Thread regarding Hertz layoffs

What about HEL?

205 people due to exit HESC on the 31st of March, a lot of customer care, hr and some finance. Gonna be left with about half the workforce (450) that was once there up to a few years ago. Whoever is left is going to be squeezed to absolute max until they have had to much and walk away. Hard to see the place being there In 12 months time the way things are going in Europe with the pandemic and the awful vaccine roll out across the EU.

What happened in HESC?

On two related topics, it’s incredible that when Hertz makes a post on LinkedIn it’s immediately reposted to by complaining customers. And even worse the was the saga of that poor man who spent 5 years in prison because we were unable to produce a receipt. Says it all - how appalling.

Statutory is 2 weeks per year service but they are offering 4 weeks per year service. But capped at 1 years salary so anyone with 11/12 years plus are losing out.

Any ideas what redundancy payments they will be getting? Statutory or enhanced?

205 people in Hesc Dublin due to get their redundancy letters this week. Workforce of once 950 in 2018 will be down to 450.

WFH, seriously we are worried about this when I believe the cash runs out in April, and Barbie HAS NOT despite communicating otherwise secured any funding?

Don’t you think the lack of communication from her is deafening, if she had done anything she believed would get her fame she would be sending it out.

Good news is she’s got consultants advising her still, so she’s not really running anything she’s just a very ugly trophy head on the wall.

Imagine the cost we could have saved without Girona travelling each week to Uxbridge. Does he actually add any value being in person? Of course he doesn’t think that way, instead he insists we all come into the office to enjoy the pleasure of his company (and also because if he can do it why can’t we?)

And Bovan? Doesn’t he partially work from home each day? I mean he used to saunter in each day at 10:30/11:00 in time for a smoke and lunch.

And HR? They are working from home even before we got hit by the pandemic. Just ask any of the HR BPs. It’s all a big con with them.

This company is so against working from home in the 21st Century because they don’t trust their employees to do their work in any other location other than the office.

When you look at big organisations like BP and HSBC who are open about their employees working at least 40% of their working week at home it’s a far cry from the Hertz culture.

As in the last post they could easily reduce their costs if they took up this idea not only on travel but also on office space as Hertz House is too big and too expensive and could easily be reduced in size and location if they were to allow working from home.

There are bigger issues at play other than working from home that need addressing but this would be a quick win for the leadership to show that they have an open mind about doing things differently going forward.

If we do recover I wonder what the Leadership will have to say about working from home?

A previous post mentions toxic culture, and I am reminded of several unpleasant pre-COVID incidents caused by Gehlan/Girona/HR/Bavin whereby the company bullied us into attending the office despite the fact that agreements had been made to allow home working.

It’s well documented now that during lockdown companies have seen productivity increasing and dramatically reduced sickness or mental health days because staff have a better work/life balance and there's no need for a micro manager/hr breathing down your neck. Not to mention the environmental and financial benefit of less commuting. Plus fewer cars and less business and international travel and car rentals (oh dear, new strategy anyone?).

Of course the previous victims have left been made or are probably about to be made redundant, so problem solved.

At least we have WiFi, GSD wristbands and a break room. Jokers.

compassion? for what? the leadership and culture are reflection of us. we deserve everything that is happening to us and shame on you if you end up with just a wet handshake when it all collapses. not covid, not cants like brian, but shame on you. doesn’t matter what your tenure is. stop caring about the company and start caring about yourself.
one cannot decouple solutions from leadership. it is a story of could haves, should haves and must haves and in retrospect, a f**ck up of cosmic proportions.
start with revenue. diet coke lovin canadian, rafa interim and the nayan bully have all convinced us there is nothing we can do about pricing. ignoring and finding excuses for all competitors reporting quarter after quarter of superior results. same business conditions. but CEO cannot do anything about it because first to go would be him. avis is wiping the floor with hertz in the americas.
corporate accounts. 5 years we are told contribution tool is about to be made available. truth is it is, but not for the broad public because it shows we should stop doing half the accounts. that don’t sit well with sales, so they tweak the model to show positive contribution. and we continue renting for loss.
base revenue on its own doesn’t cover our costs. insurance (most lucrative), damage collections, FPO and many hidden admin surcharges is what keeps us afloat. it is a rotten financial equation that is getting worse and worse as customers are changing habits and other players (credit cards and brokers) offer damage waivers. seriously, we blame CSRs for not pushing FPO when really there is no customer desire.
and thank whatever divine entity you want for franchise fees. not only competitors, they also show that there is margin to be made even after franchise fees.
tragedy is that there have been solutions for all our problems, but even the most persistent optimists give up after document version 37 and ever increasing group of “decision” makers. we have done nothing inventive and blame is all on us.

I have the greatest compassion for the 10 year plus employees who are holding on believing that Barbie and her fan club can turn this situation around, not out of any dislike for Angela, as no one really knows her given she’s been locked up in her Mews house for months.
But from the interaction I have seen she’s thick as a brick. And unfortunately she’s surrounded herself with a bunch of YES MEN (you know who you are) who are just trying to stay employed, so they don’t want to upset Barbie as she’s volatile. So they just go along with the decisions even when they are wrong. She has had consulting firms employed since the day she landed who perhaps cover up some of her inability’s but it’s already game over, the US are just waiting for it to collapse. Sorry but Barbie neither has the experience or understanding to save this business, but she will make sure she gets all her dues before the ship sinks. Wake up and start complaining time is running out. Your silence on your leadership is astounding and don’t say you were not warned when your on the lifeboats with nothing left.
Start writing to Paul Stone, stop hiding and being afraid of the bullies or your 10 years service will amount to nothing, get a voice or stop complaining on here it’s obviously not working.

No one will blame you for loving a cheating girlfriend...but at the end you will be the one in pain.
Hertz is toxic, corrupted, ran by liers.
If hope is your only solution, good luck to you but that won't save this company (neither yourself btw).
The numbers talk without emotion and show that there is no outcome other than a painful one for the employees (but juicy for the corrupted managers naturally!).

Another poster just like “Brian” (though probably the same person). No solutions, only the usual list of what’s wrong. Glad your not a leader either, as it seems you have no idea what to do other than walk away. Oh, and anyone who disagrees with you (or your alter ego, Brian) has to be either naive or a leader. Maybe some of us actually care about the company after more than a decade working here.

Save the company? Brian makes some harsh points, but I wouldn’t bother - it’s not an option. The company is riddled with broken processes, a toxic culture, outdated technology, a lack of strategy and zero funding to invest in the future. You’re either one of our so-called leaders or you’re not familiar with the latest financials.

The company will go bankrupt and the only valuable asset in Europe (the brand) will be sold/franchised by whichever entity ends up taking control in the US.

Blaming COVID first and foremost is incredibly naive. Whilst daily rental has been hammered by COVID, there’s a reason why the likes of Enterprise and Sixt will emerge in far better shape than Hertz in Europe.

Here’s the problem with Hertz in Europe...

The countries are run by dinosaurs and baggage handlers, who lack the creativity to see that they are moving backwards fast and have been brainwashed into becoming corporate zombies. They produce financial lies to justify bad business as usual and appease a myopic corporate leadership team. They would argue that they are bullied, but then even a child knows what you do with bullies.

The European Leadership team are morally bankrupt and only interested in their own salaries - they can’t possess mirrors in their homes, because there’s no chance they could live with themselves if they saw what we do.

Angela Brav is utterly useless, doesn’t have a reflection and sleeps upside down in a cellar.

Raffle Gironimo is the most deeply unpleasant human being I have ever met, and s—s the life out of any space he occupies. Black holes and Chuck Norris are afraid of him.

Finance are collectively innumerate.

Sales and Marketing don’t.

HR is like a hospital that got rid of the doctors and just built a huge morgue.

The remainder are a collective of corporate misfits that weren’t good enough to make it with a good company and so are happy to settle in the u-bend of the Hertz corporate toilet, letting the effluent wash over them and not caring if it sticks or how bad it smells because for them this is as good as their careers are going to get.

If you have an ounce of integrity, intelligence and respect for your own mental health then you should get out.

Fantastic
Keep pushing
Great job (uncomfortable pause) by all the teams
Is a joke

So Rafael, seems as though Feb has not ended how you wished..so let the sackings begin..Happy Monday.

Or are you just blowing hot air out of your AH as usual, it’s rather pathetic don’t you think to take a bullying style of leadership and then do nothing.. it’s reflective of Angela’s non achievements, perhaps you could try and reinvent yourself again, Avis or Sixt perhaps.

Please share the You Tube link. Can’t wait.

Does Hertz still warrant having 50+ leaders, though?

Wonderful leadership from Rafael, threatening the top 50+ leaders in the company with being fired if the countries miss the plan for Q1.

Now wait for just a second we appreciate that yourself and Barbie are Teflon and that your management philosophy is from 1980’s how not to motivate people or drive results.

But you just initiated mass constructive dismissal claims, and if you think that threatening and bullying the team while your heads so far up the Brav is working, it’s not frankly people are laughing at you both, throw in NP and Doughnut it’s hysterical.

Perhaps have Tanya remind you of employment laws, rules around bullying and harassment and threatening employees, oh and this session has been recorded, your U Tube debut will be phenomenal..

Not one person now has any desire to hit the results particularly given the only person to benefit if we do is Barbie given the 10K, so sorry, we are all out. Enjoy the pain when you miss big and remember why..not to mention the disaster you have created with the aggregators..👏👏👏👏

Wow, Angela, thanks for the email, telling us all how pleased you are with the news from Paul.

In all of my years, working for half a dozen different firms, some of which have behaved in a pretty crass and insensitive way at times, have I seen anything like this.

It makes you wonder, surely the people who have lent Hertz the money are not stupid? The lack of grasp which this email advertises must be evident to some degree, at the highest level, for it to exist at this level. I wonder what the lenders have done to insulate themselves from the incompetence of the senior leadership. They must have taken legal charges over some of the company assets, such that however badly run Hertz is, they will still get all of their money back. The other creditors had better look out!

Warren Buffett, the oldest and wisest US investor, who runs a multi-billion dollar investment trust called Berkshire Hathaway, once said that if a company has such a good franchise that any id–t could run the company, then sooner or later, any id–t will run the company. How right he was.

Suddenly Gironamo looks like good value at €350k.

International should be shut down and the brand sold to the highest bidder.

The current crop a franchisees are fine at running their little empires, so maybe they could run an airport, but not one of the corporate countries. Not with NOB the leaker in charge.

Send Angela Brav back and cash in.

GAME OVER

What is the real reason EMEA has had terrible results the last 10 years? AB is bad, but the issues are a lot older than AB. Reading all these comments, the entire region is better off run by the franchise owners.

Reading further into the 10K a few other points to note on Brav, after removing the teams stock options in 2020 and not paying anyone Bonus, it appears she was issued 400k in retention bonus, over 300k in housing and wait tax reimbursement, so she’s not paying tax, on top of her 650k salary 650k bonus and 1M LTiP.

If anyone wants to know how to save money, sending Brav home is worth a few million. Given her contribution is almost zero, and impact is negative I would say this is almost criminal..so while your all being made redundant and they try and take away the basics like accrued holidays don’t forget where your bonus went. Oh wait and your pay freeze, the boss just keeps creaming in more and more.

Retention of an incompetent Paul Stone seriously?

Don’t be like the rest of the company. Get your facts straight!

Hertz isn’t listed on the New York Stock Exchange no more, but it is a publicly traded and available via what is known as Over The Counter (OTC) exchange. Less mainstream, higher fees, but today’s digital world, less of a problem than 20 years ago. Any number of brokerage firms offer trading. Friday close was 1.74 bucks.

Veru much on the stock market and the privileged ones with salary/incentives in shares can cash in. Pres of International included.

How does 1m$ stock work when Hertz isn’t on the stock market?

Cruella or Barbie, the latest 10k filing puts her on 2.3m$ compensation. 650k base, 650k bonus, 1m stock. 2nd highest after Paul Stone comfortably earning more than all the other execs. Just for 650 base, I would gladly take all the negative comments and remain incompetent.

Brav doing something right, or Paul is to weak to deal with the headache of changing her. The fact she is still here shows how absurdly useless Hertz is.

What Brav is good at is deception and passing the blame to others, SHE is not the problem it’s the GM’s, and then she’s got the ridiculous stupid Nayan who’s providing her cover and speaking on her behalf.

Brav is a master of manipulation and deception, and until Paul opens his eyes she will happily play along, as far as performance is concerned she won’t know, given she’s still not understood the basics.

And Rafael and his management strategy of everyone is doing it all wrong and my job is to tell them that, text book case of sad pathetic men who have been manipulated.

And as for Jeff Adam’s seriously what is he doing?

It’s a matter of when not if we go under. Losses just keep growing, her Covid strategy is hope, she does look knackered now though Barbie no more, Cruella is even a stretch.

Brav must be doing something right to last this long.

Brav hasn’t done much to be likable. Instead she has been lickable and those that knew where to stick their noses got the rewards.
Fact remains that we don’t have cash. When will it run out is not predictable because government scheme keeps getting renewed. Be assured that at this level of revenue, fleet, location footprint and bloated SG&A bill, it will run out.
Love it how we think that 2021 isn’t crisis year. So the new normal is cut 50% of low wage, operational staff that actually know what they are doing and keep 100% of the highly paid management who spends 80% of their time creating powerpoints and asking basic questions on reports and data they don’t grasp. Zero value add, just wasting everyone’s time.
And then there is Neyan who deserves some kind of award for deception. Pages and pages of useless trends, always quoting one data point to show what a great job he is doing. Pre or during Covid, the reporting EU competitors Avis, EUCar and Sixt beat us fair and square in RPD and RPU. 10 quarters in a row minimum. He then lies on his own stats and we continue to kid ourselves. If Angela wants to start showing some control over what is going on, firing Pushkar for lack of performance is a start.

They’ve never had strong management, how the company has
managed this long with so many years of mismanagement at the highest level is a miracle.

Nevertheless it’s looks like the UK government is coming to their rescue by extending the furlough scheme for another six months which means they will take advantage of that and keep paying themselves their fat cat salaries for absolutely disastrous returns and no future planning.

Furthermore employers planning 20 or more redundancies are obliged to notify the Insolvency Service at the start of the process by filing a form called an HR1 Advance Notice of Redundancy I’d love to see what Hertz have submitted to know the true number of those affected.

Someone really doesn’t like AB?
Let’s be clear - NOBODY likes Angela Brav.

There’s a small group of people who have ingratiated themselves with her and have recently been rewarded with promotions to roles that they have no ability to fulfil. VP Fleet anyone? The EV guys and their Italian servant?

These people have been trying to climb the greasy pole for years - by suction not merit - and COVID-19 has finally created the environment in which they can s—seed.

Ironically now is the time that Hertz needs strong leadership and the best people have already left or are leaving.

I’ve got to say that I’m really impressed by how long Hertz has carried on - especially considering that they haven’t dropped a single senior exec or reduced their hefty salaries. HR must be doing a great job.

Wow, someone really doesn’t like AB. B–chy, much?

What is going on with Barbie, she looks awful and has forgotten how to dress properly, and seriously most miserable and mean person ever. You know what we are referring too?

Zoom of Doom, at least try and make an effort, Alan said he was happy to give you wardrobe advice, along with EV plug in strategy..I hear you EV????? And building Hotels in your spare time because your just so important, it’s exhausting trying to imagine being as important as you, perhaps focus on the basics for now given you’ve got a few cash flow issues?

They want to make us cry with the financial situation in Europe but all if it is a fool's play.
They will only focus on the targets defined in the key employees incentive plan to get their bonus (on top of their fat salaries while you are being furloughed)...ebitda, revenue, utilization.

Then once the employees have been crushed and the company destroyed, they will cash their money and walk away to other victims.

And during all that process (now) be ready to hear endless lies and suffer.
Best action is to refrain them from achieving their targets...

I do hope Angela Brav and her international leadership team get their fair share of the $12million bonus pot.

Angela Brav really deserves it.

Not.

Re the EV thing (what a waste of time - not one customer wants them)...

I hope you all realise that:

• the EV consultant knows very little about cars (much like Mlady), but specialises in infrastructure, and costs us a fortune for useless advice.
• Hertz UK has an agreement with an insurance company to provide EV courtesy cars.
• We don’t have any EV’s.

Inspired.

I’m sure President Angela will be waay too busy getting a stream of EVs delivered for her, Alan and the EV consultant to play with to talk to us No matter that we don’t have enough cars for customers right now.

What about an update from Brav?

We are really missing her zoom calls, would be good to here from out inspiring leader what she’s doing and given the latest news about summer her plans, also would love to here her amazing EV strategy..and tech update can’t wait?

Come on Angela we all need a laugh!