Pros
Like many Zayoites, I came here from another telecom down the pike. Not for salary - they paid me more. Not for benefits - theirs were better. I liked and was liked by most everyone I worked with. Nor was it for a chance to get rich quick - I forgot about that after 2002. I was bored and felt that every day my skills that were unused at the other place were going stale and rusty. And nobody particularly cared that I wasn't being utilized well. That is not the case at Zayo. I am doing what I love and people want more of what I do. I feel like I am part of a team of creative,innovative people pushing themselves to do well. Maybe, as some say, the ownership shares will turn out to be illusion. But they are a sounder investment than any 401K plan - they are an investment in me and my teammates. They enable us to think as owners of the company and focus on being profitable at the lowest levels to which we can drive that measure. I'm not fond of venture capitalists. Their insatiable greed pillages the economy, I feel. But what Dan Caruso and his team are doing is something different. We are showing that it doesn't take magic to get good returns on investment -- it takes running a business as a business, measuring what counts and then running from the measures. Do we work hard? Darn straight. Is there a whip at our backs or a carrot in front of us? Not so much either: We at Zayo largely work hard because it is fun and exciting to do so. Beats sitting around doing nothing, at any wage.
Cons
Our work-life balance sucks. But that is as much the fault that so many of us are endorphine addicts as anything. I've read much about how the company could care more, do more for employees, have better benefits. I don't buy it. My family is what is important to me, and if I work 20 hours a week more than most people, I also can work from home often and see my family for lunch. What I don't like is having to go to Louisville and waste a day of work so someone can see my face without a camera.