project coordinator

T-Base Communications

I have been with T-Base for about 8 years now. I have been with the company through multiple transitions: I find it overall a good place to work; however, it is and remains a company in transition. It is still a small company (though it has grown towards a medium-sized entity), and this means everyone has to be flexible in certain capacities, and depending on where you are there can be limited advancement within the fairly flat hierarchy.

I work in a specialized part of the business: I was brought on to develop a set of digital services that were new to us at the time. It took some time for this side of the business to reach a fairly mature state, but I have generally felt supported by the company during this phase. Management has been approachable and open towards new ideas, even if they could not be implemented at the given time. My pay is approximately industry scale for a mid-career IT professional; my benefits are also quite decent. My vacation allotment is a little slight, and will not improve for a couple of years yet. I have to flexible on multiple fronts: sometimes I'm performing my core job functions, sometimes I am assigned to configure new software services, sometimes I have to do research regarding legislation, and sometimes I am sent on business trips on short-notice. But I am respected by my colleagues and management for my contributions, and they have been flexible.

Most of my colleagues work in the larger part of the business, which focuses on transcription of information into accessible formats, and the associated shipping of the hard copy. This involves both software automation and human transcription. Much of this work requires quick response, juggling of priorities, and flexibility in order to meet multiple deadlines. Most of the people doing this work tend to be young; this is a first job for them, with associated pay. They are provided with training, but the hours can be long, and the job can require overtime to complete. Flexibility is necessary, but overall the company culture tries to be fair and allow people to manage their own time.

I believe that the leadership really tries to listen and build a good work culture. How they have handled the realities of the Covid-19 pandemic, by moving as many staff as possible to working remotely, separating work locations as much as physically possible, providing cleaning supplies, increasing contracted cleaning, and offering masks and support, shows they are genuinely concerned about the well-being of their staff.

The negatives are that the company has a relatively flat structure: there are lateral opportunities, but entry-level staff (especially in the transcription section above) may find there is no room for advancement. There is also a high requirement for flexibility, as deadlines need to be shifted to meet tight turn-arounds.

The good: 
Coworkers are friendly, collaborative, and fun. The work is interesting at first (it gets monotonous). Partial transit reimbursement. Casual atmosphere. Generous sick pay. Free coffee.

The bad: 
Woefully inadequate pay. Management classifies the majority of positions as "entry level" with entry-level pay, but is most definitely NOT entry-level work. You need mad skills, in fact.

Unless you want to work there for the rest of your life, knowing braille and accessible formats are not marketable skills.

Benefits aren't great. Standard group plan most employers have, except more expensive and mandatory. Company pays a portion, but employees are forced to pay for the rest, whether they want them or not. 

Some days more time is spent in useless meetings than doing any actual work. 

Management insists overtime is strictly voluntary, but more than once I heard a senior manager tell an employee that if they didn't finish by the [impossibly short] deadline, they'd be fired, forcing them to work overtime or lose their job. I guess management regards that choice as "voluntary".

No job security. I've never worked anywhere that I've seen so many contracts not renewed/people get fired. Usually without any warning, the only reason given that they're "not a good fit". Management looks upon most staff as old shoes to be discarded.

The worst: 
Upper-level management. They have MANY shortcomings, but the worst is their very selective hearing. Suggestions, criticism, ideas...management claims it wants to hear these, but it truly doesn't. I suspect they pretend to want to hear from staff in order to weed out the "undesirables." I saw many long-term, talented, highly-respected people driven away, or had their contracts not renewed/were fired without warning because of it. Management wants cheap and obedient robots, not people with pulses and opinions.

Bottom line: 
Don't waste your talents here. The few minor perks just aren't worth it.

After spending many years working in various industries with a wide range of experiences, T-Base is one of the best. Everyone with whom I work has given me nothing but respect, encouragement, and patience, from the CEOs all the way through to the Guided Transcription Operators. The only down-side is that financial compensation feels as if it should be higher.

Work/life balance (37.5 hours required for full time): Flexible and good. I've been able to attend doctor's appointments and other scheduled events outside work, during work hours with the ability to just catch up at my convenience. Plenty of vacation days and sick time. With the advent of Covid-19, the company quickly pivoted to allow everyone to work from home.

Workplace culture: Incredible. Everyone at T-Base has been encouraging and positive. I've never felt as if my ideas were disregarded or ignored. Morale seems to be fairly low at this time but even then, people genuinely try to help and have a positive impact. I hope that turns around soon.

Management: Very good. Being open and honest with my boss has granted nothing but the same in return. I've been consistently encouraged to try new things and increase my understanding of braille rules to reach new levels of skill.

The work itself: Challenging and rewarding. Sometimes there is a decent amount of pressure to meet deadlines which can be stressful, but when objectives are accomplished, it's a very rewarding feeling.

Wages: Low. It's the only negative thing I can say about my employment with T-Base. But I'm hoping to change that through hard work and dedication.

The people at T-Base are incredibly kind and welcoming. Coworkers are phenomenal and form a cohesive and dependable team, led by managers who genuinely care and are always willing to go above and beyond. The company actively seeks employee feedback and puts the time into developing a warm and positive workplace.

As for the work itself, it's diverse and engaging; challenging at times, but with such a strong team it's easy to seek assistance or additional training when required, leading to an overall rewarding and educational experience. I've learned a lot in my time at T-Base beyond braille transcription, developing essential communication, organizational, and collaboration skills that have benefited and will continue to benefit me in both a personal and professional capacity.

I have a lot of respect for the people at T-Base, at all levels of the company, and for the work we do here. I also, as an additional note, really respect how the company has handled the Covid-19 pandemic (championing employee safety) and how everyone has assimilated to the new work environment, still managing to maintain the positivity and sense of being part of a reliable team that stood out to me when I first began working here.

The staff and middle management are terrific and the work itself is rewarding, but senior management drags it down to a very unpleasant place to work. They are not proactive, are narcissistic and treat staff like children from which they demand agreement with everything they say and do, no matter how absurd. Although favouritism is rampant, talent and dedication is generally irrelevant - only that staff agrees and obeys. Ideas and, especially, feedback are strongly frowned upon and often punished, making company culture depressing and oppressive. Expected to work very hard for slightly more than minimum wage and be eternally grateful for it. Raises are few, far between and miniscule. Senior management also never stops interfering in things it knows nothing about - and shows no interest in learning - making everyone's job more difficult. They are experiencing growth, but seem to have no idea how to grow the company in an effective nor efficient way, making things even worse. Although you might learn new things, they aren't applicable anywhere else. Given all this, it's not at all surprising that staff turnover is quite high for a company its size.

There seem to be only two small groups that are happy here: the "lifers" and the "newbies". The lifers, because they've been here so long, they're either immune to the nonsense or just don't care anymore. The newbies because, although it initially appears to be a good workplace on the surface, they haven't been here long enough for the company's true colours to show. Its very, very ugly colours.

The vast majority are unhappy and morale gets lower every day. Senior management is clueless, indifferent and, at times, downright nasty. Supervisors are generally great and do their best to improve morale, but their hands are firmly tied by senior management. It's one of the worst-managed companies I've ever experienced. 

Dedicated and hard-working people are "rewarded" with a cost-of-living increase once a year - if that - which is essentially working for the same below-market pay at which they were hired. Forever. Keep that in mind if you make the grave mistake of taking a job here.

As a long term employee, I have seen T-Base grow from a niche company to a bustling, fast-paced environment that seems to expand from week to week. Sure, there have been some growing pains but there seems to be a commitment from ownership and management to maintain a positive atmosphere and provide many services beyond the standard health insurance, such as free family and crisis counseling from a third party. The learning curve is steep but once you are on that curve there are skills you will get from no other local company. I have seen the ups and downs over the years but rapid growth has provided lots of opportunities for promotion. I have seen many start out with entry level positions and eventually get management or team-lead positions. While no work place is perfect, T-Base is a pleasant place to work. It's fast paced at times, but that's a good sign of growth.

I’ve worked at T-Base for five years. Yes, there is a lot of work in a fast-growing company and it’s sometimes challenging to keep up, but it’s also exciting and there is constant, ongoing support and appreciation from upper management and coworkers. It truly feels like we are all in this together/ have each other’s backs (regardless of one’s ranking in the organization). Plus, it’s safe to talk about failures and there’s space to learn (!) here, and the importance of that in a workplace cannot be overstated.

Senior management spends a lot of time and attention ensuring that both employees and customers are satisfied. They recognize and reward hard work, and they encourage and listen to constructive feedback.

At the end of the day, I feel satisfied, challenged, respected and super proud to work at T-Base.

T-Base has all the appearances of being a good place to work that actually does good work, too. In reality, it's everything but. Expect long hours, low pay, paltry and infrequent raises, and horrible senior managers that don't care about anything except making themselves look good at the employees' expense. They are close-minded, short-sighted and demand absolute obedience. There is little room for advancement and skills are not transferrable. Company culture is oppressive and not inclusive. The only pluses are that co-workers and middle managers are wonderful, hours are flexible for some (but not all), and they offer generous sick pay. However, considering the extremely low pay and poor treatment by senior management, it's not nearly enough to keep talented people and staff turnover is high.

Very low pay, especially considering skill requirements; confounding directives from inept upper management; very nice and supportive, but unhappy co-workers; frequent, disruptive, counter-productive meetings; benefits are basic...the list goes on and on. Worst of all, upper management pretends it wants to hear from staff, then punishes - sometimes even fires - them for speaking up. To say upper management is insincere and untrustworthy is a massive understatement. If you want to slave away for a baby-step above minimum wage, obey party rule and always pretend you're in paradise, do as you're told without question, and keep your mouth firmly shut at all times, then this is the place for you! You'll make more money and have more recourse working fast food, however.

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