TransPerfect reviews

3.0

40% would recommend to a friend

(2,857 total reviews)

Phil Shawe

44% approve of CEO

33% positive business outlook

TransPerfect has an employee rating of 3.0 out of 5 stars, based on 2,857 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The TransPerfect employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Administración y consultoría industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
1.0
Jul 13, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The vibe is young, so it’s easy to make friends with your colleagues. The company is good for people who don’t have a lot of ambition and prefers to get promoted based on seniority (versus performance).

Cons

Transperfect's strategy is to recruit newly young grads who work hard for little money. The retention rate is super low and turnover rate is high with people working at the company for less than 1-2 years. The company is filled with young 25 year old "managers" who get their senior titles if they manage to stick around because there is no one else to manage junior PMs, so most managers lack competency as a manager. The work that you do as a project manager is not technical at all, so you won't get any technical skills out of this job. On a day to day basis, PMs are going through 200 plus emails a day explaining instructions to translators and how to “clear your cache” on Chrome. Your work is based off of how much revenue you make for the company on a monthly basis. When it comes down to it, Transperfect looks to see how much money you can make for the company and is not a company that will value you as an employee. This is why their meek strategy of targeting recent grads work because they would rather keep hiring cheaper labor than to invest and retain its existing workforce.

1.0
Aug 11, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Some of the people I met were nice.

Cons

All the reviews you read here are true - late hours, unimaginable stress, a totally unsupportive management system if you're unhappy and aren't willing to play the "game". The department managers’ review from June 2014 does less to increase confidence than to prove the point that all the other reviews are making. To say that (by implication), the members of staff that worked for this company are in some way unwilling to work or don't want to put in the hours to be rewarded is absolutely ridiculous. I have NEVER worked in such an unprofessional environment and managers should be ashamed of how they approach unhappy staff members. My average working week was between 60-80 hours with no lunch breaks. I had lost count of the number of times I was told I was too slow, or not being proactive enough, not being efficient enough, not being smart enough. I have always worked hard for what I have, I will not let a DM on this website try to take that away and dismiss my opinion. Your point 7, “be a part of something bigger” is just some of the propagandist jargon you’ll hear to try to motivate you out of a virtual depression. What you’ll be doing is selling your soul for minimal compensation whilst others in your team will reap the benefits – DM, don’t kid yourself. THERE IS A REASON YOUR TURNOVER IS SO HIGH!!! Do you think that after all the rigorous testing and interviewing by varied members of management that the candidates you eventually decide to employ are just lazy and unreasonable?? Don't insult our intelligence. That means only one of two things. Either your methods of interview are extremely misguided (proving a severe lack in your management skills) or you are in denial about the true nature of the working environment you are providing (proving a severe lack in your management skills) and I promise you, it's the latter. The fact that this DM is saying he/she doesn't understand the negativity on this site or the complaints about workload is case and point. You can tell yourself that negativity here is due to inexperience in the company or that their reviews are old but this is coming from someone who worked over a year in your company and recently so you can’t just brush me away as someone who is out of touch with what your company is trying to achieve. I’ve lived it and I know. In addition, the fact that these reviews scope such an extended period of time should be a lesson to you because you are clearly not taking the initiative and learning from bad experiences – something you repeatedly tell your PMs to do – maybe you should follow your own instruction and take RESPONSIBILITY. Note to the management: Please note the WTR (Working Time Regulations), Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999, Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 - you have a duty of care and you are avoiding it and ultimately, breaking the law. I truly hope that the office I left recently gets better and that the management wake up out of this "blame the PM" culture they have at the moment. YOU as the management have ultimate responsibility for how your PMs perform – if you need to be told that then you should not be in the position of management you are in. Your company will not grow to its full potential if you keep losing the best and most experienced in your team because of poor working conditions and unprofessional behaviour – it isn’t an unwillingness to work to the best of our ability or a lazy attitude. Sort yourselves out.

1.0
Jan 15, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The relief when you close the door behind you for the last time when you have managed to break free of this operation.

Cons

I worked as a Director of Business Development at TransPerfect. Although my job title may have been impressive the job comes down to endless cold calling, envelope stuffing and telling half truths or downright lies to naive clients. Everyone in Sales does this, it is a fully accepted way of making your money. Clients are considered suckers, and if they are stupid, they deserve to be cheated. The overall atmosphere is very negative: if a client places a big order, there is no feeling of gratitude for getting the business but just glee at how clueless the client was to buy your story. I have never encountered such a strange attitude anywhere else. The game here is not about winning, but about seeing someone else losing out. Many people around you will be heavy drinkers (in TransPerfect-speak: work hard, play hard) and co-workers will try to steal clients from each other (in TransPerfect-speak: a healthy, competitive environment). The game here is to set up your reports for failure. If they cannot handle the stress anymore, it's your chance to claim their accounts and start collecting commission. Earnings are based on recoverable draw. Your sole income will derive from commission, which is paid as an advance against bonuses. TransPerfect will do its best to avoid paying out your commission by posing insane requirements about mark up and profitability. If a job is billed late (something outside your control), you lose your commission. If minimum mark up is not made, same story. If a client pays late, no commission. If a client has a quality issue, your commission will be docked. This intricate system of fines, deductions and penalties is applied throughout the company and sales, project managers and translators alike will be penalized on any pretence. The customer is always charged in full, of course. Woe the client who pays a bill twice because of an accounting error. They will never get back the amount they overpaid. And guess who they will be harassing to get their money back? The sales person, of course, since he is the point of contact. When you give in your notice, you will not receive the bonuses owed to you. TransPerfect will recalculate your recoverable draw, and invariably come to the conclusion that you owe the company, instead of the other way round. Avoid this place.

Viewing 37 - 39 of 2,857 Reviews

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