Evolve vacation rentals

Evolve used to be one of the most amazing places to work. The people and the culture were by far the best I have still ever seen. The amount of talented people they had all in one place at one time was astonishing! Then we entered 2023... They layed off 14 % of the staff. They did this simply by salaries. Employees that had been with evolve and created the culture and developed the company were the first to be cut because they made the most. I'm talking tenured employees 7 years plus. Then fast forward a few months later after the busy summer season and they layed off an additional 20% and they replaced entire departments with overseas lower paid workers just to be call takers. After this it continued to be random silent layoffs. You would get an email on changes and then notice people were no longer active and they were exceptional at their jobs. This last round of silent layoffs about 6 weeks ago really hit home because the people impacted were jaw droppers on the guest experience team from  mid management and upper management levels. I said all of this to say that Evolve used to be about their people and culture but now in July 2024 they are about money only. Cutting their workforce to increase their revenue and hiring seat fillers and doubling the work load of the people that are staying only because the job market is so terrible they will not be able to replace their salaries. If you ask the ones that are still standing and made it through the rifs and silent position eliminations, what they think of Evolve as a workplace they will tell you it is terrible and they are only their for a paycheck until they are laid off next. Run don't walk away from this company if you are seeking employment because no matter what you do or what you put in to your role you are completely expendable. 

Remote work was great.  Culture was good at first.  The processes and compartmentalize work units were constantly making employees look inefficient to clients.  Several layoffs without adequate planning by the executives allowed clients to not get serviced. Remaining employees struggled to fill in the gaps of departments left partially staffed by outsourced 3rd party individuals who were unable to correctly process transactions.  Evolve associates who were already taking on additional work caused by the layoffs now had to spend most of their day correcting errors made by the 3rd party group.  Frustration and stress made the job unbearable at times as our matrix expectations became more difficult to obtain.  The company hired 6 to 10 engineers to restructure our scorecards to review our performance instead of utilizing those funds to  keep excellent employees.  This, in turn caused chaos for clients. The company paid healthcare has a $4000 deductible for the employee, then has to pay 20% until $6k is met.  So, 15% of my gross pay went to healthcare cost.  Horrible!!
 Evolve also lost most of the directors and upper management in the last year and their departures were not explained to the employees.

I worked at Evolve for 1.5 years and at first it was fun an inspiring but the market suddenly turned and company sales started to fall. They lowered their annual projections but do you think they lowered individual goals and incentives?

Nope! They raised them and utterly gutted the commission plan

Then the micro managing began. It was just a horrible environment to work in and I’ve never worked with so many disgruntled employees

It was truly incredible how demoralizing the environment became

The vacation rental business is a tough one. Many barriers to the sale that are completely out of your control and the market is too saturated

Another thing I never liked was the pathetic customer service for owners and that was from day 1. It was utterly deplorable and it was a never ending stream of complaints from my owners and others I would talk to

And the Smart rates?  OMG, a nightmare of screwing the customers over especially in high demand dates the holidays, Super Bowl, etc…

I cannot recommend this company less

What is the best part of working at the company?
Was nice at first and most of the team were reliable kind people but recent changes favoring outsourcing have wiped out many positions increasing the workload unreasonably on who’s left.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
You often weren’t able to help much with booking issues and had to pass them off to another team. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Used to be about a good work life balance with some events but it’s more of a quantity over quality vibe

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Part of your day was answering calls and chats and doing admin between and the second half was case work. Was told it’s now most of your day is on phones now without much time for casework.

This company started out great. I had a baby and they were very flexible. I was asked by a manager to join a more specialized team and receive a raise. 

The company grew too big too fast. They hired too many people and then let them all go. You have to have call center experience to work there now. They are dismantling anything good about the company and punishing the people who have stayed through the two lay offs. 

They demand that you provide feedback and don't listen to it. They change your job description at the drop of a hat and expect you to upend your life because they want to change your schedule. 

The people are generally easy to work with and polite. Jobs are offered out of the blue with some choices in scheduling. The pay is offensively low and the rates have not been raised for inflation in the few years that I’ve been with them so effectively the rates are going down all the time.   If you don’t mind putting lots of miles on your car and spending lots of time on the road, it could be a fun job. Photographers are also expected to inspect new properties and are the only member of the team that gets sent to look at properties before they go live on the network.   Evolve will not cover photographers through L and I.  If you get hurt you’re on your own. Also, if you get sued you’re on your own.

The company presented itself as a safe space that actually cares about their employees and fosters a “family like” environment when it is quite the opposite. This may have been the case at one point, but nothing about the way this company treats their employees in 2024 shows that they care. We are only worker horses attached to the amount of sales we can make them and if you slip up, you’re out the door. The goals are extremely unrealistic, the training sets you up for failure and the managers are only here to collect a paycheck. This was one of the worst employment decisions I’ve made. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
They are good at listening to their employees.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Unexpected layoffs that tend to cause other departments to take on more workloads without increased pay.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very diverse! You can def be yourself working here!

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Broken up into calls, emails and chats! Very simple. Great for responsible working adults as they do not micro manage you at all.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The work schedule is consistent with my time of day.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The back to back bookings can be very stressful .

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is home based with a verity of culture.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day for me is workíng hard but at my own pace.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The team support

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Not applicable 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Remote work, communicating via zoom or emails

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Team meeting at the start and end of shift, then you work on your own. Can communicate with supervisor and other team members through Slack

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