive for the company, as their value increases rapidly over time. Either we will need to pay them for this, or they will extract this value from another employer. We see this as part of the equation. Lastly, we watch carefully the Common Unit value that each employee with equity enjoys. This is what a lot of our talent are playing for -- they know how it works and they know this a big part of what makes our compensation 5'ish stars.
      5.0
      Jun 23, 2013

      New and Pleased, I have worked here for less than a year

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Although the hours can be long, my contributions are noticed and appreciated at all levels of the company. My management team works the long hours with me and are always willing to dig in and help. If you are looking for a fast paced work environment and enjoy challenges, this is the company for you. Opportunities are constantly available to learn about the company and the industry. Coming from a very large company in previous positions, I am enjoying the feeling of community in the company and the way I can directly impact decisions made.

      Cons

      Expectations are high, so if you are someone who wants to come in and clock 40 hours a week and not care about the success of the company you work for, this is not the company for you.

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      ReviewsZayo reviews

      Glassdoor has 1,380 Zayo reviews submitted anonymously by Zayo employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Zayo is right for you.