sales consultant

sales manager

funeral director

managing partner

inside sales representative

Carriage Services

When I took a job here, I was so excited because I was hired on directly as a FT employee. I left a long-term contract position, and was anxious to finally be a permanent employee and receive benefits. I risked a lot to take a job here. From the first day, I should have saw the warning signs. You could see where many different people had started many different projects that they had not been given the chance to finish. The HR filing room as a backlog of filing going back years. Everyone is nice to you, but not warm. They give the facade of a team culture, but everyone is out for themselves; especially the management. Right at my 90-day mark, when my probation period would be over, I was called into the office and told that they did not think I was happy in my role, that I was terminated, and to just go somewhere and file unemployment. No one had ever discussed any issues that I had. No one ever told me that there were problems with my performance, and certainly; no one asked if I was happy in my role. I was just told to GET OUT essentially. No real reason given. Absolutely nothing. This company really needs new leadership. The people that have been there for years, are the real problem with the entire company; but consequently, they are the ones that drive everyone away. I suggest to not even take a call from this company. IT IS A HORRIBLE MISTAKE!!! Apparently they cycle through people in this position constantly. Every 3 months, this position is posted because they never keep anyone in this position. In the year since I've left, I've seen the position I held posted on job sites over 4 times! AND....no surprise, it's posted right now!

IT management is a completely joke. There are too many IT projects going on at the same time for such a little over worked staff with impossible to reach deadlines. Once one project is done another is created to have a never ending goal with no break in between. I work on a different floor but when I had to come down to get someone from IT to help me with my laptop I found out that my go to people, that have been there longer than I have were terminated cutting the team into half it was. No person in a managerial position would ever do that to their team without having replacements lined up. No one is happy in the IT department that I could see. Everyone looked over stressed, depressed, and exhausted. From what I have heard talking to people they are pretty much being threatened with outsourcing unless they "comply" to the "time wasting bogus demands" of their bungling manager. A manager which creates useless nonsensical policies that just slows down progress and hurts me and others requesting help by being forced to submit tickets, emails, calls instead of just walking down or sending a message for something as simple as the wifi password. Please bring back the good helpful IT team back to what it was before this year started. This used to be a family orientated company that was fun to work at to being just another profit driven company that doesnt care for the staff that powers it! 

THE PAY! Family Service works on a commission reserve system that continuously works against you, you end up paying yourself to work there. You are told you can make all this money, but you are unable to see the full commission until you have reached $2500 in that reserve. What they don't tell you is that there is an actual reserve charge on top of that $2500 reserve- so you end up negative before even coming close to 0, which then leads to gaining a positive amount towards the $2500 reserve.

The pressure every morning when asked how the previous day went in sales. EVERY morning each counselor has to say what hey have planned for that day and how much sales were made the day before in front of every person within the organization. The Counselors then go to a sales board to repeat this conversation- causing anxiety and unmotivation. Most counselors are there to support At-need families, not to go push sales for this greedy organization. 

Absolutely no training. They even say the first three weeks are in training.... mistakes are often made and you are then made to feel like the biggest moron because you are unaware of correct policies and procedures in the first place.

Pay is extremely low, no room for advancement, raises are not existent, some departments are treated amazing with monthly bonuses opportunities to win free trips to mexico every year, christmas incentives like winning products like laptop, household appliances etc, while others have get literally nothing. Management is bad all around. The company made horrible spending choices and is putting the stress into field workers. Still comparing numbers to covid, lack of accountability, lack of training across the board, lack of even work distribution. With their home office being in one state, and their feed locations being all over the country theres a very obvious separation, which makes working hard to  hand in hand complicated. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The company has a non-toxic sales ideology that is great to find and work with.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The Cloverdale location in Boise (the only Carriage sales manager position there) was stressful because the GM refused to allow changes to personnel, policies or procedures. In essence, the old guy hoped for better numbers while doing the same old things that have caused the last seven years of declining sales.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The company culture is good over-all, but the location culture at Cloverdale needs to be hit with napalm and restarted from the ground up. It's cliquey with the old-school mangement team that's been there while it's been failing. Newbies are shunned and ostrasized.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Tiptoeing through the miasma of the emotions of people who refuse to change.

A typical day involves mowing, trimming, cleaning headstones, and keeping the grounds neat and respectful. It’s a job that requires physical effort and working outdoors in all kinds of weather, which can be challenging.
I learned time management, equipment care, and the importance of detail and respect in a sensitive setting. Management was generally supportive and clear with expectations, and the workplace culture was respectful and team-focused.
The hardest part was handling physical work during extreme weather conditions. The most enjoyable part was the sense of peace and purpose—knowing that the work provided comfort to families. Seeing the grounds in excellent condition and hearing appreciation from visitors was very rewarding.

For the most part, my time with Carriage Services was good. It was FAR batter than the other, "larger" corporation I had worked for previous, seeming to run a bit more like the funeral homes were privately owned. I appreciated the benefits that being a part of a larger entity could afford as well. Of course though, there were negative too. You had to play the "corporate game" to make sure you were meeting certain marks, which I mostly did naturally through just being genuine with the families I served, but I also didn't care for the fact that you had to worry if you didn't meet some high mark. I will probably always choose a family or privately owned funeral home to work for in the future, but the growth I made through my time with them only helped me be better going forward.

I recently retired at age 70 after 22 years employment with Carriage Services (Kent-Forest Lawn Funeral Home) in Panama City, FL. Having worked with family owned firms, it was an absolute pleasure to work for a corporation. The management, benefits, and working conditions were superior. Benefits were much greater than family firms; overtime, bonus, paid vacation, 401k, health, life, vision, and disability coverage were all offered at a reasonable rate. Working conditions were good; long hours are a part of our industry. Our manager was dedicated to making KFL the best it could be, and our performance and market share proved it. I would highly recommend Carriage Services and Kent-Forest Lawn.

When you read the philosophy on paper, the corporation sounds great.  A local operating business model where you actually get to run your business and where corporate provides support when needed.  That works great with the correct managing partner, but in Boise and especially at Cloverdale Funeral Home & Cemetery the corporation continues to hire managing partners from out of state who do not understand Idaho nor do they care to know. Carriage fires them every year or two making sure the local funeral home has no real consistent message or customer service. Although Carriage continues to espouse its local operating model, they are changing course back to a corporate model and even their home page has deleted some of the local messaging. Tread lightly and do a lot of research before accepting a position with Carriage.

You would hear your very own co-workers that you worked very hard to help out talk disrespectfully about you and others behind their backs especially about previous employees who left. No matter how many big things you did the upper management would only recognize the one minor thing that didnt get done. Families would compliment you for everything you did and other co workers would try to steal the credit and make you look bad. Racist and repulsive topics of conversation went on behind closed doors and workers would make fun of people there who were grieving or mourning if they were dressed or looked a certain way. So much cussing and temper tantrums thrown by grown adult people that it was just mind blowing and numbing. Every day there was drama. Big turnover lately.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales consultant 20 salaries reported	$109,677 per year
Sales manager 5 salaries reported	$69,885 per year
Funeral director 10 salaries reported	$63,403 per year
Managing partner 2 salaries reported	$98,750 per year
Inside sales representative 1 salary reported	$66,695 per year

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