management trainee

customer service representative

car wash attendant

sales consultant

automotive technician

HERTZ

Hertz proved to be a great resource for training and learning skills that are very useful to become successful in the realm of sales, customer service, and management techniques. The material that Hertz provided me during my days of being an MT was great, from basics and essentials in knowing the business and gaining a better understanding of business theory and principles and dealing with, primarily, the aspect of sales. 

This is not a car rental job, this is a sales job! 
You are expected to clean cars outdoors in any weather condition; snow, rain, high winds, heat, etc. You will have to detail cars immaculately in an average of 15-mins (as opposed to professional detailers doing it in 2-3hrs) and clean up a range of things like weed, puke, food spills, and worst of all, pet hair. 
If you are unable to efficiently meet this demand in a timely manner, it becomes a YOU issue. 
You are responsible for quality control on rentals too. Having to explain that you will charge a clean-up fee for smoking and pet hair can be difficult but one thing I have come to realized that in the history or the world, NO ONE has ever smoked in a rental vehicle. Even after explaining NO PET HAIR, NO SMOKING in our cars, almost every time, you will get one or the other and will be stuck having to rerent the car almost immediately which in turn will force you into a customer service nightmare on the next rental.

With the average 15 minute clean up time, you also have to juggle customers who walk in and the phones CONSTANTLY ringing. You will find that even on slow rental days that the phones ring non-stop and it could turn a 15 minute cleaning job into a 3hr job. Then you will be asked why you have apparently poor time management skills.
As the nature is Hertz is sales and service, you deal with customers who need cars for personal use, business use, and then you have your insurance replacement rentals. Over the course of my tenure, everyone hated the latter due to having provide extraordinary customer service to State Farm customers who are cheap, entitled, and rude. If there are ANY hiccups and science forbid that if any of those customers complain to their agent, you will have to explain to the higher echelons of management (not branch level) as to why you failed that customer even if it is not your fault. Understandably, you will have customers who walk in angry where you can’t kill them with kindness and in the end of the day, if they have to pay out of pocket or you don’t meet their demands, it is YOUR problem. Case scenario would be that if they have negotiated a set dollar rate reimbursement through their insurance yet they come in demanding a AWD SUV at nearly double a day, they will refuse to pay any additional and complain to their agent, leaving you to ultimately give away that car for a significantly lesser rate and hear it later from management as to why you failed to meet their need. 
You will also need to pick up replacement renters from body shops in a timely manner. What makes this difficult is that you have some shops who are uncompromising to work with wait times and there can be times you are the only person in the shop with a line of customers in front of you and you have to work through all of them, sometimes also cleaning cars, before you can have the chance to pick up that customer. By that time, they left for another branch or rental agency, leaving, you often times having to explain to upper management (first line of out branch) as to the poor performance.
In regard to sales, you must sell Hertz complete protection plan and ancillary products to all customers including those who go through an insurance claim. As it is our job to educate customers why our product it better than regular insurance (and it legitimately is), you find yourself in a situation where your partner, State Farm, is referring over customers yet they tell them that Hertz coverages are junk and you don’t need to buy them. Customers largely trust their agents and it mostly becomes their word against yours. In turn, you have customers who walk in thinking they know it all and only get the car. That costs you a sale roughly 3 or 4/5 times. This also is case scenario for personal use rentals for people who are referred through companies like AAA and USAA. To be successful at sales at Hertz, you would need to understand insurance, how it works, the Hertz product, and be very persuasive to convince people that there is legitimate value in the product.
Through regular functions of the job, you will also experience customers who book and walk in without reading the terms, conditions and policies, who do not call before coming in, and don’t read that the car listed on line is “similar to” and that the car is not guaranteed. Customers will show up irate because they booked a full-size and you have no car on your lot (walk-in booking), or that they booked a compact car and there are only full sizes and they expect a free upgrade and are NOT willing to pay extra for the car. This usually ends up you costing yourself an upgrade sale and having to give the car to prevent flak from management.
Branches themselves are short staffed and you can find yourself being alone to clean cars, answering about 3-4 phone calls a minute, and juggling renters in front of you at the same time. I’ve been in cases like this and be in an office with about 10 people waiting and not a single clean car. You have to mentally be prepared to stare at the line of angry customers and have to try to pitch your sale to every single one of them.
Upon hire, I was told I would have a branch within 6 months, workload did not allow me to complete my 6 week training until 9 months into my tenure! I actually took me over a year to obtain my own branch.
Unfortunately, the nature of the business is hard selling to cheap customers, dealing with angry customers, and difficulty of having clean and available fleet. Time management is essential however, the workload and demands with the staffing given make it nearly impossible to create a perfect balance between great customer service, your sales, and being timely with the customer. You will feel abused because of being overworked (due to Hertz right-sizing of its staffing; e.g. understaffed), intimidated and cussed at by customers, and in many times, stuck in situations with limited to no control which will leave you in the hot seat. This job in all levels in the branch, will diminish how you value yourself in your capabilities when it’s not your fault.
As a Branch Manager, I received free gas and rental up to a full size car for personal use and was paid a healthy amount. However, the 60-65hrs a week, workload, and intimidation from upper management for things largely out of my control and to create motivation to use me as a pawn for firing my employees became partially an ethical decision I made to leave the company. It was a hostile work environment.
I took pride in grooming my employees to make them top-sellers, as I was, and showed my personal support to everyone doing my tenure. I loved my employees and enjoyed my job as it was always a challenge which kept me on my toes, and learned immense skills. I also met a lot of wonderful customers along the way. Unfortunately, my leaving felt forced on a personal level rather than a professional level. It is a shame to have to make it through waves and waves of new hires, have made many successes and accomplishments, to be put through so much unnecessary stressors, only to throw it all away in the end because I felt it was the only option given due to the circumstances presented to me. To come down such a long road and feel forced out, all I can say is - what a waste.
This review pertains to Off-Airport Colorado Springs.
Pros:
Great training material for personal growth, numbers metric still exists but not reaching your numbers doesn’t resort to a write-up, free rental and gas for personal use (only as a branch manager), experience of driving new vehicles, connecting and building relationships with some great customers.
Negative:
Having to clean dirty cars immaculately in any weather including snow, consistent flow of angry customers, aggressive micromanagement from above branch level, scenarios which you must sacrifice sales for the sake of making angry customers happy, too many uncontrollable things (like always having fleet ready and available for rentals) which puts you in a tight spot with customers almost daily, no breaks and no lunches (no lunch for branch manager only), phones constantly ringing making job difficult to perform in other functions, environment is naturally toxic.

Pros: 
Great training material for personal growth, numbers metric still exists but not reaching your numbers doesn’t resort to a write-up, free rental and gas for personal use (only as a branch manager), experience of driving new vehicles, connecting and building relationships with some great customers.

Cons:
Having to clean cars in ALL weathers, unrealistic time to clean cars immaculately, consistent flow of angry customers, aggressive micromanagement above branch level, sacrifice sales for making angry customers happy which punishes salesmen via metrics, too many uncontrollable things (e.g. having to leave on a 45min round-trip pick-up while having to have multiple cars clean for customers who are arriving within time out of office) that create other issues, no breaks and no lunches (no lunch for BM only), phones constantly ringing making inhibits ability to perform other duties, absolutely no work-life balance; required minimum 60hr work week, BM pay diluted with excessive work hours making a trainees pay better, short staffing makes overall management difficult.

They tell you they're hiring for a management position. They talk about their fantastic leadership training program. They tell you about all the opportunities for advancement and how much you can earn in commissions by selling optional products and features. They tell you about how once you finish your training you'll get free rental car privileges. All you have to do is go through a few months of training.

Then, once you start the job, you find out that all of your coworkers are supposedly managers in training as well, which really means that no one is. As you get to know other people in the company, you never meet anyone who has been there for more than a year and a half, because there is a massive turnover rate. Employee benefits don't start until you've been there for 90 days, which works for them because most people don't stay that long.

Ultimately, you get paid $12.50 an hour to clean cars for 11-12 hours a day. Your branch manager keeps saying he's going to train you on the computers so you can work the counter, but right now he's swamped with customers and needs clean cars. Whenever you ask to take your lunch break, he desperately needs you to clean one more car first; you quickly find out that there's always another car after that. Then he disappears for two hours and leaves you to run the place by yourself. You don't blame your manager for being so frantic because he hasn't really been trained either. They promoted him because he has a pulse and was dumb enough to take the job--oh, and his sales numbers are pretty good, which apparently is all it takes to be a good manager. You do the math and realize that because you're hourly and get paid over-time, you actually make more money than your branch manager--but hey, every night he gets to drive home in a Nissan Versa or a Toyota Camry or, if he's lucky, a Kia Soul.

Your branch is perpetually under-staffed, which means you have to work whenever the store is open, not to mention staying late and coming in early to clean cars. When you tell your area manager that you'd like to reduce your hours, he looks at you like you just asked for his firstborn child. He works seven days a week, has no life, and doesn't understand why everyone else doesn't want to do the same. He asks you why you're not clocking out for your lunch breaks, and you explain that you never get a lunch break. He acts like he's never heard of such a thing. You explain that it's really busy with just two people running a branch by themselves, and he assures you that they're working on hiring more people. Besides, he says, so-and-so is running the branch in the next town all by himself and he's doing just fine; you should be glad you have two people at your branch. What you want to say is that you just talked to so-and-so and you're pretty sure he's on the verge of a psychotic breakdown, but you keep your mouth shut because you know it's not worth trying to reason with your area manager.

You tell your branch manager and area manager a month in advance that you want to use one day of vacation time. They say it's fine and genuinely seem supportive. You remind them constantly that it's coming up. The day before, your branch manager seems surprised and tries to convince you to come into work instead. You take the vacation anyway, and when you get your paycheck, you notice they didn't pay you for that vacation day. Maybe they hoped you wouldn't notice. The first time this happens you think it could be a fluke, but then you realize it literally happens every time. After waiting on hold and harassing people at HR and payroll, you finally get paid for 8 hours of vacation time, when everyone knows full well that a normal shift for you is at least 10 hours.

You send an email to your boss's boss's boss expressing some of your concerns. One time he visited your branch and bought everyone lunch and encouraged you to come to him with any problems, so you're taking him up on that offer. After he sees your email, he calls your branch manager to ask if you were on the clock when you wrote that email. Apparently, that's not a good use of company time.

But the icing on the cake is when you get to stand in front of a customer who wants to know why you don't have a car ready for them. What you want to say is, "Yes, I know you reserved a large SUV three months in advance and then waited in line for an hour, but you have no idea what I had to go through just to get you this Ford Fiesta that smells like weed and is covered in dog hair." What you actually say is, "I'm very sorry for the inconvenience. Would you be interested in satellite radio for only $4.99 a day?"

I really hope it's not like this everywhere, but this is an accurate representation of my experience working for Hertz. I would not recommend it to anybody.

In short don't jump on the Hertztanic. There is a reason that this company is going under. In a nut shell, management is horrible and company is failing. Keep reading for a full view of what its like to work at Hertz. First and foremost they have put their share holder's interest above the wellbeing of their customers and employees. "Bring in every dollar possible," has been the chant as of late. That of course leads to questionable actions being taken by management such as adding products on the customer didn’t ask for in hopes that it will go unnoticed. Next, management is incompetent. They restructured the management structure and let go of a lot of good, hard working employees, some of which had been with the company for 14 years. In their place they brought on younger people with little to no life/management experience. The one I was under was out of touch with reality as he was regularly questioning why our numbers weren’t as good as they were last year, even though we are in the middle of a global pandemic with the travel industry in the toilet at the moment. He put a disgustingly large amount of unnecessary busy work on my manager’s plate, leaving my manager strung out and stressed everyday which he frequently took out on us. He did the same to the other managers in his territory too resulting in almost all of them resigning. This same general manager had little to no care for his employees when it came to the COVID19 pandemic. With Hertz taking on Party City deliveries in addition to normal work loads, many of his employees expressed concern about being further exposed to the virus by coming in close contact with Party City employees and their customers, which is unavoidable when delivering large balloon orders. The GM promptly called us with an HR representative on the call and without evening addressing our concerns told us to, “Do as your told or get written up for insubordination.” We were told that it was “contact free delivery" with the customers, which was a lie because numerous times I was forced to enter in to a customer's house when delivering large balloon orders during days with high winds. Keep in mind that Hertz's way of “protecting" their employees was to give us masks that were extremely thin (might as well have used a cheese cloth or lace) that were manufactured and direct shipped from China! This GM also wrongfully wrote me up for tardiness for taking a sick day when I was legitimately sick and gave advanced warning well beyond the 2 hour advanced notice required to be given before your shift as per the company policy. He also does nothing to boost moral at the branch. When he comes in, even with a lobby full of customers, goes straight to his office, does his paper pushing and calls, gripes at the manager for why things aren’t being done exactly as he instructed, and then leaves. A far cry from his predecessor who would immediately start helping customers, answering phone calls, and cleaning cars alongside his employees before starting the work he had to accomplish.
     And now for my direct manager. At the beginning I had little complaints. He was relaxed and easy to get along with. Now he has been on a year long power trip, informing us that, “We are to do what we are told, exactly when we are told to do so and we cannot pick and choose what we do." And that, “We should be thankful for him that he didn’t write us up and have us fired,” when we questioned certain things we were forced to do that drastically increased our exposure to the Corona Virus and were strongly discouraged by the CDC. Apparently my manager and the new GM think they know more than the Center For Disease Control and the leading scientists of the day. They most definitely put us in high-risk contact with customers that had been exposed to COVID19, some of which couldn’t remember if they had finished their 14 day quarantine. All of this for the sake of “making the customer happy” so that they didn’t  bad reviews that would affect our net promoter score that Hertz uses to judge whether or not they gave us a bonus.

I worked at Hertz as a Driver (or Transporter) for three years, and my role changed dramatically within that time, even though my title remained the same for the entire time I was here. This is how my experience at Hertz went.

I began as a Transporter/Driver, and the original role of being a driver would entail moving cars between offices depending on customer and business needs, making longer trips of 1-2 hours to switch cars out between offices, and picking up customers as necessary at local body shops and their homes and bringing them to the office to complete their rental process. 

As the experience grew, I began dealing more with dealerships to coordinate when cars would get repaired and letting them know what needed to get done, getting gas in vehicles, getting car washes, and assisting customers when necessary within the office to the best of my ability. 

After about 6 months of being at Hertz, my location switched branch managers. That is when things started to change. The general atmosphere of the office became more strict and less laid back. I was not enjoying my time as much, but I still enjoyed my coworkers. 

After a few more months, we switched branch managers again, and  I believed that is when I began looking for a new job. The lack of organization and communication between the drivers, managers, and other offices became very intolerable, and it caused significant issues that was sent back down to drivers to handle. I remember one instance where if there had been adequate communication between offices, I could’ve saved myself up to 5 hours of driving time between two office that were hours away from each other. 

After COVID-19, many of the drivers were furloughed. This happened without warning or notice, and we were given less than 24 hours notice of being furloughed. Although I was called back in late April 2020, the role changed again; and that is when the job became a shell of its’ former self.

My role as it stands today is essentially moving cars between Firestone Auto Care and our office for routine maintenance, picking up customers, and making deliveries for Party City, which uses Hertz vehicles to conduct their deliveries. The Party City contract is one that allows us to survive through the pandemic; as I don’t believe I would have been called back without it. The Party City thing is new since COVID. In my office, I was required to be the designated “Party City” delivery specialist. I would go in a transit van to the local Party City location, get a customer’s order, and deliver it to them. It was less than ideal, mainly because it was not an original part of the job description.  

Overall, what can you expect as a driver? I suppose it depends on location, but it seems pretty universal that you will move cars between offices, pick up customers, shuttle cars for routine maintenance, and potentially do Party City deliveries. I thought my time at Hertz was okay, it could’ve been better, it could’ve been worse. I’m leaving because I found a better opportunity. You will almost certainly not get paid well as a driver, you always certainly will experience lack of communication between offices, and varying work hours depending on how busy your location is. 

Hertz is a company that is struggling to make it, and I’ve seen it go from busy like no other to slow to the point where I’d come in for a few hours and then leave. I wouldn’t suggest it, honestly, only because Hertz is a struggling corporation right now. 

I had the misfortune of working as a manager at Hertz, and I can confidently say it was one of the worst professional experiences of my life. The problems at Hertz run deep, and they affect every aspect of the workplace, making it a toxic environment that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

1. Poor Management and Lack of Support:
The upper management at Hertz is completely disconnected from the day-to-day operations. They issue unrealistic expectations and provide zero support. Whenever issues arise, which is almost daily, you are left to fend for yourself with little to no guidance. It's clear that they are only interested in their bottom line and not the well-being of their employees.

2. Horrendous Work-Life Balance:
If you value your personal life, steer clear of Hertz. The company demands an unreasonable amount of time and effort, often requiring you to work long hours, including weekends and holidays. There is no respect for personal time or boundaries, leading to burnout and immense stress.

3. Inadequate Training and Resources:
New managers are thrown into the deep end with insufficient training. The lack of proper onboarding and continuous training leaves you ill-prepared to handle the numerous challenges that come with the job. Furthermore, the resources provided are outdated and insufficient, making it difficult to perform your duties effectively.

4. Disrespectful Work Environment:
The culture at Hertz is toxic, to say the least. Upper management treats employees with blatant disrespect, and there is a pervasive atmosphere of negativity and fear. Constructive feedback is nonexistent, and the only communication you receive is criticism. This hostile environment takes a toll on morale and overall job satisfaction.

5. Constantly Dealing with Irate Customers:
As a manager, you are on the front lines dealing with irate customers daily. The lack of support from upper management makes this task nearly impossible. When customer issues escalate, you are left without the necessary tools or authority to resolve them effectively, leading to dissatisfied customers and increased stress.

6. Subpar Compensation:
For the amount of work and stress involved, the compensation is laughable. The pay does not reflect the long hours, the immense pressure, or the responsibilities you bear as a manager. Additionally, the benefits are mediocre at best, doing little to offset the poor salary.

7. High Turnover Rate:
It’s no surprise that the turnover rate at Hertz is alarmingly high. Talented individuals quickly realize the futility of working in such a dysfunctional environment and leave at the first opportunity. This constant turnover further disrupts operations and places even more strain on those who remain.

Conclusion:
Working at Hertz as a manager was an ordeal filled with frustration, stress, and disappointment. The company’s failure to provide adequate support, respect, and compensation makes it an unbearable place to work. The added burden of dealing with irate customers without support only exacerbates the misery. I strongly advise anyone considering a position at Hertz to look elsewhere. Save yourself the misery and find an employer that values and respects its employees.

Voluntary and mandatory overtime!! There are a lot of shifts to choose from: 
2pm-10pm
7am-3pm
1pm-9pm
5am-1pm
No matter what shift you choose all of this overtime will drain you! Let’s say that you chose the 2pm-10pm. The manager will approach you for voluntary overtime for the next day. In the instance you can never say no to voluntary overtime for the next day. Here’s why, if you say no to voluntary overtime and you go to work the next day you could get hit with mandatory overtime (mando). It can be either 6 or 8 hours. You can be working 14 to 16 hours a day. Let’s say you voluntarily picked 4 hours. You could either come in 4 hours early and hope that they don’t mando or you can come in at the time you are scheduled to come in and do your voluntary overtime and hope they don’t mando. More or likely they will mando you. You will not get off from work until early next morning. Then they expect for you to come in for the overtime you volunteered for all because of unrealistic deadlines.
You have to sign a piece of paper for both the overtimes. Regardless as to whether or not you sign it does matter because you will still have to tough it out. They will have someone sign for you! How can any job get away with this?!
Because of unrealistic deadlines I had to bum rides off of people considering that my vehicle broke down. I am one of those who live like 15-25 from the work place. I tell my managers many times that I have to take the bus to work and they don’t care.
Get this, you are not allowed to be one minute late! ONE MINUTE?! REALLY?! AND THEY FIRE PEOPLE BECAUSE OF THIS!!! YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT ALL OF THIS OVERTIME THAT THIS COMPANY DISHES OUT CAN’T MAKE UP FOR ONE MINUTE?
What is even more maddening is that they tell employees to stay off of their phones. It is very understandable that you shouldn’t waste time on the job, but this job also consumes your time and takes your life away from you. Nobody is a machine!!! They act as though you are just there to clean cars! This is why 8 to 10 people call out and screw over those that work there! 
The managers are totally unreliable; they are never there most of the time when you need them. It’s like you waste time looking for them and in the process your average goes way down. Speaking of the average that is expected, they want for you to maintain a standard average which includes how fast you are able to clean a vehicle back to back. Here’s the thing, you have a four section car wash after you have quadro-cleaned it, to pass through. Sometimes two to three of the car wash sections break down! So that means that there is a long line of vehicles waiting to drive through either one or two of the operating wash sections which will drop your average down.  Another method of bringing down your average would be the BS meetings they hold which in most cases are completely useless.  They expect for your average to be at a certain standard or they will coach you for that!
You average has a lot to do with the number of cars you clean. They expect 24 cars in an 8 hour shift which is impossible. You are also cleaning trucks, vans, and minivans that can take more time!
You get some of the co-workers who take this job way too seriously!
DO NOT WORK FOR HERTZ…..NOT RECOMMENDABLE!!!!

I worked at both Hertz at the airport and Hertz Local Edition.  The company is a mess.  With each new CEO, layoffs are a given.  I was laid off twice in a little less than 3 years.  When you become a manager, do NOT sell your personal car, because you will need it when you are laid off.  I know many employees & managers across the country who are looking to leave the company, as they are overworked, underpaid & underappreciated, which is not a recipe for success. Morale is LOW among all levels of employees. To a person, they think Hertz is taking advantage of them bc of low pay. DRIVERS, who are valuable to company, are totally disrespected & made to feel they are NOT REAL EMPLOYEES. They have to work holidays w/o any extra pay, they are not allowed to fill out the internal company survey, & they receive the lowest pay of any employee. As soon as COUNTER REPS make good bonuses, the following month the company will adjust the metrics making it harder to bonus. The bonus structure changes yearly for managers, which is sold at positive.  Yet talk to managers anywhere in the country and they will tell you that bonuses are terrible, both in operations and maintenance. As for the company's Pulse Survey, managers will tell you to lie to make things seem better than they actually are. The company that I would recommend people to work for is ENTERPRISE, which is the best rental car company there is (even though I don't like them).  

As for Hertz Local Edition (HLE), do NOT expect to work with women.  In over 6 years with Hertz & HLE, out of the 52 managers & manager trainees w/whom I worked, ONLY TWO WERE WOMEN. The job is tough bc all employees have to clean cars outside in the elements.  Washing cars in the heat & sun, we routinely sweated through our long sleeve shirts multiple times daily, not a professional appearance when you have to rent cars looking like a sweaty mess. The offices are understaffed.  One or two employees are frequently left alone in the office, a very difficult task.  If you decide to work for HLE, I recommend buying sunscreen, drinking tons of fluids, & pray that you don't have a heat stroke.  Again, I would recommend that you work for ENTERPRISE bc they have veh service attendants who cleans cars.  Sales are stressed to such a degree that everyone, including managers, are engaged in fraud to avoid constant written warnings. Think twice before working for Hertz in any capacity. If you do, gain whatever experience you can get and then leave for another company, who will undoubtedly pay you more money.

Deserves no stars. Over worked, severely understaffed and not to mention underpaid. You are required to run an operation as a “manager” and yet you have no support from upper management. Bonuses!!! Yeah right. They cut all frontline incentives for their people on the ground while upper management gets paid in full. Required to work through the pandemic with no staff so basically your running an entire operation by yourself. Politics is the next thing. They laid off all of their hard working people and hired a bunch of clowns literally. As a Branch Manager they tell you to schedule yourself for 40hrs. Yeah ok! Typical work week consists of 50+ hours with no overtime pay and no incentive. Not to mention you will never have enough cars because pricing continuously screws up rates and the customer service call center will say anything to a customer to get off the phone. Irate customers, old cars because hertz decided to purchased pre owned fleet. But wait there’s more!!!! Upper management rolls out all new policies, procedures, and protocols and expects you to adhere to them or be reprimanded. When your location is doing over 200+ rentals per week with only 2 people they expect you to be happy. Would you be happy working 60+ hours 6 days a week? The answer is NO. Frontline employees get no raise and bonuses are impossible to reach. As stated earlier fleet is a joke. You never have enough cars and people can book a res and walk in the door 10 minutes after they made a reservation. Saturday’s are the worst. So let’s run through your responsibilities: property/facility management, customer service management, back office management, clean cars and branch, answer phones and emails, and do rentals at the counter. The facilities Hertz purchases are horrendous. They are holes in the wall and they expect you to boost team morale. Put your staff in a decent location and have systems that aren’t slower than dial up internet. The systems are beyond outdated. Steve Jobs first computer out of his garage was better than the systems Hertz uses currently. Upper management wants you to fix things they see a problem with. So they create new positions for people to sit around and do absolutely nothing. Instead of coming to a short staffed branch to help out they stay home and get to enjoy the weekend. Not the frontline employees. It’s not like Sunday is a given day. You have to prepare for 65+ cars to return to a parking lot with no space and then you get no help trying to get them moved. Hertz needs to do better. To anyone that rents through hertz and complains about the hours of operation, let this sink in and let me know if you feel the same after. 

A typical day always involves being extremely understaffed while attempting to meet the extreme and ever changing demands of upper management and consumers. 

Let break it down:
Consumers: Think you are operating a used car lot with cars that are magically cleaned, washed, and maintenanced. Oh the also realized they are rental cars but expect them to be in the condition of a brand new car. 

In the consumers defense, if we were staffed properly, cleaning the cars wouldn't be such an issue. Currently we are so short staffed, when I run out of clean cars, I need to take a cordless phone out with me, lock the store, clean as many cars as possible (no matter the weather) before a customer either shows up at the door or calls in. Yes lock the store, because if an auditor shows up and is able to access your location you will be termed, rather then them realizing you should be better staffed. 

Also customers are under the impression that I can pick them up or take them home while I am by myself. So I lock up the store and hope I am back before anyone shows up. 

Staffing issue impacts: Out side of those already listed, I work open to close everyday and then some. Not to mention doing the job of 4+ people as the exceptions continue to grow! Forget having time to actually eat. Because of course while all this goes on, the phones are endlessly ringing. 

Upper management: To put it nicely, incredibly disconnected. Like I said before the expectations continue to grow for all staff to ridiculous levels. And when your doing it all you are expected to meet all expectations. Sales, revenue growth, fleet growth, reports, and customer service. Although the expectations continue to grow, they also continue to change since there is little to no real direction. One minute its the highest dollar wins, the next is lets keep doing what lost us loads of money last year!

Coworkers/ Staff: Out side of being beyond stressed as well, they are great! We feel like we have been dragged thru the mud together and are thankful one another even showed up fro more abuse. Hense why we are so short staffed, people are dying to get out. 

In closing, Hertz is currently in a deep hole that seems to have no end. They are a long way from being the competitor they used to be. Last CEO was a joke, and this one is proving to be laughable as well! The company culture is terrible, and the employee morale is non existent.  I have no time to do anything, and my pay has taken a hit over and over again. The income (including the car and the bonuses we stopped getting over a year ago) is no longer out weighing the stress by a long shot!!

A typical day starts at 5:30 am where the vehicles are rounded up, checked in, cleaned and lined up for washing. Reports are printed and rewards members have vehicles that are set up in advance. At 7am the doors open and the phones flood with calls. Fours lines ring constantly and often there are not enough people to answer the calls so I have learned to staff my store to meet the demand of the business. Cars are often far and few between so I have learned to properly manage my fleet so that I can accommodate all reservations, walk ups, body shop demands, and special account needs. The hardest part of the job is how demanding the position is along with the demand for excellence with little reward for achievement. We work 70 hours or so each week leaving us working 12 hour days with more work than one person can handle on skeleton crews. The phone constantly rings for twelve hours and we are expected to answer and follow through with all the calls, pick up customers, maintain accounts, engage with customers in store, clean the cars, wash the cars, move the cars from location to location, and sell. All of which are achievable but doing everything at once is often overwhelming. What I learned from the sloppy management style you'll often find at this type of business is that you have to delegate and have a dependable team. Set examples for your team so that they work hard, respect the chain of command, strive for excellence, and don't feel burnt out. Schedules are important in a high demand situation because you want to reduce the turn over and treat your employees with respect. People who have life outside of work are more productive during work. I learned you have to know the business as a manager so that you can effectively make decisions. Simple things like firing the office cleaning crew and not having the materials to maintain a clean office or a schedule for shared responsibilities could have a huge effect on the business just as much as complicating an issue with a key account. I also learned that attitude is everything and some jobs make you stronger. My favorite part is helping the customers. Some people are in bad positions and just interacting with them makes their day as well as yours. Interesting people of all types make their way into businesses everyday and you learn a lot about life as well as work in dealing with clients.

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