UScellular reviews

4.2

75% would recommend to a friend

(2,466 total reviews)
avatar

Laurent C. Therivel

74% approve of CEO

30% positive business outlook

UScellular has an employee rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars, based on 2,466 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The UScellular 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

2K reviews
1.0
Mar 13, 2014

U.S. Cellular was not for me...

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good work/life balance, competitive pay, strong operational acumen in rolling out new program

Cons

Culture is based on politics, leadership is afraid to make changes that need to be made, an incredible amount of "Yes men", the "Dynamic Organization" is good in theory but in practice it like a cult of thoughtless followers who know it is really a joke - there is nothing behind the curtain like the wizard of OZ

2.0
Feb 9, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Many have posted on this site about the "cult like" atmosphere of U.S. Cellular. Although the values and behaviors of the company's business model are to be commended, don't be fooled... these same behaviors are more often used to reprimand rather than reward. Under the guise of "feedback" co-workers are encouraged to "tattle" on each other, and managers often request information on individuals from other teammates, leading to distrust and discontent among the team. Being a normal person, you welcome such constructive information, as you want to be a better employee, right?

Cons

Don't misunderstand... casual and private conversations between associates and inter departmental teams, that most individuals would see as a healthy sharing of concerns/opinions over company goals and objectives, are relayed by one's own trusted teammates (and so-called friends) to middle management, again under the guise of eliminating team dissent. In reality, this is simply the procurement of "slanderous backstabbing" by one individual over another - for whatever reason, by doing so individuals hope to advance themselves in the eyes of upper management. However, since typically only two people are engaged in a conversation at any given time, the relaying of information is truly hearsay. Nonetheless, this "excuse" is still often used as a reason for dismissal from the organization, labeling an associate as "un dynamic". If you want to work here, keep your guard up, be prepared to trust no one, and plan to keep to yourself. Say and agree with management's company politics and ideas and limit your "concerns" on any given initiative. Smile, nod and agree, and you will be left alone... but prepare to be lonely. As a regional player in the wireless industry, an industry that is quickly absorbing most smaller carriers (even those that are still much larger than USC),sadly the ability to effectively compete is becoming slim. Coupled with extreme billing system issues, long customer wait and hold times, and a generally unhappy legacy customer base adds to their challenges ahead. The consolidation of network spectrum and devices over the next several years, will make it even more difficult for U.S. Cellular to stand alone for much longer, at least in its current state. The carrier must differentiate itself, and quit trying to mimic the larger national carriers on price, national network and reliable voice/data roaming - none of which it has.

4.0
Dec 26, 2013

Memorable Experience to last a lifetime

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Wonderful vision and mission statements that are emphasized and at the heart of all performance reviews. The company spends a great deal of time and money teaching behaviors and directing how to think corporately in alignment with what they want associates to see, believe and understand in order to have one voice to customers. Good benefits. They aim to hire people who are value based and have integrity.

Cons

As much as they want to be diverse and inclusive, their assessment of talent is often biased or short-sighted. They promote from within for a lot of roles; some individuals jump through major hoops while others sail on through with no problem (unrelated to ability). Inconsistency, relying on behavioral assessment of associates from others second and third hand information and trying to over correct issues instead of preventing them are the three largest problems observed. An example of this is in launching several new initiatives which impacted the company greatly this year. Although they did their best, they did not have the talent to support and make the decisions necessary to fully understand what was needed for multiple endeavors. The people put in tremendous hours and sacrificed a lot but the talent and ability to have foresight to make some of the decisions or understand the product being purchased was just not there. Often major project leads were associates who had been promoted from the customer service or sales front line; they do not all posses the knowledge for the decisions needed to be made. This was evident to the former CEO who initiated a mass restructure. This was a good place to start; however, this also removed a great number of individual talent that were qualified while also eliminating those that were not. In short, they over correct and swing the pendulum too far left and right and end up swerving their leadership and decisions all over the proverbial road.

Viewing 43 - 45 of 2,466 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,541 UScellular reviews submitted anonymously by UScellular employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if UScellular is right for you.