driver

customer service representative

diesel mechanic

truck driver

operations supervisor

Recology

The recruiter calls me up, I went in for the interview.  I landed the position and got the word as I was leaving the office.  The interview went great.  The supervisors loved me.   Skip ahead a few days after starting, the supervisors were really happy to have me onboard.  One had even started talking about bringing me on full-time.   "We are tired of looking for candidates."   They loved the way I was handling the calls, working with the clients and getting along great with the group.   Not a bit of problems with anyone and was picking up on the flow of things really well.   

They gave me every indication to me and my recruiter that I was the right fit for the job, that I was going to be hired.  Great.     So I was still under contract 5 months in.    Still no indication that things were going to change.   I even checked in with the supervisors to see how I was doing.   "Great, keep up the good work."   The job was still posted from HR.   I approached my supervisor about it.   "HR is still having us go through the motions."  You are still our top pick for the position, hang in there.    

Soon afterward, interviewees started showing up for my job.  But still there was no indication that I was being let go.  I was still getting the story, "We have to go through the motions for HR."   Long story short.   60% trained on a steep learning curve, close to 780+ tickets resolved and closed for clients, a clean Helpdesk queue as I stayed on top of it with no backlog of tickets, no issues whatsoever with my coworkers or supervisors, which loved working with me, and happy clients in the field.    

Here's the punch to the gut,   HR hired someone off the street, off contract,  with no experience whatsoever in the environment.  HR is not even in the building and didn't see the work I was doing daily for the clients.   The IT managers had no say whatsoever in who they were going to hire.  I was strung along for 5 months, not knowing I wasn't going to be hired at the end of all the effort.    It even took my recruiter and coworkers by surprise.    Was I a placeholder for their help desk?   This is extremely bad business practice!    If I was a temp, this should've been known up front, rather than wasting my time and others.  

As I was let go that Friday, co-workers were handing me their business cards asking me to add them to my references.     My work ethic and experience in the tech arena speaks tons for myself.

How they handle their business internally at Recology, speaks tons of this company.    Not only how they handled the non-hiring of myself stringing me along, wasting my time, but how HR handles it's business, very unprofessional and amateurish.  

HR's Business practices, Micro Managed upper management, Too many expectations, they expect too much of individuals.  You do too many jobs that normal companies have people doing in "filled" positions, You can't run a help desk efficiently when you are also expected to be a System Admin, Office Admin, Shipping and Receiving person, and Purchaser handling PO's, approvals and ordering at the same time.   

All the while  answering phones and helping clients in the field, It's a Reactive environment instead of ProActive one.   They wait until something blows up, before jumping on a fix, rather than working smart, they go through the motions.

I will never slam my coworkers.  They are an excellent team to work with.   They all do the best they can under the circumstances.  Little to no resources to do a proper job.   I really enjoyed my time while I was there.   I was totally onboard with how the team handles it's business.  

But I will never recommend Recology to anyone looking for stability and or a career, which is exactly what I was looking for.    Do NOT waste your time with them.    Recruiters DO NOT waste your time with this TRASH company!

Being a garbage truck driver is one of the hardest jobs. Be prepared to run 20 plus miles a day. Expect 500 to 1,000 stops a day. Plan on not having any help, meaning you are on your own. Pull the truck up, jump out, run to the can, pull the can to the truck, dump the can, put the can back on the sidewalk, run back to the truck, climb in, and drive to the next can. Sounds easy, right? Don't kid yourself! Not only are you sweating, but you have to worry about getting pricked by needles, and human fecal matter. Especially dangerous is recycle. When you pick up a big stack of cardboard boxes, you will usually find a needle hidden in the stack. Gloves? You won't find gloves that are puncture resistant that will be thin enough to do the work. Trust me. 

Then comes the other dangers. People flying past your garbage truck, and always fearing some idiot isn't paying attention and hitting you. 

Expect to work 14 plus hour days. When you finish your shift, you literally run home to take a shower to wash off the grime you accumulated for the day. You are so exhausted, you go straight to bed. Here in Seattle, you can bet a few drivers will call out sick, so expect to be sent when you are done with your route to pick up at least 100 additional cans. 

Then comes driving skills. Seattle has these alleys that are so tight, you are literally praying you don't hit something. A ton of backing up into spaces a regular car could barely fit in! So many cans that are in poor shape, you spend more time trying to dig cans out of the back of the truck because the fell in while dumping it. Then, you have to be on your game something serious. So many coworkers have missing fingers. The battle wounds that I went home with were nasty. My legs are still scared from my short time there. 

Training is okay, but they are so short handed, you are pushed out to do the job without really knowing the routes, and or comfortable with what you are operating. This job is no joke. Then when you finally finish out the week, your days off are literally spent recuperating. Expect at least 65 to 70 hours a week. Do not plan anything on your work days, because you will literally work from 5AM till sometimes 8PM. Let's just say you finish your route.... Expect management to assign you additional work, because they never have enough people to do the work. 

Pay is great, but good luck enjoying it. As mentioned, you are a walking zombie on your days off. Benefits are actually pretty decent. Pension and 401k aren't bad either. However, this job will age your body real quick! Don't expect your body to take this abuse for 20 to 30 years. So many injuries! It is a very dangerous job. Just a heads up!

Life at Recology was as a rule predicable, challenging and a good place to sharpen your skills in Microsoft Office as well as a wide range of overall corporate office responsibilities, and  certain protocols for conference and Board of Director meetings.

The initial management I was under was where most of my growth occurred as I was thankful to have had a skilled, highly qualified, and seasoned manager who was well trained to work with people and teach skills in order to successfully get whatever job done that needed to be accomplished.
She took the time to get to know you and spent time sharing what she knew and was happy to pass her knowledge on to me.  After a year, a new untrained manager became my supervisor and the quality of relationship and management became very problematic.  Even with this type of challenge, I was able to push myself to always place my best foot forward by doing all in my power to nourish our relationship and implement my skill sets for the benefits of the company and others.

The workplace culture was one of pleasant camaraderie, helpfulness and hardworking individuals.

The most difficult part of the job was during the second year under  a new, under qualified, and unseasoned management.

The most enjoyable part of the job were all the people I came in contact with internally as well as externally, building relationships, and serving others in a variety of corporate level skills.  The work which my position encompassed was varied and highly enjoyed.

Overall as a company, Recology has generally good/average benefits and cares about their employees. Lot of cross-functional collaboration with teams, so people skills are essential, and there is generally a positive work environment. The company has some opportunities to learn/develop in your role and in your career in general. Recology has been operating in a very old-school manner for decades, its functions/systems are still archaic, and standardization has been lacking. Recently, leadership has been trying to change that by instilling an innovative mindset and implementing modern technology, but that could take a while.

Worked in 2 different regions within the same type of department (Waste Zero). The department itself, even across regions, is filled with passionate folks and always filled with positive camaraderie. However, the experience really depends on the region you're in, as many of the Recology Companies operate independently, aka they have their own systems and rarely share the same resources or standardization with the other regions. I had a more positive experience with the first region I worked at (more resources and culturally a willingness to improve), as my current region seems like they are operating more on survival mode rather than with an innovative/passionate mindset. I truly enjoy my role and the impact I am making, however sometimes it can be difficult to get things done (on time or at all) when I depend on the expertise of other teams who are not as reliant/responsive.

Hours are long, you often get extra work added to your day once you finish your route, trucks constantly breaking down/malfunctioning which causes days to be longer, very physically demanding job: all new hires start off working residential rear load in Seattle where they dump cans at every house by hand. You have to be jogging/running all day if you have any hopes of getting off in under 12 hours. It takes a couple years before you stand a chance at getting an automated route where you just drive and don't have to get out at every house. As a new hire, as soon as you get off the few weeks of training, you'll be a floater, running different routes (in different trucks) every day as needed. Days will be very long since you're unfamiliar with the various routes, so your free time will be low and you'll be tired. Bring plenty of water, at least a gallon, especially during the summer months. You're out in the beating sun all day doing manual labor, you'll be thirsty. And pack a lunch that you can eat quick because you need to focus all your time to finish your route and go home to rest. Learn as much as you can from the few weeks of training you get. You won't be quick or very proficient right out of training, since you're doing something different every day and can't easily establish a pattern to improve upon. Just focus on the basics and try to get better as you do certain things multiple times. Like I said, as a new hire, your days will be long since you're not proficient at the job, but you have to stick it out. Stay hydrated, eat healthy meals before/after work and drive safe.

A typical day at work used to be very fun and energizing. Up until recent months, we had a lot of support from our leadership team. The company culture used to be fun and inviting with many growth opportunities and perks. Now the company culture has been very negative and stressful. People are leaving in all departments due to bad upper management and no accountability for key departments. 

We are heavily underpaid and are expected to take on many additional tasks due to staffing shortages. Many companies in the area pay much higher for the workload and Recology has yet to step up. 

What I have learned by working here is that not all managers are leaders. We are no longer valued as team members and are just numbers.

The hardest part of working here is has been getting upper management to take action on employee complaints and concerns. Our teams are very small and are constantly being pushed to perform with no staff to help. The many ongoing operation issues are not being addressed causing our team to suffer with our performance. We cant get a straight answer to any of our concerns. Many disregard our efforts and take tenured team members for granted.

The most enjoyable part of working here is our few local managers who have stayed to support our team. Without them, I don't know how we would survive the day-to-day chaos and constant pressure. 

I worked at the Oregon city transfer station as a mechanic for less than 6 months and it was easily one of the most toxic work environments I had ever experienced. Half the employees would just be looking for something to get you in trouble for and throw you under the bus just so they could get brownie points with management and this was a work culture recology had carefully cultivated. You could barley do your job because somebody was always watching hoping to get you in trouble for some inconsequential nonsense. The pay was decent but there was absolutely no additional compensation for working night shift. You were just expected if you were new to work overnight into the early morning and one weekend day as part of your normal shift. It was impossible to have any sort of life outside of work with that kind of schedule. The base pay was alright and there was plenty of overtime available but the amount of work needed to be done required excessive amounts of overtime. Between toxic workplace atmosphere and not having a life outside of work I would highly suggest no one apply for any Oregon city transfer station openings.

I began working at Western Oregon Waste as a temporary employee, but stayed because the benefits were amazing, the management really cared about the employees, and the job was always interesting. I spoke to between 50-100 people by phone each day and perhaps 10 in the office at the front counter. The most enjoyable part of the job was helping to educate our customers about recycling, which in turn helped to decrease their garbage bill. I personally knew nothing about recycling when I started working at this company, but considered myself somewhat of an expert after six years of experience. The hardest part of the job was change. The company was constantly growing, changing, evolving, and becoming more efficient. To do this, many changes occurred on a daily basis. It was difficult, but worth it, to keep costs low for the company that we could in turn lower for our customers.

During your interview process they will repeatedly inform you that they promote from within and that you are a perfect candidate for advancement. They will emphasize that the company is employee owned.  This is what they tell everyone so as to fill less desirable positions. Unfortunately, the headquarters are in San Francisco and HR tends to promote those who they interact with on a routine bases. All jobs which would provide an opportunity for career advancement will be filled by transfers from California. You will not be part of the employee ownership until you have worked there for three years. That information is buried in the company website.
You're expected to be a 'go getter' by self training in all aspects of the job, but you will never receive any tangible benefit from doing so. You will only see your work load increase and your pay remain constant. Your work load will far outpace the pay you receive. You will watch management receive a rather insane number of perks and at no point will they provide any type of useful support. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Met a handful of awesome people however company culture is poisoned

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Supervisors are also routers, dispatchers, janitorial staff, safety experts, city liasons, clean up crew, taxi drivers, project managers, and planners. While, this workload can be managed easily for the right minded people- upper management will make sure to make this more difficult for you. There is no organization at this company, and no follow through. 
Minimum hours required to work as a salary employee is 50 a week and they will be displeased with you if it’s not more. There is a zero work life balance here. If you are not at work, you are expected to answer your phone and email at all hours. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Poison. 
Management will pit supervisors and drivers against each other for personal gain 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Disorganized and mismanaged…..

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Driver 66 salaries reported	$36.69 per hour
Customer service representative 46 salaries reported	$22.74 per hour
Diesel mechanic 47 salaries reported	$43.08 per hour
Truck driver 57 salaries reported	$32.86 per hour
Operations supervisor 39 salaries reported	$92,178 per year

Working at Recology: Company Overview and Reviews

Recology

Recology Ratings

Popular jobs at Recology

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected