Pluspunten
Paid weekly, which is nice compared to every 2 weeks. That's it. See cons.
Minpunten
Review: Quill Corporation (Lincolnshire, IL) Quill Corporation’s Lincolnshire office presents a workplace culture that diverges significantly from the image portrayed in its marketing. While the company promotes itself with its new motto “The Rewarding Work Place,” employee experiences and independent reviews on Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Indeed and Reddit suggest a more dystopian and sinister reality. Hiring and Onboarding My own experience began with a three-round interview process for a Key Account Management role. After passing the first HR interview and the on-site manager interview, followed by a director level interview, I was surprised to be offered a position matching my pay expectations, but it was not the original role I had applied for and interviewed for. While I was thrilled to join the organization and super pumped and motivated to come in and do great work, I was placed into a territory described as “very unique” — a euphemism that, in practice, meant inheriting systemic issues and challenges without the resources or support to address them, and a manger who didn’t seem to care or want to support. A book of business that was 50% working with a third party supplier instead of with the company directly, leading to half a book of business that I could not engage, and could not grow. Management was well aware of the issues, yet my ideas and solutions went ignored. For the next person’s sake I hope they figure that situation out but for me, the ridiculousness of it all was frustrating. It’s not something I was used to after working for industry leading companies in their sector. Quill is so far from an industry leader that if they didn’t have Staples as their parent company they would long already be out of business. And frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if Quill is soon dissolved into Staples. Their revenues have gone from 1+ billion annum down to 200 million - a total failure and it’s entirely their leadership and management, not the front line workers who are super awesome and some of the hardest working people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Big call out to Ed Miller, who is trying his hardest to wake this company up before it’s too late, and was also a mentor to me during my short time there. Great guy! He was more of a sales coach and a leader than my own manager was. He is one of a very small few I will miss working with. The company’s hiring strategy often involves onboarding large groups of 10–12 employees at a time, a practice seemingly driven by its high turnover rate, reported to be over 50% annually. New hires, such as myself, are sometimes brought in mid-training, resulting in incomplete preparation for the role. In my case, I received only one week of training instead of the standard two, yet was expected by my manager to know everything that I missed the first week. Empathy and emotional intelligence are alien to this company. You are not human beings, you are warm bodies who can push paper with technology dating back 15+ years. Management and Leadership According to Glassdoor, Quill Lincolnshire holds an overall rating of 2.8 out of 5, with senior management scoring 2.1 out of 5 and only 45% of employees recommending the company. Which in itself seems insane, I wouldn’t recommend this company to my worst enemy, I mean I do have some compassion as a human being. Many other reviews highlight a lack of transparency, unrealistic performance metrics, and limited opportunities for professional development. Leadership tends to rely on outdated processes, such as heavy use of spreadsheets, and there is minimal investment in modern technology or tools for the sales team. It takes 10 minutes just to get your day going due to the outdated Citrix virtual desktop - because they don’t trust employees to use a local version of Windows. Goals and KPIs are often set without clear transparency and may change monthly. Employees do not receive visibility into annual targets, which makes it difficult to plan and track performance effectively. Each territory has the exact same KPI’s, regardless of the specifics of the territory. So if your territory has half the accounts, you have the SAME KPI’s. Workplace Culture Multiple employee reviews on multiple sites, as well as my own observations, point to a culture that struggles with trust, training, transparency, morale and most importantly retention. Feedback to management regarding inefficiencies or systemic challenges is often met with dismissal or perceived as negativity and bad attitude, discouraging employees from raising concerns, which will continue the downfall of this once great company from back in the 80’s and 90’s. Turnover is a persistent issue, the likes of which I’ve never experienced in 30 years in the corporate world, with many roles outsourced overseas and remaining employees expected to absorb additional responsibilities. The company’s approach to separations can be abrupt, with no severance, no exit interview, and to add salt to your wound they will fight your unemployment even if you were fired on a knee-jerk reaction. There are reports of almost all unemployment claims being contested even in cases of no cause terminations. What type of company has this type of policy? One that doesn’t care a single iota about its workforce! Overall Assessment Quill Lincolnshire appears to operate with a short-term, reactive approach rather than a long-term strategy for employee development and organizational improvement. Career growth, mentorship, and structured training are limited or non-existent. The combination of massively high turnover, outdated systems, and unclear performance expectations has contributed to a decline in employee morale and, according to most industry commentary, company performance overall. You know that saying “don’t go down with a sinking ship?” I say, don’t jump on the sinking ship in the first place. For professionals seeking a stable environment with clear expectations, modern tools, and a supportive leadership team who has any care about its workforce, there may be other organizations much better aligned with your priorities. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY IF YOU VALUE YOUR CAREER, YOUR MENTAL HEALTH, AND YOUR LIFE.