What a shame to happen to what once was a great company to work for. But, I can't say that I am surprised. When I worked for Hertz (21years), it was a lot of fun. My coworkers and many of my regular customers were like family. My management chain of command supported me 100%. I also knew a lot of senior management folks from the CEO on down. All good people and knew their stuff. That changed a few years ago. Not long after I retired, my former Hertz coworkers informed me that the company forced every single senior manager out either through firings or retirement. I couldn't believe it. The loss of rental car expertise had to have been staggering. All new people were brought in. No doubt related to the recent sale of Hertz to a consortium of hedge fund concerns. I had to retire because I got tired of the rapidly declining employee morale and the company's unwillingness to do anything about it. I stay in touch with my former colleagues and have learned a lot of them have been let go, many with years and years of giving the company an untold amount of blood, sweat, and tears. Whether they will return is anybody's guess. To my Hertz family, I love you and will keep praying for you.
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The fall started with Mark F. and the sale of Hertz Corp to private equity groups that bled it dry. The old timers that started as Ford employees remember a completely different Hertz. We had the good BCBS health plan that Ford employees had, ($5/10 copay, no ded, etc.) we had Ford A-plan, we got free personal computers from Ford, and of course a great pension plan. And some of us had up to 8 weeks of paid time off (6 week vac plus personal/FH).
Under Ford, Hertz did have the best fleet and best working conditions. How many employees remember the in-house tech support based at OKC where the reps knew every function without reading off a script? All our locations were staffed by union employees including the guys fixing the HVAC or security systems, not contracted out to CBRE or some other vendor. In the old days, if something was broken, you made a phone call. Now there is a process of trying to requisition services through that unholy mess of Oracle general ledger.
Every CEO since private equity groups took over has made cuts to services, outsourcing help desk, reducing union labor, cutting employee benefits, pension plan, etc. until we arrive at the disaster that is Hertz today.
Mark F. left right before I retired and Kathy M. arrived after I had left. What I've read and heard of her (as in forums like this) is not impressive in the least. I watched her in a YouTube interview from 2018 when she gave a very nebulous non-answer when asked why Hertz's stock was tanking. All I could think of is this type of lackluster leadership did not bode well for the future of the company.
All the CEOs, exec VPs, RVPs, area managers, city managers, and senior CSMs I worked for/with over my 21 years weren't perfect, but they knew the business and had my back. I learned an awful lot from them. They also gave me something you can't put in a paycheck; their full faith and trust in my abilities to do my job. Did I give the company my best efforts? You bet! And you are correct, there wasn't a "Yes Man" among them. They were straight shooters. Unfortunately not a trait welcomed y the incoming administration. It was the hedge funders who knew squat about the rental car business that ruined Hertz. They only care about one thing, the almighty dollar. I apologize for my lengthy oration, but this whole situation really has me steamed. I can't tolerate seeing good people who have invested so much for a company get willfully tossed aside in such a cruel and callous manner. Hello Karma, are you listening?
Too many great leaders either left or were forced out! Most likely because they were not "YES" men. So Kathy got rid of them and filled the ranks with people who don't know how to thinks and agrees with everything she says. Even the most incompetent VP got saved and offered another area because they know hoe to say "yes Kathy" SO you now have team leading the company that does not know how think or run a business.
Thanks for your good wishes. It's the management that got Hertz to this situation. Called Karma.
High spending on luxuries, destroying morale, getting rid of experience...compounding effects.