LexisNexis Legal & Professional

I was hired to do a job I couldn’t do. They wanted to pay a beginner’s wage for an experienced worker. My boss expected more than I was capable of without training me, and then made the environment hostile after she realized that I was not going to come in and work on my day off when she asked. It turned into bizarro world after that, me trying to jump through all her hoops and then failing every time. I left there a year after I started. Found out she had treated everyone else the same. It was not a good fit for me. No support, big egos, and basically, life was hell. She also had it put in my record there that I was ineligible for rehire. Why would I want to go back? I’ve been promoted 5 times at my next job.

There is no supportive culture at LN. I worked in Human Resources and all efforts to provide an inclusive work environment were brought to a hault. They have a nice diversity statement on their website, but beyond that there is zero interest in equal pay for women, providing benefits that support women in the workplace or making the work environment family friendly. LN’s only interest is in the bottom line. This was the single worst company I ever worked for in a 35 year career. I left because I was being harassed and bullied by my male manager (I wasn’t the only one). The incidents were reported to no avail. After I left, they promoted this individual to Vice President. In all my years of working, I never experienced an oppressive environment like the one at LN.

I have been asked to complete this review by direct mail and so in a constructive way here it is.

I was one of the extended consultants under contract. Over the last ten years our team leaders have changed many times to the worst in the last three years. My work surrounded customer service, however, in the last three years the mandate changed to sell, boxes not service. LN Tech support could not properly support customers as legacy persons and key development programmers and conversion specialist were replaced with newly trained off shore workers.

When I had new and innovative ideas, I was singled out even though I spent months testing and in the end I was told to remove the idea from my website or I would be terminated.

Past versions software support were discontinued, yet the newest version built from ground up was essentially unusable due to major coding problems.

I love my work and client relationships even though some still remain customers of LN, but I receive calls weekly looking to move away from LN products.

Equal pay was based on favouritism and who received leads.
Career Advancement not really applicable in my case.
Supportive Culture – NOT in the last 3 years.
Family Friendly – not a fan of this term. I didn’t want to tick the stars, LN in some cases don’t rate even one.
This year I have redirected to expand my product line to include support for all product lines based on loyalty to my client solution needs instead of loyalty to a specific company.

I worked in a division where women were only given supporting roles. There was little or no room for advancement and the pay was dismal. When the economy tanked pay was frozen for two years and no raises were given. Of course, the programmers, who were all male, were still given their quarterly bonuses while the rest of us were told that that was standard operating procedure in the business. My boss, who was male, was notorious for playing favorites. Even before our office was sent home-based and eventually dissolved I watched as we bled good employees due to the leadership locally and nationally. There was constant pressure from the top down which made for a horrible work environment. I have never regretted leaving of my own volition after five miserable years.

When I was there, LexisNexis was much more relaxed about remote employees. But it definitely was a man’s world. Only two women were at C-level and one was the head of corporate communications. My team was wonderful – I couldn’t ask for better. But the overall culture was definitely not geared towards advancement with little offered in the way of training or education. Budget cut after budget cut killed what little morale was left towards the end. The massive layoff that reduced external and internal communications by 75% was short-sighted and has caused a huge drop in engagement.

This was one of the best worst experiences I have ever had. I worked for one of the meanest women on the planet. She was cut throat, played favorites and treated me like a toddler. I once found myself so angry that I burst into tears because the alternative was to scream at her and tell her exactly what I thought of her and that would have crushed my professionalism and my spirit. In her defense, most of the women I worked with at LN were this way…I’ve never seen anything like it. It was a rerun of “Mean Girls” daily…

I traveled extensively, sometimes making day trips to the west coast to push products that weren’t ready, available or technologically advanced. I saw the writing on the wall within the first 3 months…this wasn’t a tech company at all. What I learned? I got an example of the kind of leader that I don’t want to be…and frankly that was the most important lesson that woman ever taught anyone….and oh I saved a ton of cash when I decided not to waste money on becoming a lawyer (which had been a dream of mine).

Instead, I finished my masters and am currently pursuing my PhD so that I can actually do some good in this world. I took a pay cut to leave that toxic environment; a 30K reduction to save my sanity and dignity. Money well lost! I make 2.5 times as much as I did at LN and have a job I love working with people who have the same goal. Take care of customers. Take care of the company. Take care of each other. I have a team who would follow me to the edge and colleagues who have my back and thank me for a job well done every day….being valued is underrated… Leaving LN? Best Break Up EVER!

I was pleased with the climate at LEXIS-NEXIS. I was able to move up the ladder through self-motivation: however, the steps were clearly outlined for advancement.

Worst job I have had. No support from manager or team members. Clients were more important than staff. Was happy when I walked out that door for the last time.

I had a great boss but the team was cliquey. No group lunch or coffee catch up. Couldn’t find any one to make me feel welcome or part of the team – apart from my boss. Made me feel like an outcast.

When I told my boss at LEXIS-NEXIS that I would need a day off to file for divorce, she replied, “Oh, you can throw yourself into your work then.” My experience was that I was given unrealistic goals to meet and little to no support in meeting them. By the time they laid me off, I was happy to go.