Pros
You are allowed to schedule the work given to you the way you feel is best for you & the customer. (See cons) Other than security cameras you work on an Honor System. No one stands over your shoulder. You can build good friendships with your customers. You can expense work related tools & supplies. Foot wear vouchers, eye wear, & uniforms are provided. Company vehicle & a fuel card are provided. Equipment & products you need are provided
Cons
Where to begin? When I went to work almost 20 years ago, Ecolab had a high energy, high enthusiasm, what can the Management Team do for you culture. You were appreciated for who you were & what you did. Their motto was " We do a few accts . & we do the well". The Field Assoc. were proud to put on the uniform that said ECOLAB. They were proud to show up at the customers door step in a full size Service Vehicle dubbed the "Rolling Warehouse" Today this an a company that fell of it's pedestal. It wasn't pushed or knocked off. It FELL OFF on its own. MORAL, Moral is deplorable. They used to give good awards & recognition to the Assoc, for their achievements & hard work. Just to save $$$ the company stopped doing so. They decided that handing out little plastic .02 coins showed enough appreciation. They used to give Christmas card, Birthday cards, & a nice Christmas ornament to the Assoc. They again decided to save the $$$. NOTHING NOW. No Christmas parties. They used to give out calendars to all the customers & a decent flip over calendar to the Assoc. NOW Nothing. Just to save a few $$$. They stopped the annual meetings. Main reason? You guessed it $$$ But not only that, They also know the Assoc. are hurting so it is easy not to have to look at them. They did however bring back the Annual meetings this year COMPENSATION, There is no compensation if you do anything extra for this company. Such as attending conferences, helping fellow Assoc. Unloading the warehouse truck, equipment maintenance, customer relations., etc. There is NO extra compensation for working nights, working weekend duty which is 24/7, working holidays, travel time, answering calls for a fellow Assoc. who happens to get lucky enough to take a vacation. (See below) PAY RAISES. VIRTUALLY NONE. They have a rehearsed answer. "You want more $$$ do more work or sell more services". That was a nice response when you had 60 acts or so. Now Assoc. are being required to work triple digit acts each month. That is their pay raise. The commission rate has been at the same scale for OVER 30 YEARS. However last year they finally gave a 100.00 increase. That is basically a penny a day commission increase. During different increments of your employment they will give you every 2 years a 500.00 base pay increase. which comes out to about .25 an hour base pay increase. If you work hard & grow your route, They will cut your route. Yes, you guessed it your pay will get cut also. They have no concerns about your bills or family. Their response is "JUST DEAL WITH IT" You are basically punished for doing a good job. VACATIONS, HAHA, What a JOKE. 1st of all The vacation policy was written about 1983. It has NEVER been updated to my knowledge. That was when ASSOC. had about 60 acts. & worked 3 of the 4 weeks of there month. The last week of the month was used for PR, maintenance, follow ups, call backs, NEW accts. meetings, & time off etc. Ever since 2000, Assoc are required to work triple digit acts, ALL 4 weeks. Depending upon your length of employment, you are allotted different amounts of weeks off. If you want vacation, you are told "Yeah take vacation, BUT YOU HAD BETTER GET YOUR WORK DONE" You have to work 4 weeks of work with in 3 weeks to take time off. You have NO HELP I repeat, NO HELP from any of the managers. They run like scared squirrels or cockroaches when you say the word VACATION. Your Coworkers are required to answer your calls for you even tho they are booked solid. You have to work you days off to take days off. You & your Family suffer because you are exhausted. Or your customers suffer because you are trying to condense time & you are not able to be as thorough so that you can GET YOUR WORK DONE. Your coworkers DONOT get compensated for answering your calls. Don't worry, When or if they take a vacation you will be required to answer their calls even tho you have a full 4 weeks of work to perform. You are not compensated if you don't take your allotted days off. SURPRISE!!!! You are essentially punished for taking time off. HOLIDAYS, You are on call. Without compensation. If you have to get your work done, Open your gifts some other time. WORK LOAD, ASSOC are exhausted. They usually spend their 'DOWN TIME" sleeping. They miss out on time with their FAMILIES & FRIENDS because they are behind in their chores, or sleep. QUALITY OF LIFE / WORK LIFE BALANCE, NONE. You wake up to go to work , Many ASSOC. work double digit hours daily. The management won't even bring up the subject. I wonder why. SAFETY, They talk a good talk. They continuously compare us to NALCO. Yet Nalco doesn't have up to 150 or more acts. They NEVER talk about work load, exhaustion or fatigue. But they do say here is another acct. Better be safe.
