My husband worked for Enterprise for a number of years, he worked an average of 10 hours a day, some Saturdays and sometimes even Sundays picking up cars and getting them ready for Monday. He was a Branch Manager and was making less $$ than a UPS truck driver and they only work 5 days a week!!! (this is a fact since we asked one). He has a college degree and was putting it to use since he was supposedly managing his own business, however he was still making less $$ than a truck driver. He said Enterprise had a work-time-balance philosophy however he was called to work when he was sick, could not take a full hour to go to lunch, was never able to make it to a doctor’s appointment since every day he was either short staffed or out of cars.
His branch was doing ok, had average growth, average profit and the ESQI was ok, that’s all we talked about, but still he made no money. I couldn’t understand why he stayed, I thought his job sucked! Finally he decided to quit, now he makes more than double what he made before, he goes to work at 7AM and comes home at 4pm. We meet for lunch twice a week. He actually smiles when he gets home, he loves going to work the next morning, no more e-mares (he had nightmares every night, he asked for cars in his sleep) No more washing cars in the heat (I wasn’t sure if he was a manager or a lot attendant) We spent more money buying white shirts than our car payment. You guys should get money for shirts since you wash cars all day, they get ruined after one day!
He talked about Tom Tobin, he said he only care about money and the bottom line and did not care about his people (your retention is a reflection this statement may be true) I understand he is trying to run a business but shouldn’t there be a balance? If he’d only witnessed how hard my husband worked for nothing he would think twice next time he wants to cut percentages. Why can’t they create achievable goals? I went to business school, I understand numbers, I saw the projections when my husband used to come with his pay plans, they were ridiculous! From one year to the next they want absurdly major improvements. Not sure if this was the case with everybody but some of his piers used to make the same statement. People, the grass is greener on the other side, don’t be afraid, it can’t be worst than what you’re doing right now…