TransPerfect reviews

3.0

41% would recommend to a friend

(757 total reviews)

Phil Shawe

45% approve of CEO

33% positive business outlook

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757 reviews

Reviews about "Compensation"

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5.0
Apr 7, 2013

Not as bad as all that

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

First, I want to acknowledge that my experience isn't everyone's at the company's. Some people have had bad experiences -- some felt they were set impossible tasks and not appreciated. And I'm sure there's some truth to that. However, one thing you'd never believe from reading most of these comments is that there are many happy employees at TransPerfect. At it's best, TransPerfect is about accountability and responsibility -- with departments run like they are independent small businesses. This leads both to some departments being run very differently than others and to pressure being pushed down to PCs and PMs when it shouldn't be sometimes. There are great opportunities for personal and career growth. The company is always growing -- and so new opportunities keep arising. I've learned more at TransPerfect than I did in my last 2 jobs combined.

Cons

The culture can be a bit confusing -- and many new project managers don't know what they've gotten into. A PM is in a position where they need good relationships with Sales people while at the same time, they need to be pushing back. It takes some time to get this balance right and which is why you need a strong manager you can escalate matters to. They also need to find a way to differentiate themselves -- which a good manager can help with -- but TransPerfect is full of young managers, having their first crack at managing teams under pressure. TransPerfect starts out with a low salary offer -- though with good performance, you can move up the ranks and rapidly change that.

1.0
Apr 5, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

This is your chance to experience first hand a company which has been built on lies, broken promises and manipulation

Cons

The working hours are long, the pay is low and the pressure is high. Nothing wrong with that, of course, I have held demanding jobs before. But the undertone here is permanent abuse: people get played against each other, managers abuse their reports by lying, bullying and displaying two-faced behavior. You are encouraged to find fault with translators so you can cut their payments. You are told to charge clients for work which was never done. There is a permanent exodus of workers, making the pressure on those who are left behind even bigger. Morale is low. No chance of promotion, no pay raises. Work hard, play hard (the company's motto) in practice comes down to working 12-hour days as a standard, and then drinking yourself completely stupid. Taking into account the unpaid overtime, your hourly wages will be lower than a janitor's.

2.0
Mar 14, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

As an employee for more than 3 years, I learnt lots of skills at Transperfect (software, management, training). Being a huge company, there are employees from any country in the world and the environment was mostly good thanks to that. I would only recommend working for Transperfect if you cannot find anything better.

Cons

Employees are exploited, translator rates are really low and in dollars (which are even lower against the Euro, for example). Salaries are quite low (sorry, but I got a better salary working in a bar). Employees are forced to penalize translators when client spots a mistake, this penalization comes through a reduction of the PO obviously. Most mistakes are due to the fact that all translations are rush and budget is very limited, which means project managers have to contact the cheapest linguists. Business representatives (sales people) have no idea about the translation business. They accept any request from the client and estimate absurd budgets and deadlines. Then the Project Managers have to deal with it. Little chance of negotation in order to get a better deadline or budget even if the quality of the translation is at stake. Project managers are penalized if they don't reach a monthly goal (high number of projects, high income obtained for the company, few errors and positive feedback). Some employees have been fired due to that. I have seen employees crying, staying until midnight in the office, on sick leave due to stress and even skin diseases (due to stress and scratching). I have even seen employees quitting on the same day because they couldn't stand it anymore. It's impossible to have a life of your own if you're working for them. Obviously this is a company that only cares about the money, not about the quality. It's like comparing McDonalds with a cozy family restaurant. We all know which one is bigger, cheaper and faster. Still, big clients prefer bad translations, otherwise Transperfect wouldn't be that huge. It's a big concern if we consider we are taking medications and many investigations are being translated by this company.

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