Dresscode - you are required to wear a full suit throughout the day, this is quite uncomfortable when you have to clean cars or sit down driving for long periods of the day. Often buy a pair of leather shoes each month due to them being ripped apart by standing in puddles caused by the dress code
Hour's - The hours are a shocker, you can work anywhere up to 45 mins away from your house, with the day starting at 7:45 (Mostly earlier as you have to prep for the day) till 17:00 ( You stay late 99.9% of the time) My average day was leaving home at 7 am and returning anywhere from 18:30-22:00 - the worse part of the job isn't the hours but not being able to prepare for anything after work. My longest working week was in excess of 70 hours.
Sales - You are given unrealistic targets and pressure by your manager (Not all, some were great!) to sell protection products to your customer, these are a bit of a faff... but there is value if you actually damage the vehicle. The cost of the products is horrendous, at anywhere from £13.50 - £25.00 a day for excess protection and £6.00 a day for Roadside per day! which can add upwards of £200 of your rental for a week cost, normally more than your paying for the car! This puts an extreme amount of pressure on staff to get the sale and results in scare tactics or reducing the price to ensure you get it, the company doesn't condone these actions, but your manager will sell your soul for the sale before they jump on their daily conference call for sales update with their area manager.
Wage - When I first started I was over the moon with the 21k basic and heard great success stories of how Assistants earn 30k+, Branch Managers are 40K+, Area managers 60-100K, GM earning £1.3million+ and so on... But in the grand scheme of things the wage is shocking, 21k basic is horrendous for the number of hours you work, I believe they have recently restructured the hourly pay however it is too little too late. After seeing the grass is greener on the other side and on course to earning 40K+ this year, the whole business needs to restructure its pay. To top it off, You record your overtime on a program called RALPH, a program from the 1990s where you implement your hours and submit them, but after you submit them, your manager has the authority to 'approve them' when in reality they dial back the hours to make it look you have done no overtime so you don't get paid!!! They get shouted at by Area managers because their branch's overtime is so bad so they result to changing it, which means all them hours you stayed working excess of 60+, was for nothing because you don't get paid! your hour's come out of your branch manager cost's, and they get paid of the profit, meaning you are literally working overtime so your branch manager gets paid more, and you get nothing!
Breaks - You do not get a lunch break, you're meant to get 30 mins for lunch (which is still diabolical due to the number of hours you work) but you rarely get it, you are encouraged to give up your lunch and made to feel selfish for taking it, with things said such as " if you have your lunch you will be the reason we work late" or "Take your sandwich on the road with you and eat whilst your driving". Again the company doesn't agree with these actions, but due to the immense pressure from managers they have resulted in losing their empathy as a person and stuck in the trap enterprise has you in.
Culture - the working environment is so toxic, as everyone you work with wants to leave, no one I have ever met there loves the company unless they are of high management, or have been sucked in so bad they cant envision themselves doing anything else, I promise you the grass is greener!
