What's the company culture at EchoStar (DISH Network)?

Every business has its own style. What is the office environment and culture like at EchoStar (DISH Network)?

Are people dressed in business casual, jeans and t-shirts, or full-on suits? Do folks get together for Friday happy hours and friendly get-togethers?

What is a typical day in the life of an employee at EchoStar (DISH Network)?

Tim Beyers, Motley Fool (investment information site), Sept 2006

"Maybe it's the proximity of the firm to my home. EchoStar is spitting distance from here, which could explain why its parking lot is covered in loogies. Well, not really. But I know a lot of people who work there, and the vast majority of them hate it."

March 2007, EchoStar health benefits changed from a traditional Cigna copay plan to a high-deductible plan - referred to as a Consumer Driven Health Care Plan (CDHC).

EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen stated that this dramatic cut in health care benefits was essential to the survival of the company. He argued that EchoStar could not afford to offer the current benefit plan to its employees.

The following month Forbes listed Charlie Ergen as the 62nd wealthiest person in the world. His net worth went rose from $7B (that is billion, people) to $10B in one year.

Critics argue that CDHC will cause consumers, particularly those less wealthy and educated, to avoid needed and appropriate health care because of the cost burden and the inability to make informed, appropriate choices. "Consumer-driven health care is badly named, because it's certainly not driven by consumers," said Jonathan Oberlander, political scientist, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. It's "really just shifting the cost of health care onto the backs of the patients." People with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, will be hurt, because with a deductible of $3,000 to $4,000, such people will never be able to save anything in their savings accounts. "Employers like it because they're going to save money," but they're not going to fund these health care accounts adequately, he said. "Conservatives tend to support consumer-driven health care. They believe, as do a fair number of health economists, that people use too much health care, and use too much health care of little value. If you move to high-deductible plans, people will think twice. If I have a sore throat, instead of going to my physician, I'll have a cup of tea instead."

I consistently see job posting for Echostar in Cheyenne, and Denver. So this makes me think twice before sending my resume to them. If they have that much turnover, then the stakeholders need to fire the upper management and middle management and start fresh. High workforce turnover usually represents a weak leadership and mission of where the company is going.

Look for a company that cares - even just a little - for their employees. This company does not care for their employees. Wages are at the bottom 10% of the market rate. Turnover is high for a lot of reasons, poor benefits ar only one of MANY reasons.

I worked for Echostar as a dispatcher in St Charles, MO. I was very excited when I was hired because I read it was a Fortune 300 company. Well, that apparently means very little as far as employee treatment. There was major disappointment as far as insurance costs. The training was awful. The supervisors were hired off the street instead of promoted from within and they had no training on how to work our system. All my co-workers were looking for other jobs. When I was a new employee, one day everybody else in my dept was hours late, probably planned as a protest against the newest supervisor. He couldn't step in and do the job which in my opinion should be a requirement of a supervisor. I think the other employees made their point but it didn't seem to matter.
I quit that job after quickly finding another one. Now, 8 months later, Echostar is sending me letters saying I was overpaid and to send them $700. I have no idea if they overpaid me. I'm not good about going over my paychecks, espcecially since everything is direct deposit. If they would have said something within the first month, I would have checked into it. Now I feel like it is not my problem. First of all, I was on a time card so how could it be MY fault if they did overpay me extra after I left. Why did it take them so long to contact me? They told me I would have to redo my state and federal taxes. When I called the company today, the Financial Analyst whose name was on the letter said she doesn't have time to talk about this any more (probably busy handling other mistakes). Then she LOUDLY stated that I was going to collections.
So my advice is to never work for them. They are bad to their employees and to their ex-employees too. I can't wait for my contract to run out so I can cancel their service. Over time, they will lose a lot more than the $700 they want from me if I had remained their customer. All my friend's and relatives business will be lost too.

There are a lot of very disgruntled employees over at Dish in Phoenix (Ahwatukee), AZ! I quit after 5 weeks. My biggest reason for leaving was due to the horrible benefits! The training wasn't too thorough and we were thrown to the wolves right out of training not ever having touched Dish Promo. The lack of hands-on training wasn't good. You wonder why the customers are not happy? Well, there's your answer. This company is so concerned with their poor performance rating in customer service as well as the ramping up of this new Phoenix call center that they still refuse to listen to the employees when they say "We're not ready to take calls!!" They just want people to be answering the calls, whether or not the TSR can even respond correctly. They're also hiring people who lack any technical background and putting them right into TSR III and even Dr. Dish positions! It really does amaze me how inexperienced the coaches and managers are.

Oh, how about that out-of-the-blue decision to implement mandatory OT? Good luck to those who stay with this company because you're going to need it.

Wow, you got training? Their idea of training in St Charles is to sit you in the room with people doing the job but who are too busy to train anybody. No formal training.
Be careful cashing any checks from them. They will come after you in a few months after they discover their payroll dept doesn't know how to do their jobs either.
Collections just sent me a letter. (I've never been in collections before; never even paid a bill late). It is mid-Sep and I quit there last Oct. I refuse to give in to their inadequacies. They need to get their act together instead of harrassing past employees for errors they made.

I don't know what to say about Dish Network other than them being very unprofessional and they just do not take care of thier employee's. I've always believed in "happy employees make happy customers" its obvious Dish Network has never heard that expression. The benefits are horrible and the pay is the lowest I've seen. The training is not even close to what it should be. The trainers are rude, not very patient and seem to be a on a power trip because they like to write people up every chance they get. I made it through training with no write ups or without stepping on any toes but I saw it happen to several people in my class. We were thrown on to the floor with little to no knowledge of how thier computer systems worked, we were suppose to follow a call flow that was completely confusing and did not make sense. The people in HR were not compitent, I asked a question once and they just all looked at eachother. The supervisors are the same way, no one seems to know what they were doing or what they should be doing. I think there is only one supervisor there who tried to help me the best he could and didn't just shrug me off. The call center ops director had a huge ego and seemed to act like the world revolved arnd him. I'm not sure about the director of the call center, he came in during our training and said he had an open door policy but I had a friend who took some info to him regarding the mandatory OT and he said she never gave him the info so she got a write up for it. That place is a big building of negativity and I quit after being there for about 6 weeks, I couldn't stand it. Most of my training class had also quit. After about 2 weeks they finally noticed I quit and called me to ask why. I told them about the horrible training and the horrible trainer, how no one knew what they were doing and I didn't want to work for a company that so disorganized. I would rather sell my uterus than work there again!!

In my brief time at Dish/Echostar, I can honestly say it has been the absolute worst experience of my professional life. Needless to say, I am already looking to leave. I cannot wait to resign from this place.

Everything at Dish revolves around being treated like a child in a prison. Badge reports, angry managers who tell you upper management is upset...

Training does not exist. Benefits are not very good at all.

Oh well, take a job at Echostar as a tie-over until something better comes along. Believe me, if you value your sanity, you will leave there very quickly, like I am trying to do.

Wish me luck!!!

1workerbee in atlanta, Georgia said: In my brief time at Dish/Echostar, I can honestly say it has been the absolute worst experience of my professional life. Needless to say, I am already looking to leave. I cannot wait to resign from this place.

Everything at Dish revolves around being treated like a child in a prison. Badge reports, angry managers who tell you upper management is upset...

Training does not exist. Benefits are not very good at all.

Oh well, take a job at Echostar as a tie-over until something better comes along. Believe me, if you value your sanity, you will leave there very quickly, like I am trying to do.

Wish me luck!!!

Good luck! It's amazing how that company never learns how to treat people. I wonder how they ever got the "Fortune 300" rating. Very misleading to potential employees. They ruined my perfect credit rating due to their payroll error that nobody, including me, caught for 6 months. In January my dish contract expires. Can't wait to get rid of them. I liked it better than cable but can't support a company like them. I'll go back to cable before I give them another dime. My friends and family will cancel their service as it expires too. It's the only way we can wake up a company like them. Don't support a company that treats employees like dirt.

A day in the life of an Echostar employee:

1. Badge in a 7:59 (got in early, gotta make a good impression on upper-management!!)
Note:Yeah, you badged in at 7:59, but you didn't get to your seat until 8:01, computer didn't fully load up till 8:06, probably drank coffee till 8:15!!!
3. 8:15 Open up Outlook (what a surprise, angry emails about upper-management being upset about nothing)
4. Get harassed by boss
5. 8:45-12:00 Do miserable work alongside other people who hate being there for a few hrs
6. 12:00-1:00 Go on lunch break (yes, because they make you load up the absurd IM, change your status to "away" for the full hr, ignore all those who IM you during your "away" time (knowing full well your at your cube, stuffing down the food, hoping no one harasses you via IM)
7. 1:00-2:00 Put on the headphones & Ipod, hope that the innumerable apps are working so that you can do your job w/o too much frustration
7. 2:30 Get harassed by boss
9. 3:00 Get back to work, pray that your metrics look good for the day
10. 3:15 dream of a job in a prison somewhere, the benefits are surely better
11. 4:30 only about 2 more hrs to go (Dish makes employees work 9 hrs a day, 8 work, 1 hr lunch), try to do a fair amount of work for the last 2 hrs, but don't claim all of it till tomorrow, cause you need to "pad" your metrics
12. Final task - think nothing but positive thoughts as you leave the building ("it really couldn't get any worse than this", "if they do fire me/let me go, I won't have to deal with them ever again, etc. etc.)

I worked at DISH Network for 3 years, and understand the postings made by the other users in this forum. The tough part about being at DISH Network is that it has an exciting product, my former co-workers are some of the nicest/generous people that you will ever meet, and the amount of information that you learn in a short period of time is incredible. So the company does have some key ingrediants in place to be great, but it's missing the basics that are referenced by the other users. And thats the hardest part to know that a company can be great, but it chooses otherwise.

So the insider pieces at DISH are:

- DISH really stands for, "Did I sleep here?" because of the hours required.
- For every one year that you last there, its the equivalent to 7 in dog years.
- Everyone discusses their last day, how they will handle getting fired.

I worked for Echosphere for 5 years as a MDU commercial sales manager... It had its ups and downs. I definitely learned a lot working there and met some fabulous people. I don't regret having worked there but I wouldn't ever go back...

I worked in corporate office on the helpdesk for a little over a year. until they went on a firing rampage so they could say they didn't lay anyone off.

First They screwed with my salery. I was making 16$/hr as a temp. when they hired me on. I was making less then 15. Insurance then took about 25% of that away from me. so my bring home was less then my rent.

Second: I busted my butt taking 80-100 sometimes more calls a day back to back. Worked my allocated 20 emails a day plus.

Third: there was a select group "the guy club" that wouldn't do anything but joke and play, getting very loud and rude while I was trying to talk with customers (echostar employees) This group consisted of believe it or not: the managers and trainer, plus a few brown nosers.

forth: When I got home I was so mentally exhausted I didn't want to even spend time with my kids.

Last: They don't have "lay offs" they just fire everyone.

I totally agree with all of these comments, I'm in the Hillard, Ohio Center,& its absolutlly the worst place I have ever worked in my life, When I first started there I was told when interviewing a bunch of lies about beneifts & all they(Management) seem to always change the rules to sute them & there needs. Also you can't advance
in the comapany unless they like you & you kiss there BUTT, I have MANY Years of management experiance, I can do any upper management
job there, but was truned down time & time & time again for someone off the street & or a much younger person who had none or very little management experance under there belt OR Upper management there knows someone from any other company they worked with & get them in there , then SUDDENLY POOF they are in management >( Coach, quality,resource. ect..we get no more PAID OFF holidays,they also makes us do teck trouble shooting,billing,upgrades,setting up for teck to come out,we are now doing it ALL, Which isn't what we signed up for at the beginning when we started ( when the place first opened in July or Aug. of 2007)....Management there sucks,medical sucks, dental is ok,vision sucks, & NO paid sick days till you have been with company for two years,, theres is ABSOLUTLY nothing to look forward too.
We who are still there from the very beginning make 15.00 an hour but by the time you pay out for medical & so on you are only makeing about 13.00 dollars an hour & to top it all off they are makeing US work Mandatory over time..& tell us all centers are doing mandatory over time & they are not,they also say they work with you on differant situations & they don't,Bottom line is when you have unhappy & mistreated employees you will get bad customer service......

In Columbia Missouri they are always hiring dish installers, and I found out why too.
They have an 80% turnover rate, that was even told to us by the managers, if I were a manager there, id be embarrased to state that myself.
Anyways, what the deal is, they hire 10-12 new employees each 5 weeks, and they simply take the top performers and can the rest.. but I'm not done, they even tell you you arent getting any unemplyment either, because you just quit! ... I said i didnt quit, the manager looks at the FSM and says, didnt you hear him say he quit? She then said, "Yes sir".
I was then told to leave the premises.

Techs that work there don't even want to know your name, because they know you arent going to be there in 5 weeks..
They are supposed to train you, but they don't because they know you will probably be let go, so why should they bother?

After the 5 weeks if you are not performing as they would like, you are brought in behind closed doors, cussed at, yelled at, and numerous fake issues are thrown at you from all directions.

I will NEVER work for that place ver again.
In all my life I have never seen such a raquet.
I'll never buy their service either.

My girlfriend works for the Dish call center after getting denied by my workplace, Cox Communications. First and foremost, I have read all theses posts and I can clearly remember the same complaints coming from my girlfriend. I won't go into the benefits at my work, but here are the things I cannot believe they put her through:

1. Routinely promote underachievers and incapable people to superior positions.
2. Only give employees three hours of paid time off PER MONTH.
3. Force employees to work mandatory overtime, and continually extend it. Currently have been working on mandatory overtime since November 2008.
4. They assign the overtime, no freedom in choosing it.
5. They decline sick leave, regardless of how ill someone is.
6. They force employees to use their scarce paid time off if they do approve sick time.
7. No present leadership: coaches are not held accountable for their actions or their teams.
8. Common and important troubleshooting information is given to coaches instead of to the agents.
9. Denies access of the internet to employees, despite the benefit to help customers.
10. Only give a half hour lunch to employees who work a full work day.
11. Resource continually monitors the agent's call status, and will remove agents from wrap-up or Not Ready without consulting the agent or coach, and without reason.
12. Complete and total lack of ownership across the company.
13. Strict dress code for a non-customer facing entity.
14. Lack of sympathy or concern for their employees.
15. Completely insufficient health care. My domestic partner insurance covers more services and discounts a higher amount than Dish's best insurance plan.
16. Horrid benefits. Dish employees pay upwards of $60 for their receiver, and America's Top 200. I pay $21 for my receiver, entire programming range, cable modem, and Preferred high speed internet.

My boyfriend has worked for Dish for a long time. Let me start out by saying that the benefits package is a joke! The deductibles are insane especially when they don't pay their employees enough to cover them. Charlie Ergen claims he cares about his employees, they can all see that with your new benefit package! Then there are the managers especially the GM'S like the one in Englewood (let’s call him Leaf). Where can I start, this is that micromanager that actually has no idea how to deal with people on a day to day bases! Talk about not having any people skills at all, of course when things go wrong; guess what nothing is ever his fault. He treats all of his employees like crap; the way he talks to people is appalling. Of course there have been complaints to HR about this guy, but he apparently is in pretty good with upper management! It's a sad place to work, all the techs hate this guy, when he is gone the office moral is great unfortunley when he is around no one wants to be there! Maybe people would do better at there jobs if the GM was not such a douche bag! The training or lack there of is a joke, again something that is not upper managements problem, they do one thing well and that is blame it on everyone below them! I understand that there are not allot of places hiring these days, but I would stay as far away from that place as possible, run don't walk away. Unless you want to be stuck in a job you hate, being managed by a GM that has no concern for anyone but himself I'd suggest trying Direct TV!

Good luck if you are thinking of working for DN. I would look elsewhere before considering Dish. I worked there for a short period and let me say that after day one, I was saying what did I get myself into. Mico-Management at its finest. It is also the only company that I have ever worked for that gives you the sense that they want to see their technicians fail. Everyhting they tell you is followed up by "You can or will be terminated." Great management skills!!!!! I quess that's why the managers and supervisors are there because they would never survive anywhere else. Benefits, what a joke, super high deductibles and if you have a family your whole paycheck will go to cover your benefits. I know that jobs are hard to find with the current economic status but if you can find anything else I would defenitly take it over Dish.

Oh I know What you mean,!!!!!!!! I don’t understand how the management at DishNetwork(Echostar,Echospear) can get away with what they do,
to there employees. The management there at least 90% of them lie
and are very manipulative. A group of us CSR’s (customer service reps.)
Had heard that we are going to start being micro-managed back around
the first part of Jan. and that also they are going to try & get rid of us,
15.00 an hour reps. and hire in 12.00 an hour reps. At that point & time
soon after, they changed our Quality standards & attendance standards.
Soon enough the rumors came true, new hires starting in Feb. are
making 12.00 an hour & they are trying to get you on any little thing
they can get you on, to fire you ( weather true or not ). This is a trend
with this company .....This company is getting rid of 15.00 an hour people slowly but surely,
and doing there best so as not to pay unemployment benefits. This is
very devastating and tragic to have this happen to you especially when
its not true. Sincerely Former Columbus Employee....

Host said: Every business has its own style. What is the office environment and culture like at EchoStar (DISH Network)?

Are people dressed in business casual, jeans and t-shirts, or full-on suits? Do folks get together for Friday happy hours and friendly get-togethers?

What is a typical day in the life of an employee at EchoStar (DISH Network)?

Now it is amazing looking at some of these silly complaints and comments by former "empoyees" like one joker, talking about making it there early(through the front door) but he never made it to his work station and had his equipment up and going by his decicated start time. If you start at 8:00AM you need to be at your work station working by 8:00AM. Now I have seen others griping about the wages, well stay with the job longer then six months so you are around for a few raises. They are so many young people at Dish either just out of high school or out of college that have no idea what is expected of them in the real world. The mentallity is you show up for a job and the employer owes you something. You have to earn it. Pay your dues get noticed, get raises, get promoted this is how it works. It is a great place to work if you actually want to show up and do the job that is asked of you. You don't have to be a super star to get noticed. Just do your job. It blows me away what some of these ex employees are complaining about. I reall hope a lot of it is sarcasm.

1workerbee in atlanta, Georgia said: A day in the life of an Echostar employee:

1. Badge in a 7:59 (got in early, gotta make a good impression on upper-management!!)
Note:Yeah, you badged in at 7:59, but you didn't get to your seat until 8:01, computer didn't fully load up till 8:06, probably drank coffee till 8:15!!!
3. 8:15 Open up Outlook (what a surprise, angry emails about upper-management being upset about nothing)
4. Get harassed by boss
5. 8:45-12:00 Do miserable work alongside other people who hate being there for a few hrs
6. 12:00-1:00 Go on lunch break (yes, because they make you load up the absurd IM, change your status to "away" for the full hr, ignore all those who IM you during your "away" time (knowing full well your at your cube, stuffing down the food, hoping no one harasses you via IM)
7. 1:00-2:00 Put on the headphones & Ipod, hope that the innumerable apps are working so that you can do your job w/o too much frustration
7. 2:30 Get harassed by boss
9. 3:00 Get back to work, pray that your metrics look good for the day
10. 3:15 dream of a job in a prison somewhere, the benefits are surely better
11. 4:30 only about 2 more hrs to go (Dish makes employees work 9 hrs a day, 8 work, 1 hr lunch), try to do a fair amount of work for the last 2 hrs, but don't claim all of it till tomorrow, cause you need to "pad" your metrics
12. Final task - think nothing but positive thoughts as you leave the building ("it really couldn't get any worse than this", "if they do fire me/let me go, I won't have to deal with them ever again, etc. etc.)

Right here, this is what I am talking about. I hope this is all about sarcasm. Dish makes you work 9 hours a day? 8 work 1 for lunch? That is 8 hours of work buddy. Not 9. This must be your first job. Badging in at the front door 1 minute early is not getting to work early. You need to be at your post ready to work by your start time. Amazing, people actually think like thi

Well >> john in Denver, Colorado,, I beg to differ with you,,,You must be one of Dishnetwork/Ehostar/Echospheres finest of the FAVORITS....As long as you are favored your right you will grow with this company, for as long as THEY want you to...The Call center in Hilliard Ohio,,,Is dirty, sneaky, lieing,back stabling bunch of so called management, I have NEVER in my 50 some odd years ever seen in any company..And they also have management sleeping with agents,management sleeping with management,,,,Its really pretty Bad....People are done WRONGLY every day by this Company....They have NO regard for there employees for the most part...

john in Denver, Colorado said: Right here, this is what I am talking about. I hope this is all about sarcasm. Dish makes you work 9 hours a day? 8 work 1 for lunch? That is 8 hours of work buddy. Not 9. This must be your first job. Badging in at the front door 1 minute early is not getting to work early. You need to be at your post ready to work by your start time. Amazing, people actually think like thi

Well, when you don't pay attention to the poor way people around you are being treated, of course things will look up right. Also, there's a difference between working hard for your boss, and being taken advantage of. So far, the comments before sound very similar to what I've heard. I'm not, and never will be, a Dish employee. However, I get to hear how the company treats its employees on a daily basis. I go back to my job and tell them both about this forum and about the other stories I hear, and we can't imagine how this company stays in business.

Every major business worth their salt will have to take a stand against its employee base at some point. They can't just let them do whatever they want, but Dish takes the hard line. They give them exactly what they have to, no more. Even McDonald's allows for a better benefits package than my girlfriend. When she had to go to the hospital, the doctor told her that her benefits as my domestic partner were greater than her primary medical insurance. Now that's just sad.

That's because its a SAD company your girl friend works for,We ALL wonder how Dishnetwork/Echostar/Echosphere stay in busness all so,,,but they do & continue treating there employees like dirt because they know they can get away with it...

I realize that there are 2 sides to every story. DISH management has some losers but there are some really great managers that try to do their job but HR or upper management stops them. I worked at DISH Network for several years and was promoted to coach on my own merits but then new management was put in place and that was the end of the career path for me. Until employees are part of the coaching staff and have to deal with the incompetency of the agents and the unreasonable demands of management they have no room to complain. Don't get me wrong, I hated DISH and the happiest moment was when I walked out. DISH Network is a very complicated and unfair place to work but...if you can make it there then you can make it anywhere. I agree with the previous poster about how some people want rewards for coming to work. I believe the reward is called a paycheck. This is not kindergarten; you don’t get an extra recess for going to the bathroom. Only work at DISH if you need to, my advise is the same as all the others…keep looking before you stop. DISH use to be a good company but now they are money hungry and losing customer. I look for DISH to be sold or going out of business in the next 2 years.

I just read where they lost a lawsuit with Tivo. Couldn't happen to a more deserving company.

redfish10 in Ohio said: Good luck if you are thinking of working for DN. I would look elsewhere before considering Dish. I worked there for a short period and let me say that after day one, I was saying what did I get myself into. Mico-Management at its finest. It is also the only company that I have ever worked for that gives you the sense that they want to see their technicians fail. Everyhting they tell you is followed up by "You can or will be terminated." Great management skills!!!!! I quess that's why the managers and supervisors are there because they would never survive anywhere else. Benefits, what a joke, super high deductibles and if you have a family your whole paycheck will go to cover your benefits. I know that jobs are hard to find with the current economic status but if you can find anything else I would defenitly take it over Dish.

john in Denver, Colorado said: Right here, this is what I am talking about. I hope this is all about sarcasm. Dish makes you work 9 hours a day? 8 work 1 for lunch? That is 8 hours of work buddy. Not 9. This must be your first job. Badging in at the front door 1 minute early is not getting to work early. You need to be at your post ready to work by your start time. Amazing, people actually think like thi

8 hour days huh? How many hours a day are the techs in the Englewood office working or even the FSM's? I know for a fact a few of those FSM's are working over 14 hour days, and oh guess what, their salary, so they don't get compensated for all the overtime they put in! But I can guarantee that the GM and the IM don’t put in those hours, maybe that's who your talking about when you say 8 hours of work and 1 hour for lunch! That's how Dish gets you, they have you take a salary position thinking your making a good career move and then make you work 60-80 hours in 4 days knowing that you don't get paid to work all that time! Oh and then they mandate that you work your day off because again they can do that and don't have to pay you any extra! Do yourself a favor, if you need a job and have to be a tech, do it while you look for another job. However if you know what's good for you don't go salary because you will work more hours in 4 days than most people work in two weeks. Plus this place won't care about you at all even if you do it without complaining, they will always find a way to screw you over and when you finally say no to something because you’re tired of getting walked on, they will come up with a reason to write you up or even fire you!

Let me just say that this is by FAR the worst company I have ever worked for. Poor health coverage, demeaning treatment (even as management), and more. I have heard Charlie Ergen say the most demeaning things in department and company-wide meetings. He rules with an iron fist, and his style permeates the company. Executives have been leaving in droves. They don't have layoffs...they just make up bullsh*t reasons to fire you. The company could be great, but the management style of Ergen and his brown nosers won't allow that. Every expense is personally approved by Charlie, including postage. If a person is one minute late for work, they have to report to HR about why. They try to micromanage every aspect of your life. I don't smoke, but almost took it up just so I could violate the rule about smoking in your own car while driving onto the company parking lot.

If you just want some short term income and can stand the BS, by all means, work there. Otherwise, stay away. This is a disfunctional company run by a disfunctional megalomaniac. Lots of great folks work there, but can't wait to get out.

above is absolutly right,, you said it DISFUNCTIONAL COMPANY

If you don't fired, you will want to quit. Not worth the risk of losing unemployment benefits. I even changed phone companies b/c they bundled with Dish. I told them I will never have Dish again, and I told them why. They said they didn't blame me.

I want to thank everybody for being so honest and warning people about not working for EchoStar. When they call me back, i am just ging to tell them taht I am no longer interested in them after hearing from their current and former workers say about them.

Anybody know is Direct TV is any better????

I don't know about working for DTV, the company. I know people who handle their customer service calls thru another company; the people work at home. Even they get free DTV, even though they don't work directly for them. That is a lot better than what Dish offered their employees. Plus the DTV line was the best line to be offered thru the work-at-home company, with the highest pay; $2 an hour more to take cust svc calls than what I made as a dispatcher with Echo. This makes me think it would be a good place to work as an employee.

AN VERY GOOD IDEA !!! DISHNETWORK/ECHOSTAR IS A VERY VERY VERY DISFUNCTIONAL COMPANY..FEEL FREE TO READ ALLTHAT HAPPENED TO ME,,JUST CLICK ON VEW COMMENTS,,DON KNOW IF DIRECT TV IS ANY BETTER BUT IT CAN'T POSSIABLLY BE ANY WORST..HAVEN'T HEAR TO MUCH BAD STUFF ABOUT DIRECT TV...

I think I'm going to try Direct TV. I want to get a career going in Home Automation (Smart Homes), which encompass Home Theaters, Security and Fire Alarms, lighting control, environment control, etc. I need experience running cable and setting up equipment which is why I looked at installing satellite service.

I applied at Comcast and they selected another candidate. I applied for a Technician I, I thought I would qualify with previous electrical experience, 3 years electronics training, 3 years in construction, and an Associate’s Degree in Computer Science and Information Systems. But no such luck.

Anybody have any suggestions for training or certification?

To whom it my concern

I recently applied for one of the companies installer positions. I couldn’t believe all the red tape you had to go through just to get the job. I understand the drug testing and background checks but the pre - test you give your potential new hires is a joke since the test I took had nothing to do with the position I applied, and was more like a SAT as it asked too many word problems. The test had a 10min time-out window so you were rushed and likely made more errors in trying to hurry and finish. For a laugh I asked my wife a few questions from the test and let me mention that my wife has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and does high-end administrative work for a big company and she even had to ask me to repeat the question a few times before she could answer. One of my questions was: If I had 9 ties, 8 pairs of pants and 6 pairs of shoes how many times can I wear them without wearing the same outfit twice? I know the answer, but what does that have to do with mounting a satellite dish??? NOTHING. I’m surprised I wasn't asked questions regarding Shakespeare. So are they trying to tell me just because someone can answer a few math questions means they can install a dish? WRONG! Unless they have mechanical aptitude they won’t make it. You need to ask more questions on the test relative to the position now I know the position I applied for wasn’t an accountant so why was I asked so many math problems. Now I didn’t get the job because I did poorly on the first test (so they said) and was asked to come in a second time to take this test. I had upper management wanting to hire me and was told that. I had worked for the company some years back for 2 years and I didn’t have to take a pre-test back then, I was the Lead Technician in my office and Trainer for all new hires. I was the only person in my office who was Starband Certified and I was offered a Supervisor position twice and was the highest paid Te

Dodgeman2003 in Kansas City, Missouri said: I think I'm going to try Direct TV. I want to get a career going in Home Automation (Smart Homes), which encompass Home Theaters, Security and Fire Alarms, lighting control, environment control, etc. I need experience running cable and setting up equipment which is why I looked at installing satellite service.

I applied at Comcast and they selected another candidate. I applied for a Technician I, I thought I would qualify with previous electrical experience, 3 years electronics training, 3 years in construction, and an Associate’s Degree in Computer Science and Information Systems. But no such luck.

Anybody have any suggestions for training or certification?

Don't feel bad I'm having the same issue with comcast I applied several times and get that rejection letter everytime and I have over 10 years pior experience. Comcast needs better recruiters because they are passing up alot of good people.

Sorry my message was cut off here is the rest of it

Tech at the time at 19hr. Plus back then we actually up-sold product to the customer (like panamax and wireless phone jacks). And, I was the top seller every month winning award after award. The only time I ever had to use math at Dish was to calculate how much tax there was on the sale I made “THAT WAS NOT HARD”. Well when I look back at my work there I was pretty successful and I didn’t need a test to tell me that. I'm wondering if I am now over-qualified for the position??? Blue collar workers getting SAT-type testing that is irrelevant to the job.... Anyone see how odd that is? If a supervisor can't evaluate a person on a interview, I can guarantee that Dish will be looking for techs to fill positions for awhile as long as they base their employment on a test.

The more I read of the high turnover rate I guess the pre-testing that Dish goes out of their way to do, to find that perfect employee is working. """NOT""" HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i was there 3 years and experienced everything that is being talked about. i found out dish wasnt paying overtime properly to the call center workers and i joined an overtime class action to get my back wages. If you worked there in the last 3 years you should check out the following link, www.stuevesiegel.com/CM/CurrentCases/dishnetwork.asp

I HAVE A QUESTION.IHAVE STARTED TRAINING IN DISH NETWORK AS AN CSR.I HEARD THAT IF YOU START TRAINING YOU HAVE TO STAY WITH THEM AT LEAST FOR 3 MONTHS.IS THAT TRUE?AND WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF I DONT LIKE IT AND I WANT TO LEAVE EARLIER?

How can they make you stay? I had a job like that once. I actually had to sign an agreement to pay for training, then each paycheck an amount was deducted. So if we quit, we owed them. But it was really worth it b/c it was for an airline with awesome benefits. Unfortunately, that airline is gone, and so went my career.
So, unless they have a program like that, I ask, what can they do to you? And I sure wouldn't pay Dish for any training.

I quit just a week or two after training. While at Dish, I kept up the job search and actually got hired by another company in the health insurance field. Feel free to quit any time you want as you are not obligated to stay and you will not be "fined" for quitting.

I was hired on as a TSR 3 when I should have been hired on as Dr Dish due to my extensive computer and tech background. There were people in my training class who had zero to very little tech background who were TSR 2's! While I was in training, they started up a Dr Dish training class and there were people in that class who had very little tech background. When I discovered this, I inquired as to why I wasn't just put in that training class. Excuse after excuse and lie after lie. Promises to promote me to where I belonged but I had to put my time in as a TSR. Pretty stupid since I already had the background.

Did you see the b/s spot on Fox 10 Phoenix the other night about Dish hiring here in Phoenix (Ahwatukee) and that the current training class is the "best they've ever had!" LMAO They're really reaching to make themselves look like the employer of the year aren't they? Sounds like they're quite desperate for employees because they can't seem to hold onto any of them! I wonder how much money they lose in training these people only to have them quit. That company really needs to wake the heck up.

you DON"T have to stay, who in the world told you that ???? Keep looking for another job,just read these forums & you 'll see why,, I wouldn't let my dogs DODO work at dish...the company SUCKS ALL the way around......

Reading these posts mankes me hesitate--but I will say it anyway: I have an interview as an installer with DN tomorrow. I took a test online a couple of days ago, which had many questions asking me what a diagram would look like if it were folded. Then there was one with a page full of squiggly lines, asking which animal do you see, a hippopotomus, kangaroo, bear or turtle? I replied that I saw nothing. Ridiculous test. I did receive a call for an interview, during which the young HR girl repeating that the starting wage was only $11.75 an hour, but that "in a couple of months, DISH is going to revamp the wage scale, going to $18.00 an hour. I was wondering whether or not I should believe that when I read these posts from former employees.

I could work for low wages for a while if the company is progressive, enjoyable, and has room for advancement. With a four year degree, though, I was hoping for more compensation.

Again, reading these prior posts, a disappointment seems unavaoidable, doesn't it?

Good luck. In these times, it is hard to turn down any job if you are out of work. I also have a 4 yr degree but it really doesn't mean anything to them. They need bodies, not interested in potential.
I would hope that they are going to revamp everything at that company, not just the wages. If they aren't doing a total restructure, then I would not count on the wage increase. Let's hope I am wrong and that things will be looking up in their company environment. They have to realize that they need to change or they will keep losing qualified people.

THIS company changing !!!! HAHAHHAHA I am soory sorry to burst your bubble ,,but with echostar/dishnetwork it will never happen,,,thye could care less about there employees, ( unless your one of the favorites )...

so i can't help but just ask.. is everyone here former dish/echostar employees? I see a lot of negative comments from people, most saying that the happiest day they ever had was when they left the company. I just have to ask, because i have an interview scheduled for next week with the dish call center for an inside sales position and i want to know from people who have been employed here what it's like. I currently knock doors for comcast and hate it, so i don't think anything could be much worse. Dish has a great and exciting product for consumers, and i would imagine that being in a sales position with this company would be a good thing? Can anyone help me out here?