Hello fellow Hertz watchers. Hopefully this can be a forum for comments regarding recent news, events people, "re-organisations", job security. Basically a "Pulse Survey" of opinion on the web.
Come back from time to time to see new content that has been added.
773 comments:
1 – 200 of 773 Newer› Newest»Hey everyone, look forward to hearing everyones impressions as to what is going on. Things in OKC seem pretty bleak, any impressions from NJ?
This is good. As Bob has stated things look bleak. OKC, NJ and probably Europe also.
This is a good idea, maybe we can get those other posts from the CIO site added?
Great idea guys, Europe is much the same, A rudderless ship with an indecisive captain!!
Well it seems that tomorrow is 'D Day' we should finally know about the first wave of job cuts, over 9 months after we were meant to know!
It seems that some people already know what is happening, anyone that has been able to leave has already left or made arrangements to do so.
Many new people have been recruited under temporary contracts, they are hardly likely to be the best in the business!
The way it looks to me is even if you survive the cuts you will be left with a lot of work to pick up and surrounded by mainly mediocre staff who haven't been able to get a job elsewhere for whatever reason.
If you are one of the IT staff then if Alpha doesn't get you then Genesis probably will.
Lets face it, the IT staff in India are a fraction of the price we are and probably better qualified than us.
This doesn't mean that they will do a better job but since when did the management care about things like that?
It'll be interesting to see what happens after tomorrow, we should know by the time the OKC and Park Ridge are over their 4th of July hangovers!
Watch this space!!!!
Just adding this comment from the CIO website that one person left:
Anonymous Wed, 2007-07-04 13:04
Funny you mention about e-mailing Mark, or his lapdog in Europe (s'funny - striking similarities re Bush and Blair!!), you never see any comment/feedback re questions put to him/her about their respective management style and the damage they are doing to the company. Remember, Shareholder value is sacred, we don't want to impact upon it!! I wonder what the Shareholders would think if they actually realised what wastage on non-essential activities occurs within this organisation and the fact that most of it (the non-essential activities) is carried out by Executive Management.
Hey guys, reporting in from Europe after we were finally told something of note in a communications meeting!
The severance package we are getting is actually quite good, 2 Weeks per year , with no cap on the length of service but a cap on the Salary.
We have been separated into core and non core. Basically, IT, Finance, HR and everything else not considered 'Core' to the business is a candidate for outsourcing.
Project Genocide is about putting out tenders for all of these functions and seeing if it is possible to save a couple of $$$!
If it is possible to outsource you and save money you had better start packing your bags now.
For those that are 'core' there will be redundancies, and soon, they have already started the consultations.
I guess we have a lot to be grateful for here in Europe, we seem to be getting a better deal than our colleagues in the US, at least we are being put down humanely!
I think the OKC people who got laid-off got the 2 week per year thing too. The bad thing is that people are starting to bail left and right, it is going to be to the point that people who have key knowledge of critical systems are leaving. You know they could stop a lot of this if they just told us what was going on, instead of this silence.
The head of HR of Europe quit today, he's only working a third of his notice. Seems to me like he didn't agree with something, its a shame because he was one of the good guys.
Why can't Executive Management pull their heads out of their bums and realize that *THIS* is what is meant by communication -- not the dog and pony show that comes to town or blows in via webcast.
And another thing ...
To those of us who were given 1,000,000 stock options at $5 each when we hired on, I suppose our share price is very important regardless of what's happening to good employees. As for the rest of us, I could give a rat's arse what the share price is doing when I don't know if I'll have a job next week.
HertzYellow, I actually agree w/ 99% of what you say. I think much of our previous MIS management was incompetent. I don't think Orrell once did any sort of employee communication that wasn't forced on him (you think Gary's Gathering was his idea...). But I also think many of the Senior directors left in MIS making the decisions about the future of at least OKC MIS are just as incompetent. Can anyone tell me one thing Moore has done? Other than tell jokes at any employee meeting and look pretty... I also agree with you as to why we have basically a separate MIS department in NJ when the same work can be done in OKC probably cheaper. I for one welcome the change, but I am also a realist in that anyone who expects my loyalty to Hertz is a fool. Because if they can find someone to do my job cheaper then they will use them. I think the troubling thing now is not so much w/ Mark's communication but the local MIS management's communication, or lack thereof. I hate to see some of the people leaving who are, because most of them are very good talented IT professionals who just want some stability.
I guess we will see what happens...
I can't comment on whats been happening in OKC and NJ because all the information I have is 2nd hand.
However I can say what I can see happening with my own eyes here in Europe.
We have been under a dark cloud since 'Alpha' started over a year ago now, people got fed up of waiting and most of us have been looking for a job elsewhere.
I have seen some of the best people in the company leave, I have also seen others leave that frankly, I was glad to see the back of.
I understand the need to be more LEAN but here in Europe some departments are hugely under resourced, we also have poor customer service at Locations due to lack of staff.
Many of the people who were good at what they did have left, the ones that remain will have to pick up an awful lot of work and will still probably not be rewarded with an annual 2% payrise.
As for the shares, we were only offered shares (at the same rate as the public) if we had been wih the company for over 12 or so years, so for most of us it was not even an option to invest.
You might think that all we do is moan but I have seen a lot of very loyal hard working people walk out that door already and no doubt there are many to come, meanwhile we see the Senior management continue to be rewarded with huge bonuses (see the deal the Michel Taride got with the share options etc) for doing very little in the way of improving the business.
As far as comunications goes, we have had a whole load of meetings that have told us nothing at all, we have been told several deadlines (in regard to knowing what was happening with our jobs), none of which were met.
yellowhurts, I can agree with part of what you said, but let's look at the whole picture, shall we?
1. Increased vacation time
But ... changed the other part of the policy so that now it is accrued from your anniversary date instead of credited all at once. If you leave Hertz at a point where you've used more "vacation" than you've accrued up to that point, you'll owe the company. An improvement? Hardly.
2. Moved to 12 month reviews for all employees.
But ... now the average raise will dwindle to a paultry 1.5% with the actual for most people being closer to 1.25%. Improvement? Hardly.
3. Reduced employee car rental rates, so we no longer have to rent from Enterprise to get a decent rate.
Okay, this one I'll grant you. And it's about farking time.
4. Put money towards welfare programs for employees.
Because ... so many employees will be on welfare after Chainsaw Joe gets done and rides off into the sunset with saddlebags full of cash.
5. Moved the stock price up for those smart enough to invest.
If by smart, you mean the executives that got cut-rate options, sure. For the normal Hertz folks who were offered NO DISCOUNT WHATSOEVER on IPO shares, it's a crock of sh*t.
6. Implemented lean techniques that actually ask the employee doing the work for input.
Yes, LEAN has been a raging success. That's why customer complaints about filthy cars and billing errors are at an all time high.
7. Made his senior managers start working for the millions they make.
Really? Then kindly explain why ATC still exists. How many game shows and intranet web pages do we really need?
7.5. And most important, whether you like his truth or not, he has told us the truth every step of the way.
So if you're "core" or you enjoy working for IGS or their ilk, then that's a good thing. Otherwise, getting serviced from the backside isn't made any more bearable by being told that your poop chute is about to see some abnormal activity
This is an extract from the SEC Filing June 2007. Please note the reference to how unique and superior the Hertz IT Systems are.
If Hertz IT Systems are good enough to heap praise upon in SEC Filings, why do we need to Outsource them? The basic answer is to cut costs on an annual basis because, we are told, our fixed costs are too high.
Well that does not appear to be the "strategy" across the whole company. Within this same SEC Filing is reference to Executive management raises (approx 7% on average), details of Executive Management being paid for "Vacation not taken", in one instance a payment of approx $30k was made to Siracusa....$30k, for untaken vacation for Christs sake, that is more than some people get paid on an annual basis!!!!. There are also details of European M Taride's living arrangements...Rent Free and Tax Free living (Hertz pick up the any personal tax liability), entitlement to a high percentage of any increase in the raise of the (highly desirable Downtown Central London) property value that he currently lives in...
Hertzyellow, you have made some very good points in your earlier comment, but senior management need to lead from the front and set an example to others.. That just ain't happening.They continue to fill their pockets from the "Bank of Hertz" with no regard to the rest of the Hertz workforce.
"Proprietary Strategic Information Systems
We utilize information technology comprehensively in the areas of reservations, fleet and rate management, customer relations and sales and marketing, as well as aspects of billing, finance, accounting and other reporting systems. Since January 1, 2001, we have invested more than $380 million in our proprietary information systems and computer equipment to permit us to conduct our business more efficiently and enhance our ability to offer innovative services. Our information systems, which we believe are unique in the car and equipment rental industries, permit us to provide superior end-to-end service to customers, maintain effective pricing structures in a rapidly changing environment, utilize our fleets efficiently and maintain a high level of control over our geographically dispersed operations."
Interesting reading from the financial press. I thought that Executive Management were now better prepared for such an event.
I don't think so.
It appears that Enterprise have managed the purchase of National/Alamo as a cash deal. Hertz, leveraged to the hilt, would have had no chance to compete. Mind you, if the gains of the secondary IPO had been for the benefit of Hertz then maybe it would have been a different story.
The damning indictment of CCM ownership is stated within this article, they (CCM) have Nnow recouped all of their original investment yet still own over half of Hertz.
Hertz Executive Management, if questioned re why they did not want to purchase these brands will no doubt roll out some well rehearsed PR corporatespeak "did not fit into Hertz Image", "didn't match Hertz aspirations" blah blah blah.
Fact is, Enterprise are now truly #1 in car rental. Perhaps another Pulse Survey is needed in order to restore Hertz to its former glory.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/07/23/100134364/index.htm?section=magazines_fortune
St. Louis-based Enterprise is a private firm that since 1957 has gone from nothing to revenues that will be about $12 billion after the National/Alamo deal. Taylor wouldn't dream of taking Enterprise public and has no financial reason to do so. He actually sewed up the pending purchase by offering a no-contingencies, all-cash deal.
Hertz (Charts, Fortune 500), on the other hand, is a highly leveraged company that is controlled by a group of private-equity firms. So far its lead investors - Clayton Dubilier & Rice, Carlyle Group, and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity - have no complaints. The three bought Hertz from Ford Motor (Charts, Fortune 500) in late 2005 for $2.3 billion in equity and very quickly expanded Hertz's debt so that they could pay themselves dividends that reduced their cost basis to just over $1 billion. Then they took Hertz public and watched its stock rise from $15 a share to more than $20. In June these owners did some unloading themselves, publicly selling just over one-fifth of their holdings for $1.1 billion. Presto! They have all of their money out and still own more than half of the company.
They might want to earmark some cash for legal fees. In addition to the war on the road, Hertz and Enterprise are waging a patent battle over computer systems that each uses to make car reservations. Hertz, listing risks to its business in its June prospectus, notes that Enterprise is close to getting an important technology patent that might make Hertz guilty of infringement.
Hertz, though, has counterattacked by suing Enterprise about the same patent, claiming Enterprise made inaccurate and anticompetitive statements to key customers about how harmful the patent will be to Hertz. Nonsense, says Enterprise, moving that the lawsuit be dismissed. Consider this a case of corporate road rage, with a final reckoning yet to come.
It's no wonder they want to outsource Hertz IT. There are maybe 10% of the programming staff at Hertz that can do an excellent job and maybe an additional 15% that does a "pretty good" job; the rest should be fired. It doesn't help that 98% of management is incompetent and has no idea they should be firing people left and right.
Groups like ASAP/TAS are pissing out Hertz's money to ValTech Programmers to make-up for the Hertz programmers who have no clue how to code other than to use generated code.
Rates programmers who spend 5 years Trying to do a re-write of their application sure doesn't reflect well on Hertz IT as a whole.
We are addicted to IBM likes it's crack cocaine...we are giving the "drug dealer" IBM tons of money to pay for copies of Rational 6 (RAD6) and for the ability to run WebSphere, neither of which we need when there are free alternatives that do the exact same job.
Useless groups like ATC and negative attitudes towards doing/changing things for the good of the company cost the company money everyday. Will it ever stop unless the outsource the lot of us?
If Hertz would start listening to the few programmers who know what they are doing and fire all the people who are barely capable of creating "Hello World" applications then there would be no need for this outsourcing "exercise"...unfortunately it may already be too late.
Remember that the Rates project is a primarily outsourced project. It seems that the ASAP project is the same way or becoming so. The problem with these projects is the selling out to consultants who tell them that one programming language/environment fits w/ every application. Contrary to popular belief COBOL is still a good language for some business applications, just as JAVA is good for others. You are right that many of the programmers may be lacking, but I think this is due to inadequate training and evaluations . The old management also made it too difficult to fire someone who wasn't cutting it. Maybe that will change, who knows... I do think there are more than 25% of the programmers who can do a good competent job, they just need to be paired w/ the right environment.
Hertz Yellow,
It looks like its MF that has put Hertz in a position to become 3rd in the Market place (Airport share at least, where we are strongest). Avis + Budget already have more market share than us (30.1%), Enterprise don't have the crippling cost of debt that Hertz do and therefore are much better positioned to overtake Hertz.
MF came to town today with his right hand man (Chainsaw) and first lady (Leanne) to tell us to 'Think Positive'.
You have to hand it to the guy for his speeches, I guess he should run for congress after he leaves Hertz, he'd make a good politician!
Well, no-one can say he's not being honest about the debt at least, he told us that we pay $750 Million in interest payments alone each year, apparently we will be paying some of our debt off within the next 2 years.
What I found patronising was his lecture on optimism, he didn’t even use that word, he gave us the whole glass half full speech as if he was talking to kids!
He told us all about the labour rates in China, India, Poland and the Czech Republic, he claims to know most countries’ labour rates off the top of his head!
So here’s the deal for you guys in the US (as well as us Europeans), because the labour rate is under $1 per hour in China and India, we are going to feel the squeeze, by this he means each year our salary will go up less than inflation, and that’s if you perform really well in your job, otherwise it will stay the same as the previous year.
Oh, don’t worry if we do get outsourced to India / China / Poland / Outer Mongolia, he claims that 80% of the time the person who is working in the job follows his job to the company that has taken on the outsourcing, so be prepared to relocate your family to Mumbai and take a pay cut bringing your salary to the $1 per hour mark.
By the way, if you are going to ask any questions, don’t make it critical of MF, Mark doesn’t like taking criticism and he will not answer those questions (he laid out these rules before Q &A).
Also make sure it is not personal in any way, and by personal he means don’t question any decisions that he PERSONALLY made. Other than that you are free to ask what you like.
well it is interesting to see that we all have the smae impression of MF and Cainsaw.
Pretty interesting comments.
Does anyone know when is the next town hall meeting in Park Ridge? Probably will not have one, since MF has nothing new to say
But anyway, you must realise that within MF's peer group he is seen as a pauper ( His son is married to Mike Bloombergs daughter ) so please, to all current employees, work hard and no b'tchin let us continue to increase the profits so he may be able to hold his head up across the table and smile.
U-Haul's best customer**
At their joint meeting on October 12, 2006, the Boards of Directors of Hertz and Hertz Holdings also approved the payment of an amount of $75,000 (grossed up to offset all applicable taxes) to Mark Frissora, the Chief Executive Officer of Hertz and Hertz Holdings, to partially compensate him for certain costs associated with the relocation of his primary residence from Illinois to the New York metropolitan area.
On July 10, 2006, Mark P. Frissora accepted an offer of employment to serve as our Chief Executive Officer. On August 15, 2006, Mr. Frissora purchased 1,056,338 shares of the common stock of Hertz Holdings at a price of $5.68 per share, which was $2.00 below the fair market value of $7.68 on that date. As discussed under "—Critical Accounting Policies—Stock-Based Compensation," Hertz Holdings has subsequently determined that the fair value of its common stock as of August 15 should be $16.37 per share, rather than $7.68 as had originally been determined at that time.
Hertz Europe purchased a property in London for a purchase price of £2.3 million, plus an estimated £100,000 in improvements, and paid all fees associated with the purchase. The agreement provides that the property will be made available to Mr. Taride and his family rent-free for an initial period through June 2011
We own an aircraft for the purpose of encouraging and facilitating business travel by our senior executives, primarily our Chief Executive Officer, generally for travel in the United States and, less frequently, internationally. The pilots who fly our aircraft are our salaried employees. Our security policy calls for our Chief Executive Officer to use our aircraft for most domestic travel and, where feasible and advisable, certain international travel. We believe that this policy provides several business benefits to us. Our policy is intended to ensure the personal safety of our Chief Executive Officer, who maintains a significant public role as the leader of our company. In addition, our policy is intended to facilitate our Chief Executive Officer's availability and to maximize his time available for company business. The methodology that we use to value personal use of our aircraft as a perquisite calculates the incremental cost to us of providing the benefits based on the actual cost of fuel, crew expenses, on-board catering and other, small variable costs. Because our aircraft is used primarily for business travel, this valuation methodology excludes the fixed costs which do not change based on usage, such as pilots' salaries, the purchase cost of the aircraft and fixed maintenance costs.
Solid talent is hitting the door - nature is taking its course at Hertz - and not just in IT.
Morale is at an all time low, and getting lower every day.
Just Wheels. Human-free rental process? How will the computer 'up-sell' or sweet talk the customer into needless additional charges? Those charges have been the principal profit centers for years. It's easier to say 'no' to a prompt than a person, whose kids eat on their bonus $.
Been with Hertz UK for 10 years and love the brand. It's such a shame to see the corporation being ripped apart.
I suggest we agree and set a date for an unofficial strike, perhaps one day per week??? What can they do if a large percentage of us do not turn up for work one day per week (or more). The loss in trade will hit Mr F in the pocket. Plus, our commanders would not be so keen to bully the talent and keep us all on board as it is us talented ones who care about the company with the know-how to keep the basics going during the militant period.
Sorry! I just feel so strongly about this now……………..
WHAT SAY YOU ALL?
An unofficial strike is the best way to find yourself on the 'At risk' group.
The only way to strike is if you have a union behind you, we don't so forget it.
Interesting to see the facts and figures about MF.
I think the best thing we can do is look for another place to go where we get a better deal.
Follow the rats that are deserting the fast shinking ship!
Dear Hertz 2 B Outsourced
Jump ship and let them win / walk away with our futures. I don't know about you bud but I'm already in the 'at risk group' along with most 'non customer facing staff' (I love that line, real cleaver! it's to stop branch staff from considering a walk-out as they all think they are safe).
Sounds like you are a double agent!
Come on people, spread the word. Lets meet them with some dirty tricks of our own........
Thats the spirit simon, lets spread the word. Don't forget they will be walking away with a fat load of cash as well.
Simon, Your intentions are good and you are thinking with your heart and not with your head. Seems like you have been a long time employee of this company. I recommend that you renew your skill set while they are figuring out who to keep or let go. Use all the resources you can get and learn and move on. That is what they will do too, get all the cash out of coffers in one form or the other and move on.
Its just business nothing personal
Would you get a load of this crap?
How Hertz’s New CIO Plans to Transform the Business
If by "Transform the Business" he really means "Screw It Up All To Hell", then I guess the headline is correct.
Wow, this guy is something else. At first I was almost willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but wow... With morale low, people concerned about jobs he basically comes in and says that he is going to outsource pretty much all of MIS. And on top of that taking credit for projects that have been in progress for months. Wow, this guy is really full of himself. Absolutely outta here now...
I am going to hand in my resignation this week
I am also handing in my resignation this week. If Frissy and C-I-Joe want to cut costs and outsource MIS, I'm willing to do my part by saving Hertz the burden of my salary and benefits. I'm just sad because good people are being left behind, and now it looks like I labored nearly 9 years just to see all my work go into the sh*tter thanks to two overpaid, self-absorbed prima donnas.
Office Spaces quotes:
-----------------------------------
Bill Lumbergh: Hello Peter, what's happening? Listen, are you gonna have those TPS reports for us this afternoon?
Peter Gibbons: No.
Bill Lumbergh: Ah. Well then I suppose we should go ahead and have a little talk.
Peter Gibbons: Not right now Lumbergh, I'm kinda busy. You know what, in fact I'm gonna have to ask you to just go ahead and come back later, I've got a meeting with the Bobs in a couple minutes.
Bill Lumbergh: I wasn't aware of a meeting with them.
Peter Gibbons: Yeah, they called me at home.
A sign that your being fired:
----------------------------------
Milton Waddams: Mr. Lumbergh told me to talk to payroll and payroll told me to talk to Mr. Lumbergh and I still have not received my paycheck and they moved my desk to storage room B and there was... garbage on it.
I’m in the OKC DC.
From the Wall Street Journal:
‘For internal IT operations, Eckroth is a big proponent of outsourcing technology work. Software development “isn’t what Hertz does for a living,” he says. “An IBM or a Wipro can do that cheaper and better than I can.” Eckroth wants his IT employees devoted to working with the business to come up with innovative ideas – not writing software. The other reason he favors outsourcing is that it gives him flexible staffing levels without having to hire or layoff his own employees.’
Today, I caught myself considering working a little bit late in order to provide an important file to a European user, who I know and with whom I personally communicate, who needed it ASAP, for whatever reason. Then, I thought about what my inclination would be if I was working for India Inc., doing the same processing for an unknown entity. In a second, my obvious answer would be ‘screw it, they can wait’. This appears to be something dumb-a** Eckroth and his a**hole bosses don’t seem to realize, or know about and don’t give a damn.
A company/department/team’s quality and quantity of output depends greatly on the attitudes about the end-user, and dedication to producing a quality product for those users. My experience has been the Hertz has benefited from these two assets for many years due to a lot of dedicated and knowledgeable people.
I find it interesting that Devon, Chesapeake, Globe Life, Enterprise Rentals, the FAA, and many other successful organizations seem to appreciate a knowledgeable in-house
software development group that understands the nuances and needs of each department within those entities. How many times has an analyst thought ‘I hear what they said, but I know what they want’ and been rewarded with a ‘how did you know’ thank-you response from the user?
I also find it interesting that Hertz has stated that it might not pay severance if the outsourcing company offers you a ‘similar’ position, regardless of the location of the position. No India – no severance?
I can’t think of anything we can do to prevent the oncoming massacre. The money-bags are controlling the show, and obviously don’t intend to hang around to oversee the resulting devastation. It would be tempting to shove the c**k-sucking Geraldo Rivera look-alike down the stairs the next time he shows his sorry rear at the DC, but there are a lot more cock roaches in this world that people like MF (being one himself) have access to, and another worthless piece of sh*t would show up in days. Let’s face it, we now work for a LEAN mean f**cking machine.
There are decent jobs with decent companies out there right now. Fire up your network of friend and neighbors and start looking. Pass the word that Hertz stock will be toast in a year, and that other rental companies are much more worthy of the public’s business.
By the way, I did stay late and sent the file to the user.
By the way again, the person who set the colors and font of this site must be a true masochist. Have pity on old folks!
It appears that JE's goal is to transform Hertz Information Technology into the Specialized Hertz Information Technology Systems. His previous record and recent remarks in WSJ seem to indicate he is quite qualified for this.
For all those complainers on here, what was the last initiative you came up with to save some money, or at least keep the company from wasting any?
You need to constantly prove your value if you don't want to be outsources. You aren't entitled to it just for sitting in the same desk for 15 years. Darwin's law people. Only the strong will evolve and survive.
You have to make sure Hertz knows that somebody 10,000 miles away simply can't replace the added value that you do. You certainly aren't doing anything to prove yourselves by whining on this bulletin board.
In all honesty, some of you are just embarassing yourselves and the MIS teams at the DC, not to mention putting a huge target on your backs. Stop talking and go do already. Either make Hertz better or go find a new place to hate working at, because believe it or not, its all the same out there.
This is the United $tate$ of America. Its run by companies, and the bottom line is dollars first. If you are too naive to realize that we are all just pawns in that game, you really need to wake up.
Hey everyone, I'm from Italy HO. I just read in the intranet something regarding project Genesis. It is written that within the 20/07 Hertz would have sent a bid for the outsorcing. Within the 31/08 we would collect the info from outsorcers (with prices etc) and within sept-07 we should know something about it. Do you know if your countries did this bid? As far as I know in Italy no one did anything, moreover nobody tells us something about this Genesis! This is an awful situation....Thanks!
to Evolve or Quit:
Glad you made the cut.
Let me interpret this blog for you. Many of the employees are feeling frustrated and betrayed. You are right, nobody is guaranteed anything, in work or in life. We are not guaranteed to wake up in the morning. But, if someone breaks into my house and slits my throat while I sleep, I'm going to feel cheated.
After listening to Mark's first web cast, many employees felt a sense of hope and positive change. That momentum has been lost to the vacation "bait and switch", the lack of good solid communication regarding the future of those whom have dedicated so many years of their lives to this company, and other implications of making the live of employees better. It appears things are good for you.
Many of those "mal-contents" you are stepping on have above average reviews in their files. Doing a good job is not always enough to overcome corporate greed. Most the folks in the trenches of Enron were not doing anything wrong.
I personally would like to see this mess turn around and live up to the promise of the first web-cast. As the pendulum continues to gain momentum in the wrong direction, many are losing faith. That is understandable.
Communication is at an all time low along with employee morale. That is not the fault of those you tread upon.
thinkingoutloud,
I'm not treading on anyone. I understand your complaints and in some cases I share them. I just feel like a lot of people are just sitting around waiting to be outsourced. They should be taking charge of the situation themselves and turning it around by proving that they can't be replaced by cheap overseas labor.
Evolve or Quit,
I guess I see what you are saying, but I don't know that there is much that can be done.
So many people have been let go or quit that most of us are doing everything we can to just try to keep up. Yes, some of us actually want to see the company and our users succeed....hard to believe I know.
Besides we all know damn well that these outsourcing outfits are not getting direct exposure to what we really do (not that it really matters since it can always be done cheaper overseas). I don't know that anybody at a manager level or below is even having direct contact with those that are writing up these requests for quotes. It's the same old BS. You have directors and above trying to explain and often over-simplifying what we do, instead of actually going to the people that do the work. These companies are going to be fed this information are going to assume everything is a slam dunk. Then as Hertz starts to realize they need more than what the contact allows, they will get charged for extras. Then in years to come, Hertz will probably realize that it wasn't worth it (both in the extras and the customer service) and want to bring it back.
Of course by that time MF will have already reaped the benefits of outsourcing and will probably be gone.
It doesn't really matter what we do, we all know that outsourcing will look appealing to the stock holders and get MF and those greedy owners' stock price up to some magical $35 - $40 (so they can dump it and leave the screwed up company to be a mess for someone else).
Just wanted to warn y'all -- I worked for Joe the terrible at Mattel. The word among his direct reports was 'It's all about Joe." The man was impossible. Ego centric, buzz word driven, don't bother him with the facts or the details that would actually make it all hang together and make anything actually come out ok, don't make him actually hold anyone accountable for performance if that might make him unpopular with his fellow big shots. Strategic plans pulled out of his a__. Then, when the going got rough, he picked off his direct reports one at a time to be his scapegoats. I saw him treat a guy with 26 years of service (and a VP) like dirt. I left after two years. He was forced out (he might make it seem like he left for New Century voluntarily but hey, do you leave a big company like Mattel for a small one voluntarily?) shortly thereafter. Run, don't walk, for the nearest exit if you can. If you can't, then keep a Pearl Harbor file and document every meeting, every conversation, every memo you send that backs up that you did the right thing and cover your own behind. And find someone that is a customer to be your shield/supporter. He is NOT a good person to work for and does NOT know how to pull IT together, just how to hire people who will suck up to him and make him look good so he get a lot of publicity and can last three to five and move on to another sucker company.
Does anyone know how the local edition locations are doing? I hear they're really struggling and losing a bunch of money.
To: Evolve or Quit;
You seem to have trouble with the concept of maintaining consistency while attempting to present a logical argument.
You begin by making an assumption that those us complaining about this sorry situation have never attempted to improve the working environment of Hertz. You obviously never have, or else you would have experienced the unpleasant hostile response from management not receptive to change. This is especially prevalent in that far away land called New Joisy.
Then you state that we must continually prove our value to someone who cares or who matters. Well guess what, nobody above you gives a damn. They’re too busy trying to prove their value to someone who cares or who matters. It goes on like this right up the top of the stinking garbage heap. I watch and listen to the people under me, but I can do nothing to help them.
Then, you reverse your logic by finally stating the obvious: ‘It’s run by companies, and the bottom line is dollars first. If you are too naive to realize that we are all just pawns in that game, you really need to wake up.’. If you reread these postings, possibly you will realize just who is truly naïve.
It appears that you have already evolved to the point where your head has become wedged up your a**.
By the way, all companies are not the same. Small companies, and a lot of large, appreciate their employees much more than fast-bunk artists like the current Hertz.
I am reading these posts everyday when I get home from work. I think many of them say and feel exactly what is going on with our company. What I don't like seeing is some of the in-fighting that is going on. Let's make this work for us and not show them that there isn't unity within our ranks. I will tell you for a fact that the very people you are commenting about are seeing this. If you want to be heard do it smart.
what part of "they do not care" what happens to us- don't you all get. Smart or not...this blog only relieves a little venting necessary for some people....rfp's HAhahahaha...you think these golden parachutee boys don't already know who they will use....more of their buddies companies....ya think....update your skills....when? after you work 10-11 hours go home collaspe and go back to do it all again... by all meqans let us continue to work ourselves out of a job, while managers and directors suck up and lie to the new bosses. Hertz will be out of businness someday, no one cares except those of us who worked most of our life to build the company.....for what....someone to destroy for the almighty dollar....sad part none of the golden boys really need the money....this oklahoma baptist believes these guys will have some reaaly bad seats in the afterlife...
RAC Employees: Just an Opinion
This is what concerns me about this new regime and what one possible casualty that could result when such an ideal is hatched out of greed and not necessity. I can see such a move eventually result in closing small airport locations in cities with stagnated or dying economies and then selling these locations as franchises. Corporate wouldn't have the fleet expense, or airport counters and/or building lease expenses. Which anyone in management knows is outrageously high. These two things will kill a business plan quicker than 9/11 did in 2001. And no union shop which we all know is an ultimate check and balance monster when up against a company who's goal is to make money by any means necessary. Could you imagine Hertz employees without an union, no more guarantee 40 hrs, and part-timers without insurance. What type of staff will you create in 5 years? In a nutshell, the franchise owner would be responsible for all major expenses. Imagine the profit Hertz would occur not having to deal with fleet cost and building leasing in cities where "padded" business plans are hardly ever met. And Hertz still get a piece of the action from every franchise location who carries the Hertz name. I never thought I would never see the day that someone would be able to essentially committ RICO acts legally. If you are a corporate own location in a small market, a city where the economy is weak or dying and your location does between 800 to 1200 rentals a week , such a move could happen within the next two years. And remember the airline industry, which fuel airport rentals, will be the primary indicator, along with economy, which airports will be transform into franchises. Cities who airport airlines is struggling or cannot compete with the current price wars, will be the first to get hit. This is scary for every Hertz employee who works in a small city. A franchise owner has the option of cutting wages , layoff of veteran high paid station and area managers. And of course voiding union contracts. Hertz will be a wealthy company with a third world employee staff and customer service reputation. These owners will do to Hertz what Chicago and New York mob did to Vegas in the 40's and 50's. And it's all legal. Same mentality as the mob commission, except what they will do to Hertz employees is legal.
For All of You Left Behind.
Prepare for the future, the old Hertz has passed away and new one has arrived. As dark as it seems, and I understand what you guys are going thru. Most of your comments about this new regime is true. This is 21st century corporate America. Walmart set the tone in the 80's and 90's. Read "Bully of Bentonville" BUT IT DOESN'T MAKE IT RIGHT! You guys can survive in this new area. Used the Lean Program to your advantage. I still wish I was still working at Hertz. Even though I agree this new direction can destroy Hertz in the years ahead, be it 5 yrs or 10. I loved what I did at Hertz. I would go back in a minute. I would find away to make my job work in spite of other circumstances. Walking into work and having your City Manager say I gotta let you go, and I'll help you clean out your office is a feeling I'll never forget. And I'm still searching for a good paying job that can offer the passion Hertz provided for 13 years.
You guys stay focus and remember there are alot of people who would love to be back in the saddle at Hertz. Those of you who are Managers you can set set the tone by your dedication to your employees, co-workers and manager. Let the "Lean Program" work in your favor. I'm not saying you gotta take it up the a%# like a good soldier, I'm saying find some joy in the midst of this crisis and use that to strive. I know morale will probably never be the same for the next few years, but stay strong, focus and make the proper adjustments needed to run your local operation. Not being satisfied with current upper management shouldn't breed hatred. Hatred will ultimately destroy you.
The following article may be of interest re the current, and future, states of the Hertz Brand.
http://thetransfer.wordpress.com/2007/07/27/the-dilution-of-brands-through-inorganic-growth/
This debate is good, it's healthy and we need to keep it constructive. Above all it provides an avenue for comment, from whatever persuasion or direction, on the current status of the ongoing organisational restructure taking place. Senior Management will be fully aware of this blog, hopefully they will see it as an avenue of communication that they can use also. We should remain focused and objective in comments that we add. As seen by the various previous entries in this blog, Hertz has a loyal, skillful and determined set of employees worldwide.... We need to get the message across that we are worth saving, and that there are different ways of skinning a cat!!!!
Yeah I don't think the thing we need now is to have people packing heat in the data center. Next thing there will be is mandatory searches and metal detectors and such. I don't know maybe they wouldn't be such a bad idea, people could start shooting at all the new 40inch plasma TV propaganda screens being installed. :)
I have to compliment you all on some really good stuff this evening. You all are cracking me up! At least there is some entertainment in between my job searching and resume building.
BTW... I wish they would hold off on the plasmas, and focus their efforts on removing the sewage smell and plastic sheeting out of our damn buildings. What the hell ever happened to that? I wish those outside the Data Center could experience all of that fun!
Matthew 6:24
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Bandit- you are the only person i have ever heard say managers at hertz don't lie, and i have been employed by them for 15 years.I helped build hertz too but you must be silly to think they won't try anything (e.g. sucking up to the mf and je) to keep their jobs- yes even at your expense- no matter how dedicated you are.....good luck
THE PROPHET SPEAJS Joe Eckroth, CIO at toy maker Mattel, says that although he doesn't have a designated office for managing his multiple IT outsourcers, he appoints a senior IT person to work directly with each vendor. "If you don't manage and nurture that relationship like it is your own development team, you could get totally out of sync and watch the level of your services drop considerably," says Eckroth, who works with five to 12 outsourcing vendors at any one time. For example, he recognizes achievements from his vendors. "You can't treat the vendors working with you as stepchildren," he says.
http://www.cio.com.au/index.php/id;987730459;fp;4;fpid;15
For anyone who thinks the new vacation policy was to benefit the employees, you need to go to the following web site:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070802/earns_hertz_global.html?.v=1
After you finished reading that article, be sure to read Hertz Global Holdings Inc Files SEC from 8-k... under Related News Stories.
http://biz.yahoo.com/e/070802/htz-k.html
I feel sorry for PJS that he cannot afford medical coverage for his wife & himself after being paid 4+ million $$ over the next 12-18 months. Folks, if for one second you believe MF & JE give a sh*t about you or the Company, I have some land to sell ya'.
Doc had expired for link mentioned above. Here's a small portion:
SEC Form 8-K July 27, 2007
Under the terms of Mr. Siracusa’s separation agreement and release, for one year
following his retirement Mr. Siracusa will provide (or make himself available to
provide) consulting services, up to 20 hours per month on average, for a total
payment of $120,000 plus expenses. In addition, the Companies will pay him the
following amounts, by no later than 30 days following August 31, 2007 and less
deductions required by law: his full bonus for calendar year 2007 of $382,200;
$2,869,707 as provided in his change in control agreement with Hertz; long-term
incentive plan awards of $300,000 for 2007 and $340,000 for 2008; and $25,000
that Mr. Siracusa may use for outplacement or any other services as he sees
fit. The Companies also agreed to waive certain restrictive covenants in Mr.
Siracusa’s change in control agreement, though Mr. Siracusa will continue to be
subject to certain restrictive covenants in the separation agreement described
below. The Companies further agreed that Mr. Siracusa and his spouse would
continue to be provided health benefits through July 17, 2012. Mr. Siracusa’s
stock options (identified in his separation and release agreement) that would
have vested in May 2008 and May 2009 will vest on the later of the effective
date of Mr. Siracusa’s separation agreement and release and August 31, 2007, and
his retirement will be deemed to be a retirement at or after normal retirement
age for purposes of all his options.
Must be figgin nice...
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Hertz Drives Away with Top Honors in Travel + Leisure's "World's Best
Awards" Survey
PARK RIDGE, N.J. -- For the 12th consecutive year, readers of Travel +
Leisure magazine have ranked Hertz the “World’s Best Car Rental Agency” in
its “World’s Best Awards” survey which determines the favorite
destinations, hotels and suppliers of its well-traveled readers. The 12th
annual readers’ survey results appear in the magazine’s August issue, on
newsstands July 24, and online at www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest.
I saw this the other day and I thought: 12 years in a row...12 years...to think we accomplished this without MF, JE, LEAN & HIP!
Bandit,
You actually make a lot of good points, but because you randomly throw in profanity and racist comments, I think you discredit yourself, which is a bad thing. I think we all know you are against outsourcing. But by singling out a group that way, one that has numerous current Hertz employees within it, you are really doing more damage than you might think. I think you are letting your anger get the best of you.
Bandit,
I can understand your anger at the fat cats at the top but why the Racist comments regarding the Indians? Do you blame them for taking these jobs? Do you really think it is their fault?
Your logic goes along the same lines as Hitler's blaming the Jews for the problems of Pre war Germany.
You certainly make some good points but your racism discredits everything you say.
You are correct, the employees are angry. We are looking at the possibility of losing our jobs. We have worked for a company that has made us feel very secure for a very long time. I have worked for Hertz my entire adult life and raised my kids. Now we are looking at the very real possibility of all that being gone. We do our jobs with pride and we are proud of the company we do it for. As a programmer I don't just write a program, I learn the business rules behind what I do. I don't think you will see the kind of commitment that our people put into our jobs every day by an out-sourcing company or the same quality of work. I hate the thought of Hertz not being the high quality company we have all been so proud to be a part of for so many years. So yes, I agree with a lot of the comments made. They might not be said in the nicest way but we are all feeling pretty dumped on right now. So skip over the words you don't like and read what people are feeling.
WOW, I really have awakened the blog police...
Racist, racism and Hitler...such strong condemnation and censorship for my use of profanity and a slang description of Indians, which in my ignorance didn't realize was that insulting. Americans are called EVERYTHING under the sun in EVERY language but we "discredit" ourselves when we say anything marginally negative...seems like a double standard but I guess that's for another blog...I'll try to be more politically correct and restrain from profanity in my future comments. I sure picked a hell of a week to quit drinking...
The fact of all of this is that staff cannot and have not been able to 'be their best' with all this uncertainty going on. It is a shame to see dedicated workers losing faith, passion, confidence and being unable to see a future doing the job they love with the company they love.
It's very difficult for 'regular' staff to remain upbeat and bouncy when all we are seeing is the amount of greenbacks being issued to VP's etc, im not saying none of this is a bad thing as hell yes for the majority those people have worked hard to get where they are, but when a decision cannot even be taken in regards to how employeess will be financially rewarded, compensated, are we to wait, sit up and beg for our 2.5 / 3% raise next year, ( if we earn it ) can you see how all that sucks. ? Or. just wait to get the letter saying adios as Mr. MIS in India will work for his 90 cents an hour.
So far what i have seen from LEAN, is a load of Intranet pdf documents that showed scruffy, messy garages and workstations that need to be tided up, jesus people we must all do our bit in keeping the place tidy, what is funny though is that everything must have big labels as to what is it, bit like an episode of batman. 'KA-POW' , 'BANG' , 'STAPLER' , ' TRASHCAN' ha. Bit like the McDonalds entrance hall days, the big sign as you approached to serve a customer 'SMILE, BE HAPPY' hey there is a LEAN idea, offer badges with little gold stars. oooops we do that already.
I'm slipping here, where was I...
Is it about the greens in our pants ? possibly, what it is more about is our faith, passion, hearts that is being removed. Do we want to work for hertz ? hell yes, do we want to be treated like sheep in a pen ? yourthoughts.
I've loved working for hertz but must say at as we speak the crystal ball has been read for me, i am out in a few months after a v.long time with this company. Would I stay ? yes I would love too, however the hertz of today cannot offer me anything, literaly because it does not know itself what it is doing.
Would you run a Porsche with a Ford 1 liter engine ?, looks the biz from the outside but has no go or puff where it matters.
Final thought, ' way to go MF, $250,000 Hertz gift to M.B for his 'green' campaign. N.Y.C is but a small place, sometimes best to remember that because, and this may hurt a little, outside of U.S, IS the rest of the world, sorry to shatter that illusion.
Well said "Hertzlifer" & Gittin_Tha_Chop!
Anger is just one of the emotions that Hertz employees are feeling right now...how about betrayed, dismayed, disgusted, and frustrated. It doesn't matter if it's Indians, Mexicans, Canadians, Chinese or little green aliens, if you're taking American jobs away then it makes me angry. You ask, is it their (foreigners) fault and should we blame them? HELL YES! If their sorry governments and their countries had 1/2 of the ingenuity, heart, drive, willpower, technology, ideals and intelligence that Americans have then they wouldn't need America at all or our damn jobs! They wouldn't have cities created with "Western" influence surrounded by squalor and filth with starving people still living in dirt huts with no modern utilities. Hell almost every modern convenience they enjoy is because of America! Foreigners love to hate America but they all sure want a piece of us! America was nothing 200 years ago but with Gods blessings, we created our great nation and all the while saving others from total domination and destruction. What did those other countries do over the last 200+ years...NOTHING!! Not until this generation when they wised up and began using our technologies and ingenuity that they love to hate did they crawl out of the dark ages. If we all sit quietly while Hertz joins this absolute destruction of America without speaking up and getting angry then our end is very near...God help us...
Maybe TaTa or Wipro will see their way to purchase the OKC Data Center and then we can all just work together as one big happy bastardized global work force.: ) Sorry, was that "profanity"...I sure picked a hell of a weekend to quit smoking!
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/08/06/100141303/index.htm?cnn=yes
Bandit,
There ain’t enough cuss words invented that can come close to describing the current Hertz owners, but if it helps you feel better, jest keep throwing them words around. You thin-skins, just shut your eyes when you gets to one and then open them when your nose gits past it Concerning the dot-heads, I smelt em afore I seen em. .
Bandit,
There you go again with the America is the Best Nation in the world speech!
America is the most powerful nation in the world and it does what it can to get all it can from the poorer countries in the world by exploiting them.
Have you ever heard of the IMF and the World Bank. Ever heard of third world debt? Who do you think this debt is owed to?
If you look into it I think you'll find its mainly rich Americans and Europeans!
We are talking about the great American way of life here, it was built on slavery, exploitation and genocide.
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, thats the way it works.
If MF and JE can exploit an Indian/Chinese/Mexican/Pole etc. to do your job cheaper then she sure as hell will as long as it means more $$$ for him and his rich buddies!
The notion that it is the fault of the third world countries that they are poor is ridiculous!
Although I may share some of your concerns about the money crazed people that are contrlling Hertz, I certainly don't blame the poor workers that are taking the jobs offered to them!
a-h...I think you're letting your anger get the best of you...
So you're going to bite the hand that feeds you...America loans billions to improve your lives and now we're the bad guys...unbelievable
You also need a history lesson...slavery officially ended in the United States in 1865, 142 years ago. I find interesting that most of those countries popular for outsourcing (India, Pakistan, China, Mexico) are still on the State Department's TIP report:
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/46610.htm
If anyone is being exploited in those coutries, it's not by America or our companies, it's by local companies owned by locals that hire their local workers for .90 an hour. It's locals like Ratan Tata and Azim Premji that are exploiting poor people so they can steal America jobs and bring the evil American dollar into their pockets.
Not to change the subject or anything. I mean all this name calling and calling everyone racist/sexist/dogist etc.. is really quite fun. :| ... I guess MF is having his next webcast this week, Anyone selected to attend? I was actually at the first one at a point when things actually were looking better, but I am curious if he will make any mention of the turnover we are experiencing.
How shallow are you?
You really think America are the good guys?
I can't believe that you can see through MF's promises but not what it really going on in the world.
In 1996 poor countries paid almost £330 million interest on their debt every day to the banks, governments and financial institutions of the north.
At this moment in time every man woman and child in the Third World owes £250 (more than an average year's wages).
For every £1.00 that the industrialised world donates in aid to the Third World it receives £3.00 back in debt repayments.
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/IMF_WB/boomerang_50YIE.html
This whole thing about giving aid isn't quite as generous as you think it is!
Jack, I wouldn't agree that America is great, I'd agree its very good at exploiting poorer countries and Americans in general thinking they are more impoertant than everyone else on Earth.
a_h you're such a hypocrite...and honestly you've really become quite a bore...I agree though it's time to get back to Hertz because tomorrow "is" Monday and MF has some encouraging words of wisdom for all of us...
This blog is not meant to be censored, so hopefully there will be no withdrawal of any comments made. Guys, just stay on course and on message, there is no need to politicise it!
Divide and Conquer has been a successful strategy used ever since the times of the Ancient Greeks. Unfortunately Frissora and his cronies are not having to employ this strategy yet, as we seem to be doing a pretty good job of it for him!!
We are all hurting, funnel your focus and energy in the correct direction and manner.
If any of you guys outside of the USA feel there have been any Racist comments (perceived or otherwise) then please accept my apologies, I am sure they are not intended.
Right on Rose... After the BS that we heard today both from MF and JE we need to stick together. If those guys are looking at this then they need to continue to be called on their actions and understand the true opinion and 'pulse' of us.
economic models explained with cows:
SOCIALISM
You have 2 cows.
You give one to your neighbour.
COMMUNISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and gives you some milk.
FASCISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and sells you some milk.
NAZISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both and shoots you.
BUREAUCRATISM
You have 2 cows.
The State takes both, shoots one, milks the other,
and then throws the milk away...
TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell them and retire on the income.
SURREALISM
You have two giraffes.
The government requires you to take harmonica lessons
AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead.
ENRON VENTURE CAPITALISM
You have two cows.
You sell three of them to your publicly listed company,
using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank,
then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back,
with a tax exemption for five cows.
The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island Company
secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company.
The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more.
You sell one cow to buy a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows.
No balance sheet provided with the release.
The public then buys your bull.
THE ANDERSEN MODEL
You have two cows.
You shred them.
A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you want three cows.
A JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
You then create a clever cow cartoon image called 'Cowkimon' and market it worldwide.
A GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.
AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.
A RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 2 cows.
You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.
A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.
You charge the owners for storing them.
A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.
You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.
AN INDIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.
A BRITISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.
AN IRAQI CORPORATION
Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
You tell them that you have none.
No-one believes you, so they bomb the **** out of you and invade your country.
You still have no cows, but at least now you are part of a Democracy....
A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION
You have two cows.
The one on the left looks very attractive.
AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
and sell them to the Chinese
And that bring us to...
The HERTZ CORPORATION
You have two Cows
You barrow a cup of seamen and go into the cow production business.
You make cows, milk cows, sell the milk and when the cows start to get a little old you sell them and make more cows.
Cows start living longer and the cost of feed goes up so people stop buying your cows.
In an effort to make cows you see the milk production part of the business.
The company you well it to milks the cows dry and stops feeding them because they think they eat to much.
I worked for Hertz in OKC. I was laid off in January. I think I was the first person out the door. I like my job a lot. Here are my observations on working at the data center.
Running a data center is about processing data not about the computers your buy, who writes the programs and if your employees are surfing the Internet. The management mostly couldn't program it's way out of a for loop and doesn't know the difference between a text editor and a hex dump.
The company as again and again tied it's cart to the IBM horse and ask them to build their next mandatory mission critical application. The results have been huge processor wasting applications costing tens of millions of dollars and way to much hard ware.
Hertz IT management are WAY to old school and traditional. When I was there the management wouldn't even talk about purchasing anything that wasn't made by IBM and maybe HP.
I was on a team to pick a network item. We looked at five vendors. Only two had most of requirements we needed. Cisco wasn't one of them. Management killed the project for two year until Cisco purchased the lesser of the two.
IBM wrote the companies first major website. It was a disaster. Hertz did manage to find and hire a few real brains to rewrite and redesign it. They, with one hand tied behind their back, managed to create a very average system that works.
Now Hertz needs to rewrite their rates system. Who is doing the job? Well IBM and HP of course.
Hertz IT employees need to be empowered. Hertz needs to create an R&D department. Hertz IT needs to become more Google like. It should learn to move much, much, much faster and use their own brains.
As things are going now they are running off most of their good talent after laying off some of it. :-) Leaving them with drones to keep the bloat running.
Management has talked about cutting back to the "CORE" business. But they haven't said what CORE is and I'm not sure they know.
Their marketing is bad and some time even offensives. I would think taking reservations would be core. Hertz management still talks about the Internet as a fad. I'm sure they idea what a podcast or frapper map is.
Hertz is in the travel industry. Flying is bad. Hertz should be trying to make driving fun. They shouldn't just hand you a cheep map of the city when you arrive you should get your final destination directions printed out from Google Maps or preprogrammed into your never lost gps. Hertz should create or sponsor podcast of major destinations about what to see and where to go in the evenings when your on your business trip. Satellite radio is nice but how about Videos for kids on long trips supplied by Netflix or download through OnStar?
Doesn't this sound like the kind of company you would like to rent cars from and/or work for?
I'm starting to think that the layoff in January, wouldn't have been as bad as I thought it was.
At least it would all be over.
Look, I am going to just post as myself. Maybe that seems crazy but if you as a collective group disagree or if MF or JE disagree then I would rather they have a name to stick it too. But saying that, I totally understand why most of you are basically anon.
Some of you know me, some dont. I have the feeling that most of you that do know me dont really like or respect me as an employee of Hertz even if we have great personal relationships. But you do know me as fairly blunt and honest.
My work at Hertz ended about three years ago. Oh yeah, I still show up but due to the Hertz bueracracy it is very rare that I get projects thrown my way. I have bugged my co-workers and up the chain, but every since our first "re-org", I have been lost in the wheel. My boss is a terrific guy and I respect him very much. I only bring up my situation to point out that we have problems that are way bigger than MF or JE. We have no communication or work flow.. Atleast not in my world view.
Secondly, I attended both the webcast and "lunch with Joe" and my impressions are thus: the webcast very often are pretty much repeast of the previous webcast. MF has to promote the company and sell it as best he can. Like it or not it was Ford that sold us to this group and now that we are here, the company has to be sold and sold well so that we can compete. Yes, I know we competed quite well before MF, but we are in a new Hertz era and this is what we have to do today. I dont quite know if I totally trust MF either but he's doing what he is supposed to do in selling the company to investors. Correct?
Joes meeting went very well. I most appreciated it because for me, it wasnt a bunch of fluff. He seemed pretty honest giving the good and bad. Honestly, my impression was that he wasnt quite sure how to get where he wanted to go, but he had a vision of Hertz down the road.
Lastly, I keep reading that Hertz has some of the best and brightest and I will admit that most of you are more intelligent than I am. However, if we are collectively so bright then why does it seem bleak? I own my future. If they kicked me out of the building tomorrow I would not be any less of a person. I would eventually get on my feet and I would be better off. That is what the 'best and brightest' do. That is why those great mind you are writing about arent griping, they're getting a job that better suits them and moving on. Thats not a knock against those laid off in Jan either. I feel for you guys but I have faith that you will be better off in the future, no doubt.
Lastly, there is no reason to blame poorer countries for taking 'American' jobs. They arent American jobs. There are no country titles associated with work. I love America and I do think it is a great country. 'The Greatest' is a subjective term so who can say? But we have got to get back to the mindset of our grandfathers. They didnt complain alot when things got tough. They figured out a way to fix it and move on. Our problem isnt the Mexican, Indians, or Chinese... its ourselves. Once we fix ourselves we can come up with solutions. I guarantee you that if the tables were turned and you lived in a poor country, you would do whatever you could to feed you famliy. Will it be good for Hertz if they oursource to these countries? Probably not, look at the corporations that have done this only to pull segments back to America and Europe.
Anyway, I hope I have people to talk with tomorrow. I agree with alot of the points here and yet I disagree with alot of the posts. Hope you can take something away from my humble opinions.
Jim
I want to thank those of you who have written lately for getting back on track. I am seeing people make much more sense than what I was seeing. We have a great company of workers. We can show management that we make this company run well. I wonder how much of the management staff can actually do the jobs we do on a daily basis. I bet if they had to get in the field for a week or so they would have a much better appreciation for staffing needs etc.
I will now get off my soapbox, but thank you for reading this.
Jim, I don't know you, but I applaud you for being man enough to be upfront and professional.
I definitely see that this is just the general corporate trend finally finding its way to Hertz. Employees are torn because there is part of them that remembers the way things were with their parents and grandparents (the loyalty between employer and employee). Well gone are those days, and it is kind of hard for Hertz employees to come to that realization after so many years of stability. Since our society has continued uncontrollably down the 'Me First!' path, we can never have any of that again.
While those at the top will stop at nothing to make the extra buck and become "kings and queens" in some sick fantasy world, those of us downstream would like to see the company succeed so we can have some stability and sense of accomplishment (that we have made the company great). Of course I know that most of us, if given the chance to be the MFs of the world, would do the same thing....sad but true.
I realize that the company must have an occasional purge of waste so we do not sink. There was a lot of "old way of thinking" and "business as usual" that needed, and still needs to be removed. So I think something needed to happen and someone needed to come in and evaluate our situation. But I would have liked to have had someone that was actually committed to our company, and I'm just not seeing it.
Anyway, as the saying goes...if you can't beat em...join em. So my attitude now is that we are not, and never will be a "team" again, at least between employer and employee. In these modern times, the trend is “me against them”. The problem of course is that these management types have caught on to this trend before employees have. So we still hold out that we will have some long-term future with a company. The fact is corporate types don't care about my well-being and I don't care about their well-being. They are out to suck everything from the company and move to the next company...and now so am I.
So we need to play this corporate game. We need to continue our efforts of screwing this company any way we can, in order to benefit ourselves. It seems to be working for them. Go ahead and use Hertz resources any way you can to train yourself for your next job.
And please do not believe the "We are the world" BS that is being fed to us (I know most of you don't). Do not buy into some dream that the outsourcing company will take you on for any length of time. They may take some, but I don't buy this 80% - 90% crap for the long term. It is more likely they will drop you soon after the transition.
Lately, you get the sense that management is getting very nervous about people leaving. You know they want everything to remain calm until the out-sourcing transitions are done. But who cares, find a better job and get the hell out now. You will probably be better off, and what better joy is there than causing at least a little pain and misery for management during the transition period.
To Evolve or Quit,
I too am glad you made the cut and have nothing (that you know of) to worry about. Its not a matter of getting with the program and saving the company money. I have seen owners like this before...its all about the bottom dollar like you said, however, the bottom dollar does not include you, and never will. You need to wake up and smell what your shoveling! I busted my butt for this company for 15 years, had 15 years of outstanding annual reviews...for what..Jan 2007, I was given the shaft and shown the door....Thankyou sir, may I have another. The new regime is in this for profit and profit alone, not the people that make Hertz what it is...the folks on this site have the right to complain, many lives in Europe and the US have been destroyed in 8 months and there is more coming. Devotion to the company is now misplaced and ill advised. I would not be a bit surprised to see all non-core entities out-sourced, and the company sold off. Remember the comments on this blog when you get escorted to the door.
OLD MIS - the only reason you got layed off is because this company is ass-backwards and likes to get rid of their good people and keep the mediocre to crappy ones. If the company was to run efficiently they would pay the good people slightly more and get rid of everyone else (except maybe a few "ok" people to do the simple jobs).
I updated my name from Evolve or Quit because I figure that was maybe too harsh but reflected my attitude toward to posts at that point. I just wanted to post a fresh response to some of the things I'm seeing.
I agree that getting laid off must suck, especially when you didn't do anything wrong. The only thing is, you can't just blame the senior executives for singling you out to be fired. I assume they gave the mandate that a certain percentage needed to be cut. I also assume that then went down to VPs, Directors, and eventually managers to describe what people actually did for them and I assume either their best or their most expendible people. Someone closer to you than you may be admitting put your name in the hat.
What I was really getting at is that either you believe that we are all drones, to be singled out randomly for elimination or that there is merit in setting yourself apart from the guy next to you in an effort to seem like someone who shouldn't be fired. Some of you don't believe either is true, I know. Whatever the case might be, there is no harm in continuing to try to perform above average. Worst case, you have a few more things to pad the resume with if you leave.
I work hard every day, but I do it for me. I don't believe that the company has any loyalty to me personally, even though I do take pride in the company and am loyal to it. For a time, they might be loyal to my skills, though. I need to use that while I can and as long I keep those skills current, I shouldn't have much of a problem if they decide my skills are no longer needed.
If you are still working at Hertz but jaded about what's going on, I honestly think you only make it worse for the people who lost their jobs by saying how you just want to quit and you hate your job. Venting is always necessary, but we need to come together and come up with a solution ourselves. If we are right, and our jobs are not easily farmed out for low cost while maintaining high quality, shouldn't that be easy to show our bosses?
I think Hertzguy has summed it up pretty well. In any set of org changes such as this, the best thing an of us can do is to set ourselves apart by demonstrating to our supervisors the value that we bring to Hertz. Better for each of us, better for management and better for the company overall.
Hertzguy, a tip of the hat to you for your comments and the fact that you changed your name.
I just want to correct one item which you made an assumption on.
Your quote was as follows:
"The only thing is, you can't just blame the senior executives for singling you out to be fired. I assume they gave the mandate that a certain percentage needed to be cut. I also assume that then went down to VPs, Directors, and eventually managers to describe what people actually did for them and I assume either their best or their most expendible people. Someone closer to you than you may be admitting put your name in the hat."
Well you can tell by the name I am using that I am management and I can say without hesitation that I was not included nor even asked who should be let go. I don't know if that was true for other directors and managers but I know it was true for me.
I don't like the way the company is changing but I agree we need to work with the changes and show them that we are the best there is. I have dealt with many co-employees who have gone above and beyond to assist me when I call them. I doubt very highly if I would get the same respect from outsiders.
Director, I hope you truly are.
When I was at Hertz I could not believe how so many, managers and directors mostly, where all about themselves and not about the company. I brought many security problems to the company attention and was told to my face. "Don't you ever make more for me again!" and "Why would you till them." meaning another group at Hertz.
I had co-workers walk out of meetings because they didn't want to even talk about how to an alternative approach to solving a problem.
These things happen everywhere. But I was shocked how bad this was at management levels.
Even high level managers where dismissed for speaking their Minds to Mark. I'm thinking of Chip and Ondi.
These kinds of childish acts leave workers with the feeling they should be drowns or die.
it is what it is. no matter what any of us do. work hard, keep your head up someones butt or in the sand... some will lose, and they will win.... after they piecemeal the business to thier buddies....
Fellow MIS friends. The truth hurts. If we were fast, efficient, customer oriented and did the job that we are paid to do, we would NOT be in this position today. Mark has the guts to act upon the facts about Hertz' MIS problems. He heard first hand from multiple facets of this organization and did not fabricate these problems or their severity. In fact, previous Sr Management knew about these problems but chose to do nothing for many years.
How long should it take to re-write a rates engine? How long should it take to implement a web-site change or an e-form change? How long should it take to implement a simple ASAP change? ...Simply Wheelz... With our backs against the wall, with a bit of pressure, we have shown we can actually put in a little overtime and implement a change relatively quickly. This project is a great idea and will be implemented in a reasonable timeframe. Under old management, it would have taken 2+ years to implement - UNACCEPTABLE!!! Despite ASAP's B.A. to stall this project and create roadblocks like she has with all others, this project is going to be implemented in a REASONABLE timeframe.
MIS stall tactics has cost this company millions of dollars. Hertz does not pay us to delay projects and voice negative opinions about everything and everyone involved. This has given MIS the reputation it deserves.
Moving MIS functionality on or off shore is not a risk folks. Sitting around doing nothing about this cancer spells disaster. We need positive, helpful, intelligent IT professionals guiding Hertz MIS projects. My bet is we will get there soon.
Hertzyello
Hey should make you a manager or better, a director. Except for the part where Mark is great, you are saying things I never heard come from a managers mouth.
ASAP is a good example how things have gone wrong. The new web version is a copy of the old dumb screen version only on a web page. The code in inventive if you think making something old out of high tech parts is cool. Sticking to an old design because you don't want to retrain users or because it's all your programs can design is wrong.
The Rates engine is another example of how Hertz and Mark are getting it wrong. When Hertz put both feet into the Internet pond they had IBM build them a new website millions of dollars latter it didn't work and Hertz employees had to re-write large sections. Hertz learned nothing from this and contracted IBM to write a new rates engine with all the same parts. Good luck with it.
Companies like Hertz have not gotten it into their heads they ARE NOW SOFTWARE COMPANIES as much as they are what they do... Rent Cars. Almost every Internet application is custom for the company it runs for. No one can write code like the people needing the code. If you are going to write a program for the public to use you better learn how to do it write.
If Hertz shifts IT jobs to India you should write it off.
One humorous note on guns a the DC ...
If you examine the "Firearms Forbidden" graphic on the front door, you'll notice that an automatic pistol is illustrated as prohibited. Apparently revolvers are acceptable.
It's all in the details, folks.
0xc0de said...
Director, I hope you truly are.
Yes, I am a director. I chose to use it as my posting name so that everyone would see that management is truly looking at this. I have been a director for quite some time and many times I feel that it does me no good to have such a title. I am hand cuffed most of the time and unable to speak what I truly feel. The great thing about this blog is I can say anything I want to.
The company is changing. Changes are sometimes good but I feel that these changes are not going to benefit the working person. The new management keeps talking from both sides of their mouths and just confusing us more and more. How long are they going to keep us dangling with respects to how long we will have our jobs. I have worked too long and too hard for this company to see it all go down the crapper.
Let's hope that this new regime has a short life and things can go back to normal.
Park Ridge had a special visitor today, the Governor of Ok. Wouldn't you have liked to be a fly on the wall during that little conversation. My hope is that the Governor gave MF and his crew a good tongue lashing as to what could happen if he continued to lay off people in Ok. I could be wrong but that is what I would do if I was the Governor of Ok.
Now, let's see if MF is willing to put something in writing about that meeting or say something at his next "bs" webcast.
Director, did the Governor come to plead for Hertz to keep OK jobs, OR did he come to offer tax incentives to move jobs to OK?
If the Governor of OK showed up in PR it is bad new for everyone in OK. Some of you will know me my this comment, but I worked in the Governor's office for a short time.
PR would have come to OK if their needed tax breaks. The only way a Governor would visit is business is if he is looking to keep jobs, IE Votes. or he is looking for a hand out.
This is a very bad sign. If the jobs where staying in OK and just being outsource to another consulting group to be run from OK the Governor would not have made the trip.
Please my friends... Take of the rose color glasses you have on. Stop thinking you will be good where you are. Time is short. You have less then six months. Make your move NOW before you have to fight with everyone else.
If you don't believe me... Talk to a head hunter. They are smelling blood in the water.
I have a couple of interesting articles for you all.
1.
http://autoretailstocks.com/Auto-Retail-Informer/The-Auto-Retail-Informer--August-8,-2007
Here are some quotes from the conference call referenced in the article. The first two are directed to MF. The third is his response to the second quote.
"...With Paul retiring after 38 years I was a little bit surprised to see that there hadn't been someone picked to take over that role..."
"So in general, with your succession planning, is it fair to say that your philosophy is to have someone in the interim while you look for that permanent replacement? I guess that's the part that caught me off guard. That there hadn't been a more assured permanent position."
"Well, Paul announced his retirement. And given what we are doing in the company he felt it was good to have new leadership. And we have internal talent that we have groomed for that leadership. So we are letting that internal talent step in. And we are doing an external search as well to validate that we are getting the best available talent for the job. Again, that's the best way we can explain it to you."
What kind of BS is, "he felt it was good to have new leadership"? I'm sure Paul just didn't want to play along with the crap in the article below.
2.
http://www.webcpa.com/article.cfm?articleid=24380&pg=audit_sox&page=1
This article will show you just how much integrity MF and the scumbags at Clayton Dubilier & Rice Inc., Carlyle Group and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity have. Welcome to Hertz-ron!
Here are some teasers...
"Those who buy Hertz shares should keep their eyes wide open. You can be absolutely certain that this triumvirate will not be looking after anyone's interests other than its own, period."
"...we're persuaded that these misleading results were not an unfortunate result of technical adherence to GAAP. Rather, we think the presentation was exactly what management was after: a rosier-than-reality picture designed to support a higher stock price with a little GAAP helium."
"The next transaction is bothersome because management got caught in a mistake and used "litter box accounting" to cover it up"
Hey Hertzblog... Can you start a new topic, the 122+ comments are getting a bit much to navigate through... Maybe creating a new one every month would be good...
no comments since sept 1?
oh well
here is the latest
(Joe) I am delighted to announce that Paul Bermingham has been promoted to the role of Director, European Information Technology
why do we need this, what happened to delayering
"why do we need this, what happened to delayering?"
Simple answer, that was the typical bs corporate measure to get rid of some people they no longer wanted around.
But of course that is just one persons opinion. Does anyone have a better opinion? If so I would love to hear it.
we are phasing out IS in Europe, why would we need a director there?
It was reported that Mark makes $20M/year, he is worth maybe 300K a year.
In his town meetings, the question came up..Why do you make 20M a year? The company would save a lot if you were not paid s much. This person was asked to leave the room immediately. It is unknown if that person still has a job.
Why is Hertz still hiring people if layoffs are going to happen? I left my job that I was at for 5 yrs thinking Hertz was a better opportunity for me. Isn't HR aware of whats going on? The recruiters must know also. My 3rd day with the company we had a meeting telling us of the outsourcing..
Hi Rachel, I have been wondering the same thing, but in the case of IT, we are starting to have critical shortages in our support staff, which they need to fill but most of the IT people in the area are aware of what is happening at the Data Center and are avoiding Hertz like the plague. In your case it looks like they are basically trying to sell you on the company and leaving out the other minor details, like pending outsourcing and such. Good Luck...
Outsourcing decisions have not been made it, till then business must go on.
you also have to realize that Hertz has such a bad name in the employment market that they are no longer sending any resumes and not recommending that anybody even apply here
several support groups lost people in the initial January layoffs and have continued to lose people, some groups are now at 20% staffing levels
before long, outsourcing will be the only option as we cannot handle it ourselves
Looks like another GE good old boy is being brought into Hertz. How many former Hertz salaries could have been saved by avoiding this waste of a position. Even if the position is needed, why is it senior level? Could not Walt Seamen have done this?
I've read this entire blog & am amazed that some still believe the new owners give a damn about any of you. There's enough documented on MF & JE that tells you all you need to know. History repeats itself & Hertz is no different. These pricks specialize in this type of environment & relish the opportunity to look into the faces of people they consider street urchins as they feed you the same BS they fed their former company employees. Wake the f*** up! The person posting as "Director" is full of crap, knows nothing of what is taking place & is in a dream world thinking things will get better soon. Director & Manager level positions are not in any decision making meetings; they are not privy to any plans, potential agreements or future headcount reduction. Most of OKC management is weak with very marginal skills but were well established members of the good ole boy network that no longer exists. When they communicate with these new pricks, OKC management will see the sharpest reduction in headcount. You have people holding Manager Titles that manage no or less than 5 personnel. Forget it; they're gone. If you truly believe that outsourcing decisions have not been made, then you are beyond help. The fine-tuning & wording of these agreements has been ongoing for months. SLA’s have been reviewed/changed/re-reviewed & changed multiple times already. Assurances are being given to Corporate customers that it is business as usual & planned changes will not have impact the great service provided in the field. What Corporate customers have not been told is that Hertz personnel have been cut to the bone in the field so service will indeed be impacted, new cars will be fewer & fewer in the fleet as the cars need to be held longer for depreciation purposes & the highest rental rates in the industry will continue to rise. Some of you are hanging in there for a severance check & I can’t blame you. But my friends, that money will not sustain you or your families. So stop whining & crying. Control what you can control & trust no one.
I know my note is very negative but give me a reason why it shouldn't be. Give me just one reason.....
To disgusted...Walt Seamen was a light weight compared to John Thomas. Seamen didn't even know how to use his email & had his secretary print his emails, he would hand-write a response & she would send the response under his email address. He was a dinosaur in a world of swimming sharks. His management philosophy was to raise his voice & the louder he got the more correct his staff thought he was. He managed by fear; now Thomas will manage with skills never seen before in a position of that nature.
Hertz is not even listed in the OU job fair, guess we are not even looking for any more people to hire to do the grunt work, we are just hiring directors.
This sure goes against any de-layering principles I have ever seen, guess Mark is only interested in getting jobs for his good buddies.
such a pity we can't find anybody else that already works for Hertz, must have been that nobody in Hertz wanted it
I am pleased to announce that Allison Jackson has joined Hertz as Manager Executive Communications. Allison will report to Richard Broome, Staff Vice President, Corporate Affairs.
Allison joins us from Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, where she had a successful career for five years as Senior Manager, Communications. Prior to Jackson Hewitt, she was the Corporate Communications Manager for Cendant Travel.
Allison has a M.A. degree in Corporate and Organizational Communication from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a B.A. in Communications from Rutgers University.
Please join me in welcoming Allison to The Hertz Corporation team and wishing her every success in her career with Hertz.
I won't take offense to the fact that people think I am full of crap but as a Director, I know that my staff and many people with whom I work with have told me that they appreciate and respect the fact that I know what I am talking about.
In times like these many opinions will be formed, some negative, some positive. I am not very positive about the current changes and the future of our company. I fear for my job and wonder how much longer I will have it. But one thing is for sure, if I can outlast the current management I will give it my best.
Yes Midnight, you are correct when you say that Directors and Managers are not part of the decision making process which is currently going on. But I have a big mouth and I am not afraid to use it. I have had many a conversation with upper management people and gave them my opinion. Has it gotten me into trouble? You bet it has. Do I care? I care for my job, my staff and the company as a whole. So if I get in trouble once in a while it is no big deal. If they want to let me go then shame on them for losing people who have tried to make Hertz a company that people really do want to work for.
And to "Midnight", please do me a favor and re-read all of my previous posts. I never said things would get better. In most of my posts I have been in agreement with what is being said on these posts. I think I even said that I was not part of the decision making process. In addition, I am in full agreement with the rest of your comments about what is going on. I get the impression that you are also management but don't want to admit it.
One more comment, the new EVP who will now be responsible for our fleet doesn't have a background in that area. Read his bio, he is "Mr. Outsource".
Hold onto your butts, we're sinking fast.
I am so angry over the whole thing, I know I can't control it, but I just wish I knew all of this before I accepted a position a month ago at Hertz. I wish they would not beat around the bush and just tell us what is going on.. very frustrating.
Just another that has been dedicated to this company for 30 + years. No doubt it's inevitable I will be losing my job, or working for another company. Some at Hertz who were outsourced back in the early 90's survived, but in talking to them it certainly isn't the same game being played this time. Those got very nice severance packages & have been taken very good care of by the companies they now work for, and have done great jobs for Hertz. This time around we could also lose those folks, as well as many others. I can't think of one director at Hertz who isn't looking out for themselves and could care less about the little folks. I think the directors this time around are having a very hard time practicing there 'ass kissing techniques' they used on the old regime. I'm sure JE & MF are just laughing at them. What I hope to see keep happening is the really good people keep bettering themselves & leaving. There will be no one to outsource. This whole layoff/outsourcing/negativness has been going on for almost a year now.
JUST GET IT OVER & PUT US OUT OF OUR MISERY ONE WAY OR ANOTHER
List of what has been given to make employees feel better. 1. 3rd week vacation, but then have to sign paper work that you will give it back if you leave. 2. Rate reduction on renting a car. Nice if you actually need to rent a car, if not the what good is it? 3. WORKOUT CENTERS, that the employee will have to pay for.
Even though it was mentioned, nothing about FAIR pay or compensation as seen in other companies in the same area. Pay raises on a whole less then 2%. And isn't it nice how people make the Director/Manager status even though their degree is not in the field they are now in charge of?
And before I am called out for it, yes I know My name might be spelled different.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/business/23hertz.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1
My favorite part:
In contrast to previous Hertz executives, whose salaries under Ford were so low they didn’t have to be disclosed, Mr. Frissora has been paid handsomely for his work. His salary is $950,000, but with bonuses, stock options and other grants he was given before Hertz’s I.P.O., his payout is now worth more than $30 million, at least on paper, and he stands to make even more money if Hertz’s share price goes up.
Brian Kennedy now "choosing" to retire as well. I am eager to see how MF spins this at the next webcast. I wonder if two GE alums will fill the two positions that are being created. It's so sad, it's almost exciting.
That target on Nothwang's back is now bigger than ever.
Disgusted,
Are you really surprised that most of the executives are being swapped out? Hertz was a stagnant old company that hadn't really changed much in decades. This is a new age and the company really needs to be brought up to speed on how the modern world works. If we just keep sitting around congratulating ourselves for being #1 we're going to wake up one day and find out we're not. Oh wait, didn't that already happen? I think the company is going to be better for all of this. I've read comments above about the cars being dirtier and service being worse, but I can't believe that's the case. Don't we have some new scoring system to objectively rate all that stuff? If the score goes down, the wouldn't the company change strategies?
On a side note, Rachel, you definitely got screwed.
Cerebral, I'm more concerned about people who are complete idiots that are Directors/Managers than I am about what their degree is in.....
For anyone that still thinks MF and JE are good for this company, I have yet another example of their reckless behavior and disconnect from everything except that lower-than-expected stock price.
Some of you may already know this…
The Oracle Application DBA group, which supports many applications, including Payroll and HR for US, Canada and Puerto Rico, lost its second to last DBA last week. What was once a group of four has been reduced to one in about a month and a half, and yet, even with this, MF and JE are doing nothing. At the town hall, they said they were doing all they could to resolve the issue. However, behind the scenes, these tightwads are too cheap to pay for outside help. These guys are just going to let everything fall on the last remaining DBA.
Apparently MF is not that concerned about the possibility that, as a result of lack of full support, the payroll system will fall to its knees at some point in the future. I mean it is obvious that Oracle will most likely be outsourced at the beginning of the year, but I am amazed at the risk that MF is willing to take, during these remaining months, with something like getting payroll out. Of course, if it doesn’t get out on time, he will find some way of pinning it on Payroll or those that manage this DBA group. There is always a fall guy with this kind of rat.
While MF is so busy putting “frosting” on this “moldy cake” for investors, he apparently has no time to worry about mundane details like making sure employees are paid. I just hope he is ready for the lawsuits that will follow when employees are not paid on time. You better beef up that legal department, MF….maybe hire another dozen directors and VPs (I’m so sick of those emails org announcements…I mean, who cares anymore!).
MF’s idiotic approach to this whole genocide, I mean genesis project, is leaving the company crippled, while he lies through his teeth about how strong we are at the annual Bank of America Investment Conference.
I’m sure it is only a matter of time before the last Oracle DBA walks out the door. I don’t blame him. What reason does he have to stay? Upper management has done nothing to show any appreciation to him or any other employee. Instead of having the decency, to give employees incentives, to stay until the outsourcing is complete, the approach has always been to try to fool us into staying onboard.
Always think…..WWED!
Was the old management better than the new one?
Why are the Europeans building a new IT Organisation? Do they know something we don't?
To strategic—the old management was slow to react to the market & the competition. They were fearful of Ford management & that is one of the reasons why the Hertz fleet was the most expensive in the industry. Any major move had to be approved by the Ford board. In fact, Ford told Hertz management to get into the insurance replacement business because they saw the growth of Enterprise’s fleet needs & realized Hertz was leaving Enterprise all this lucrative insurance replacement business. The old Hertz management would never have moved into this new business venture if it had not been pushed. Years ago the competition was offering “hourly rates” & Hertz just now understands that money can be made in certain markets offering hourly rates rather than allowing cars to sit idle in parking lots. The old Hertz management regularly allowed the RAC Sales team to sign corporate agreements knowing full well that the daily rate charged did not exceed the daily cost of our vehicles. This was done for a couple of reasons…first, to grab the account before the competition did; secondly, in some cases co-op advertising was arranged as part of the deal; thirdly & at all cost, to maintain the title of Hertz being the # 1 Rental Car company in the industry. Which by the way that title has been held by Enterprise for years now. They are #1 in revenue, locations, fleet size etc. When a reduction in cost was needed at the end of each year (to increase management bonus bucks), personnel in the field felt the biggest lost. Personnel in Park Ridge & OKC rarely ever felt the reduction in staff. Instead, moratoriums were placed on upgrading hard/software, travel was reduced & training was put on hold. This was a regular event & the old timers (as well as you Director) know exactly what I’m saying to be true.
The old management was comfortable; far too comfortable. As far as the new management is concerned, they don’t want to run a company. They want to make money & will do anything for the almighty dollar. They don’t get bogged down in the details but indeed the devil is in the details. And that is one of the major reasons for outsourcing as much as possible because they will be paying others to worry about the details. Do you follow me …strategic?
Plain ol vanilla….they don’t give a damn about the Oracle DBA group or any other group for that matter. Gezzz….you’ve got to understand that by now or are just in total denial. Not getting payroll out? Are you kidding me? If worse came to worse, hourly personnel would get the same pay as last week until things were resolved & the exempt personnel checks don’t change much from week to week. Minor freakin detail to them. By the way, MF & the rest are making their investors very happy. He’s proven everywhere he’s been that employees are just a necessary evil; a means to reach his goal…..the almighty dollar.
Most of the IT systems including ASAP are archaic. The network is an embarrassment. The technology is hideous. New blood is needed & this will come from outside Hertz because the ingenuity cannot be found within the organization. Most of the Hertz management team knows one way of doing business….the Hertz way. Many had no other job in their careers other than Hertz & most truly don’t understand the RAC business. They might understand the finance area or the reservations area or the marketing area but few understand how everything interacts & that my friends is a major problem.
To Director—as requested I’ve re-read your entries & I stand by my assertion that you’re still full of crap. I have no problem admitting that I was once part of the Hertz management team. I believe that most that have read my input figured that out because I’m sharing shit that only a member of management would know. My guess is that you’re a Director in Park Ridge because the Directors in OKC wouldn’t have the balls to write anything in this blog except maybe under the cover of Deep Throat! LOL…. So you have to know that your days are numbered. So why are you hanging around? Are you hoping for the severance or that you’ll be kept to manage the outsourcing group? Either way best of luck to you & everyone else. It’s a shitty thing but happens all the time in business. Knowing these pricks, they’ll probably make the announcement of their plans during the freakin holidays. What a bunch of scumbags…..
By the way Rachel….please tell me that’s not your picture…….
midnight,
I'm guesing you were delayered at some point? Sorry if you were. Given your insights into the numerous problems with the technology, why is it taking something so drastic as outsourcing to get them addressed?
Anyway, I have to disagree on one point about MF. I'm not sure how anyone can say he doesn't care about the employees. He's done more to communicate with employees than any Vice President I've seen at Hertz, let alone a senior executive. He accepts e-mails directly from anyone, as well as having skip level meetings where people get to have round table discussions with him directly, instead of having everything her hears filtered by people afraid to tell him anything negative.
I agree that outsourcing sucks, as does the secrecy about all of it. With a publicly traded company they can't tell everyone internally before they are ready to tell the public because I'm sure it would spread. Rumor has it that the announcement will be in the next few weeks.
hertzguy- There is no communication from MF. Come on...they can arrange as many meetings, townhalls, and get-togethers they want, but the fact of the matter is that the substance is nothing but the same frosting! . He is nothing but a politician. That's not communication...it's all crap to hold us over. How the hell does "staying positive" help me? They are just trying to hold this company together until the outsourcing has been done.
And that email Mark crap is just that...crap. I have known people that have emailed him and have never received a response. He only fields the questions that are in his favor or that he can easily BS his way thru. I think some of our European colleagues have pointed that out from their townhalls.
Midnight- I have to disagree with you about payroll. I think you are over-simplifying how easy it is to just print the prior period. I mean think about tax implications as well as changes some people are expecting in 401k withholding. The potential gains that are lost from not withholding the correct 401k deductions for a period would lead to so many lawsuits. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Besides, even if you used the same checks from the prior period, you don't think the unions would have a field day with so many checks being incorrect? I'm sure they are not that generous.
And we are not talking about oh well, we screwed up this period...we'll fix on the next. Without DBA support that system could be down for weeks.
Trust me...I'm not in denial. I know they don't care. I just love pointing out what morons they are.
I guess we had all of upper management meeting in Orlando this past weekend for a fun-filled getaway where they are busy kissing each other's asses and discussing our fate. I think I heard there were several hundred making the trip. They were given the opportunity to sign up for activities like massages, probably golf, whatever the hell else those types do. I guess this is one of those relaxing getaways before the hammer comes down on all of us. Hope they are livin it up. Meanwhile, I'm still enjoying sewage smells at the DC!
And I guess MF thought we needed a new jet. I think it arrived within the past week. From the constant hiring of VPs, to the purchase of a new jet and the cost of the dozen or so people that care for it, sounds like our cost savings are being spent wisely.
OK, let me try to address each of the comments from my note last night.
Hertzguy---I wasn’t delayered; I choose to leave & resigned. The reason the decision was made to outsource is because the MIS leadership is borderline incompetent. They lost direction years ago & have been floundering. Here’s an example of how juvenile this leadership team is…..when Orrell would leave for the evening, the Directors would call each other & say “Elvis has left the building.” That’s high school shit….
New owners wanted a new start free of old ideas, processes & procedures. They see MIS as being the vehicle to utilize available technology to meet the current & future business needs of the organization. However, they have little or no trust in the management team thus the need to outsource & that group is where the biggest reduction in headcount will take place in my opinion. A few will be saved to manage the outsourcing companies but most will be found emptying their offices before the end of the year. This is not a drastic move by the new owners but a logical one after meeting with the MIS management team. I don’t want to name names but most of the old timers know. Well wait a minute, I will name one…Rob Moore. This guy knows nothing, does nothing & is the biggest phony that can not be trusted by his peers or his own team. It didn’t take long for the new owners to figure this guy out. This guy hasn’t had a creative idea or solution to a business problem in years. He’s just one example but by far the worst. I’m tempted to go down the list of Directors & Managers but won’t.
Gezz hertzguy…..the conference calls/emails etc by MF/JE are just damage control. These guys could sell ice to the Eskimos. In your hopes that life will return to semi-normal, you are allowing yourself to buy into their BS. Pay more attention to their actions than their words. These guys are pretty transparent; they know keeping their investors happy not the employees is their ticket to big time compensation. Remember when things would be tough in the RAC industry after 911 or problems with the airlines or natural disasters affecting Hertz locations & employees? Do you remember what Mr. Koch would do? He would send everyone an email reminding them that Hertz was a stable company & under his leadership we’ll make it through these difficult times together as a company. Did you believe him? I bet you did because his actions proved it time after time. Now compare Mr. Koch to these new pricks & ask yourself “what have they shown me to believe anything they say?” Enough said on the matter, agreed? One last thing…stay away from the rumors as they will destroy your stomach lining. Those who propagate these rumors know nothing. These are the same a-holes that you’ll see hanging around outside smoking or huddled at a table in the cafeteria while everyone else is at work. Next time someone shares a rumor, confront their ass. Tell them you want the details & the name of the person who gave them the information. Guaranteed you’ll get neither because they don’t have any details & they know nothing about what will or will not happen.
To bandit—what’s your point about Enterprise? I don’t recall anyone stating they were perfect & didn’t have problems. All companies of this size have lawsuits & unhappy employees. However, there’s no denying they have taken market share away from the competition via aggressive pricing, moving on to airport property & by strengthening their business relationships in the Insurance industry. Glad to see you’re not buying into MF’s verbal diarrhea.
To plain ol vanilla-OK, so you don’t believe me about the payroll? Do this for me…go visit with someone in the mainframe environment that is on the Disaster Recovery team & ask them how payroll would be handled if Hertz was in the process of restoring systems during a disaster at the recovery site. Get their answer & then come back & apologize to me. I don’t talk bullshit in this blog. Yes, there are all kinds of negative ramifications re: taxes, 401k etc but that is why the payroll systems provide the opportunity to make adjustments. Re: the unions, they would be so happy their members are being paid during a disaster, you wouldn’t hear a peep out of them. Re: lawsuits, give me a break; those suits would be thrown out of court in a heartbeat. Here you have a company trying to restore business after a disaster having already paid their employees, and someone will attempt to sue because their 401k was screwed up for a week? That is absolutely laughable….
Any system that you portend would be down for weeks due to the loss of one employee either was poorly designed or poorly managed. In either case, I too would clean house. You as well as many others still believe yourselves to be irreplaceable & that is a major mistake. These guys may be assholes but they are not morons. They are shrewd businessmen who play with the gloves off & with no holds barred. They are not afraid of spending money when necessary & if they had to pay 200k to bring some temp Oracle DBA’s to fix a broken system, they wouldn’t think twice about spending the bucks.
The Orlando management meeting that took place is the type of meeting many companies have to share plans for the future. They would never discuss employee fate in a forum such as this. Everyone’s fate has already been sealed because you’ve chosen to stay to the bitter end. Things like new products, marketing & sales, relationships with business partners are the types of issues discussed in these large group meetings not employee issues. The new plane is not MF’s plane; it’s a corporate purchase because a larger plane was needed for the corporate entourage being established that will meet with field personnel, licensees, business partners etc. Frankly, it’s no big deal; it’s the cost of doing business so why tie your nuts in a knot over something so trivial in the big scope of things. You should be planning how you will invest your 401k if you are let go; you should be thinking about how long you can survive on any severance you may receive; you should be networking with friends, family & neighbors about the potential of getting a new job; you should be polishing up your resume in case it’s needed. Those are the issues you should be addressing not the fact that the asshole bought a new plane.
I don’t mean to sound harsh but get focused on what is important to you & your family & stop wasting time being a victim of these scumbags. Good luck to you….
Well it looks like there has been some real activity here of late. And I must admit from what I have read it is very interesting and informative.
To midnight, I guess I am full of crap because that is what they have fed me all these years I worked for this company and like a fool I bought into it all. I must admit I like your comments the best. I am not being sarcastic so please don't think I am. The more I read from you the more I see you are speaking the truth. I am not hanging around for the severence, I simply don't have that much time left to work. So I will hang on for what ever time I have left. Being in Park Ridge allows me to see the crap first hand. It's a shame that the directors in OKC haven't had any comments to say here. But from what I have seen of those people they only know how to follow what will ever help them keep their jobs. I have never in my life seen such kiss ups.
Let's keep this going for as long as we have. It is the highlight of my day and more informative than what we are being fed in the office.
Good luck to all.
Midnight-
So you want to say this is a disaster, fine, but what if the disaster was preventable in the first place? That is my point in all of this.
In all your ranting, you misunderstood one major point. It is not that we are losing ONE DBA. It's that we have lost ALL BUT ONE. We are down to one guy trying to hold all of the patching, troubleshooting, tuning, cloning, etc. together. There is one guy that is now the all-time on-call for multiple applications. If he leaves there is nobody left. And the crazy thing is that no one is really doing anything to get him any help.
You can talk about disaster recovery and a recovery site until you're blue in the face, but it is kind of hard to get all of that set back up, if you have no DBAs…no one to setup/support the system.
I guess you think from my earlier post, that I actually care about the system going down. I really don't. All of those near this application expect it to go at some point. I just know that there will be some good people that will be blamed for the disaster, when it all really falls on MF and JE's incompetence. These guys have been warned time and time again and in the end will deny that they knew anything about how serious it was.
I'm tired of trying to debate payroll issues with someone who has obviously never had exposure to an HR/Payroll system or practices. You are a typical employee that tends to over-simplify what goes into processing payroll. Yes, I'm sure you could make adjustments, but there is no way to recover from your approach within any reasonable time (especially by year-end and W2s). This is obviously not your realm, so please don’t be so matter-of-fact.
I read your response to the Orlando and Jet discussion and I just think blah...blah...blah... Who cares! You sound like MF justifying it all. I really don't care what the hell they are doing there. It just pissed me off yesterday, that while these people are being pampered in Orlando, we are living with daily sewage smells at the DC. It is just typical. I mean…I definitely feel like “the heart of the company”.
You assume that I'm staying around this hellhole until the end. This blog crap just gives me a break from searching job postings. I just like pointing out what kind of idiots are running the company. MF and JE's actions have already told me what to expect about my future here.
Re my entry of 30th Sep. The European MIS are definitely making plans to change their organisation, these are changes outside of whatever outsourcing gets implemented for MIS in the US. From what I can gather, the new head honcho (bermingham) was overheard in Orlando, FL, discussing the plan with whomever he could find who was interested enough to listen. Open Communication, huh what a laugh!!! Apparently Chainsaw is on a tour of Europe this week,be interested to see what is discussed/implemented as a result.
How do the Europeans think they can survive on their own?
Plain ol vanilla…First, I’ve forgotten more than you know about disaster recovery. Secondly, if the payroll system is so fragile, it’s a typical piece of shit system that comes out of the development team. Thirdly, you haven’t left because you can’t find a job somewhere else. Fourth, if one DBA can handle the system now, this area was obviously over staffed. Lastly, you’re a typical OKC MIS employee looking to point the finger at who screwed up. So blame the new owners for everything; that’s easy to do. Don’t take any responsibility for the archaic systems used @ Hertz. One trick ponies like you are a dime a dozen.
It is a FACT, that if the payroll system becomes unusable, the previous week’s payroll will be created. You didn’t prove my statement to be incorrect. There’s no doubt that many issues are avoidable but you fail to realize these pricks don’t care & you keep saying you don’t care but you do. You wouldn’t be writing so passionately about the DBA subject if you really didn’t care. Do you really think a company the size of Hertz has no contingency plan to pay employees if the payroll system craps out? C’mon, you know better than that & to make fellow employees worry about something that will never happen is disingenuous. I already told you that the company would bring in whatever resources were needed if a problem were to arise, so stop chirping about a pending disaster that will affect the paychecks of fellow employees. The sky is falling type of shit comes out of you pseudo intellect mainframe dinosaurs all the time.
I have no skin in this game anymore & I’m stating facts not ranting. You are emotionally unraveled & your anger has taken over your ability to think objectively. Your hate is fueled by you inability to control any of these issues coupled with you fear of finding a job without having to move out of the state. You talk about the sewage issues; so do something about it. Call the Board of Health & tell them about the situation. Or are you afraid of coming forward? Talk is cheap. Do something about it or shut up. Readers are tired of hearing you whine. Continue to be a victim & blame everyone else for your bad fortune. Take a look in the mirror & you’ll see where the real problem resides…
Midnight - I'm glad my post can get you so lit up...just like MF at a recent OKC town-hall meeting. (That fist-to-cuffs comment still cracks me up!)
You gave it a nice effort, but I still think you are a complete idiot. You still come with that matter-of-fact attitude, like you are some all-knowing, God's gift to all mankind. With your BS, you might make a great CEO someday.
I'm out of here soon, so I really could care less about keeping up this back and forth crap we have started. I have made my point, and you can do with it what you will.
Plain ol vanilla –Soon? Where are you going? You’ve got nowhere to go bro otherwise you’d be gone already. You’re not fooling anyone reading this blog. You try to make everything sound so complex & that’s just a job security ploy that is quite transparent. I’m an idiot because I exposed you to be a fraud spewing garbage? Interesting…
You don’t like what I’m saying because you know I’m right. You try to connect me to the new owners but you forget asshole, I’ve left already because I knew what was coming. You’re the pawn in their master plan not me. You’re the one who has no control of the situation. You’re the one who lacks transferable marketable skills. You’re the one who knows how to conduct business one way….the Hertz way. And now that the Hertz way has changed, you’re a lost sheep. “The payroll system will fall to its knees sometime in the future” was your quote. Talk about Chicken Little….
You bitch about the stock price. You had the opportunity to buy it at $15; it is now almost $25. What is that…almost a 70% increase in value to any employee smart enough to have invested? What did you do? Buy a used pick-up truck? Again, you’re hatred has so clouded your mind you can no longer speak objectively about what is happening in the company.
Agreed, these new owners are total a-holes when it comes to employee issues, benefits etc. However, they still sign your paycheck every other week & they still pay the rent on your trailer. They still provide you the benefits that allow you to pick up your Prozac at your local pharmacy. So shut up about the damn DBA position already. These scumbags are taking care of your fat ass.
So plain ol vanilla, when you rest your little pea brain on your flea infested pillow tonight, try to think of something that I’ve written to be untrue. Come back & share it with all the readers of this blog. Otherwise, stop whining about stock prices, new planes, corporate compensation, town meetings etc. By the way buddy, dealing with the OKC Data Center sewage issues sounds right up your alley & may prepare you for your next job cleaning toilets at the Greyhound bus station. C’mon tough guy….let’s see what you really know. You’ve already proven to me that you don’t know shit. Lastly, thanks for the compliment for being “all knowing God’s gift to mankind.” All I know is that my input has been much more helpful, succinct & truthful than the blabber you’ve posted here.
To all other readers of this blog….I’ve been particularly harsh on plain ol vanilla because I despise those with little information & who try to worry others with shit that will never happen. When you allow blowhards like this to spew their venom without exposing them to be the fraud they are, it propagates exactly what is wrong with what was once a great company. It has been already said multiple times that the new owners can’t be trusted; they care only about their investors; they have saddled the company with tremendous debt etc. So you know the cards you’ve been dealt. Play them to your advantage. Hang in if that’s your decision or begin looking for a new job/career. I still have quite a few people at Hertz that I truly care about & hope nothing but the best for them. For those I don’t know who have read my posts, I hope that I’ve helped in some small way to clarify some of this craziness or at least given you some things to consider.
guess vanilla is out of here..another dba is leaving along with security people (it was kind of funny that Joe said we have WAY too many security people when he first got here)
Hp has sent oracle consultants to take up the dba slack
It is also funny that hertz is not even looking for people to hire as if they could find anybody who wanted to work for them.
I just came across this blog and have found much interesting info. Does anyone have any info on what the fate of the Alabama folks will eventually be?
What a friggin mess!!!
hertz will always need phone agents, people almost always want to talk to people
more functions may be automated with voice processing, but there will always be the option to get to a real person
Midnight and vanilla I think you are both right and both wrong. Now I don't know who either of you are but it seems like midnight you were more aligned w/ the business (non-MIS) side of things and vanilla you are an IT staffer. I think you both highlight one of Hertz's weaknesses. Our IT staff and the business units can't stand each other. The IT folks (which I am a part of) think the end users expect too much from systems that were written based on poor specs. The business units think the systems are archaic and inflexible but are resistant to changing the system because they are comfortable with 'what they have always done'. I really don't think it is either side's fault. It is a product of bad long term technology management. There are some very smart and talented programmers in IT and the systems they put out are basically what the business units are requesting. Case in point... Look at the ASAP or other JAVA based projects. There was an opportunity to incorporate modern interface design, and technology to make the screens and systems more functional and modern, but the end user's (or at least their management) wanted things to look the same or close to it, so what is a programmer supposed to do? But there are a lot of IT groups that aren't very creative either and don't present their users with other options or ideas (again maybe due to the culture of their group). And yes midnight there are a lot of dinosaurs that are at Hertz, but they exist on all platforms not just mainframes. While vanilla may be overstating the impact on a missing DBA on payroll. He is correct as to the critical nature of the database situation at Hertz. We have 3 total Oracle DBA's 2 support the core systems (RAM, RES, Seamless, CMS etc) and one for the Oracle HR product. Before today there were 3, 1 month ago there were 5 for the core systems. These core systems are responsible for 99% of all reservations booked and are generally quite complex database environments. I know that they have brought in 3 more 'consultant' DBA's but they have no experience w/ the databases and have little to know knowledge of how these db's interface with the application. So to say that this isn't a problem is being a bit naive. And maybe by itself it wouldn't be so bad, but when you combine this with the exodus (is it a coincidence that Exodus comes after Genesis in the Bible??) of systems programmers, and IT security personnel then you may not have an immediate problem, but you are one step closer to having a major system outage, that eventually will have an impact on the bottom line. Almost as important is that major projects (RAM for instance) which are not complete are suffering because the DBA's and Systems folks responsible for the design of architecture have all left.
I know I am rambling somewhat, but it is a frustrating situation for those of us that are left. I really don't want to leave, because the group I work with is incredibly talented and we do good efficient work, but like midnight says the big guys don't really care... Maybe if I start '5S'ing my cubicle things will be better...right???
Bob – Nicely put. I have been on both sides during my career (MIS / non-MIS), and can easily see both of the viewpoints you describe. I think JE and those over the DBAs are really starting to realize that there is a storm brewing with this DBA situation. They should. They have heard it from multiple sources to date. I had heard after my first posting about this, that they finally decided to start trying to bring in outside DBAs. Of course, I have also heard that these people would be more on the core DBA side, as far as experience goes. That is to say, they will probably be unfamiliar with the Oracle application DBA side, at least for a while. It just amazes me that we have gone from 5 core & 4 app DBAs to 2 and 1, in just a matter of months. I think even the people handling the outsourcing are amazed that MF didn’t at least give some sort of incentive, to try to keep some employees around until the outsourcing is complete. That sure is a gamble.
old rufie- The only issues I know of in accessing paper statements from the internet, are old policies from Ford days (or maybe lack of buy-in for implementing any security measures needed for that to happen). I think whatever issues are there are more from an info security standpoint than from Oracle. At least that is what I gather. I don’t think those overseeing HR changes would stand for this lack of access too much longer. Hertz does need to get with the times when it comes to allowing employees to log in from the outside.
Of course, don’t expect any new Oracle development any time soon. It looks like Oracle applications are now starting to lose developers as well. Two of them will be leaving at the end of next week. It looks like they are starting down the same path as the DBAs. It will become maintenance mode only for that group soon enough. Therefore, this will be a project for whatever outsourcing company takes over Oracle in the next few months.
Midnight- I am glad to see that you are sinking to new lows in your posts. So with these new insults…are these also your so-called “facts”? I don’t know…kind of sounds like rants to me. Did a little vain pop out in your neck when you wrote that?
I have had several people close to this system comment on this. So, I must point it out…
You keep mentioning this mainframe crap. I know that you are all-knowing, all-powerful, etc., when it comes to the Hertz payroll system, but payroll has not been on a mainframe in over four years, sport. Oracle applications are still fairly new to Hertz, so I don’t know about the whole archaic comment either. These aren’t in house applications that were developed back in the day. These are modern, out of the box applications with, of course, many Hertz specific customizations. So again I say …nice effort.
Since you are no longer an employee, I must ask, why are you even still on this blog? You remind me of one of those losers that graduates high school and then continues to make it to all of the HS football games, wearing your letter jacket and/or class ring, just trying to hang on to the memories. In any case, I am just so thankful that you are still looking out for hertz employees after all this time. What a swell guy.
Well I guess I need to get back to counting fleas on my pillow or pondering the possibilities of a house….on wheels.
Bandit… you beat me to it! Nice work!
Midnight, AKA Andy Fay, good to see you're still up to your pompous and arrogant ways. True, you left the company of your own free will,,,, Just minutes before they fired your fat ass for your rants.
Believe me we all partied in the halls here when they told us you were gone!!
Why don't you fess up to everyone that you didn't last as the Fred Sanford of Computer Recycling, and then moved on to Noni juice distributing because you couldn't find anyone else to hire you?
Plain Ol Vanilla tagged it dead on. You're just a friggin loser that doesn't have a life so you have to re-live your glory days like Al Bundy and his High School Football days.
Uneed... I think you are correct in who Midnight is, I was going to post a similar comment last night. He had to find a new avenue to share his rants, because many of his former employees don't want to talk to him anymore. They shared their email addresses to find out "what happened" and were spammed to no end with endless cussing and his business "knowledge".
He sent out a note a few weeks ago to them to tell them to turn in their cars, the end is near, etc. FSS is one of the few depts that hasn't lost anyone and is still able to fill open positions, unlike others (i.e. Info Security). Why have everyone of his former employees stayed? Do his ex employees have unmarketable skills, are pawns, and no control? That's not what Andy tells them. He listens to a few people in the dept and believes what they say to be the truth. They aren't in management, so therefore he doesn't know anything about what's really going on.
The tirade on Vanilla made him look like a 12 year old. If you have an intelligent point to make, you don't have to use cuss words to get them across.
Midnight "resigned" almost 2 years ago, and it is true, just because his Director couldn't get to his desk fast enough with Security to walk him out. He sent out an email ranting and raving about how the new owners were cut-throat, HLE was a joke, and other things. Someone found the email, sent it to ParkRidge. Upper Mgmt basically said he's got to go. The way he sliced and diced the employee who mistakenly put it on the Hertz Intranet was disgusting enough, laced with the F-Bomb. He thinks only his employees saw it, but he's wrong.
Andy..... GO AWAY! You are embarrassing yourself.
Bandit
you're right about the ARC closing twice for hurricanes (thankfully, we've been spared this year). My understanding of the reasoning for opening the center was for the res center here and in OKC to offset each other during weather problems - hurricanes vs snow storms.
Listening to customers I hear a high degree of frustration regarding the level of service at our locations. I'm sure this is a direct reflection of the cuts in manpower. Certainly no reflections on the remaining staff as those I talk with are generally extremely helpful in spite of being overworked.
The AHA program is picking up steam with more and more agents heading home every week. I can see some benefits with this program but have more concern regarding the cons than faith in the pros. Are the OKC res agents still being sent home? As I say, our information is filtered to the point of absurdity.
I have worked for several companies, and I have felt the least challenged at Hertz. It is by far the worst IT organization, and while outsourcing is not the answer...competent management, competent programmers, and competent analysts would do much.
I think most people on here are just worried that they may actually have to work for a living at some point. I mean if you have worked for Hertz all your life you have had it easy. Quit complaining! You have probably not done anything of value for years anyhow...
MF and Chainsaw would love to see how people respond to each other on here, the back biting name calling flea counting etc. This is worse the yahoo chat rooms.
Seriously you hear, layoffs, then no layoffs but out source.then maybe not outsource. Maybe it is nothing at all, but no one belives that. Something is coming and alot of people know when and what but are not talking. WHY???!?!!?
Even DeathRow inmates know when their time is due.
What happened when I left hertz
1. Medical Benefits costs went from 353 / month to 120/month.
2. Significant increase in pay of course I had to re-locate.
3. With a new job you still feel insecure but you can control your future based on your performance.
4. I had to learn a new business but the code remained the same.
5. Positve outlook for the next 5 years. Profit sharing keeps my outlook bright. Something hertz didn't provide
6. Moved away from family and friends but, made new friends and long distance calls are free on my cell.
I can't say that jumping the ship at Hertz was the best move I've ever made because I've missed all the people in okc but, I feel like I have a more secure future. It's was too much stress being the bread winner and not knowing if I could survive the next round of outsourcing/layoffs. Sure it sucked moving away, but, that's the price of survival and putting my kids in college. I just didn't want to waste the next 5 years "HOPING". I wish the best for you people that are going to ride it out. There is a good chance that you will keep your jobs. Yeah, you can ride it out. Yeah, you won't get any raises. Yeah, the new top management is going to make work seem rediculous but, then again, maybe the bids are too high for outsourcing.
Hell, if Hertz ever stabilizes I would love to work there again. I hope it does someday.
Glad to finally find this blog.
-realist
Bandit:
I agree with some but not all of your points, but think you crossed the line with your comment of:
"If you decide to still hang around and you feel like you still need to be challenged, please be man enough to use your real name and I will contact you direct on Monday about our opening and I guarantee you that you will be challenged!"
You're not exactly giving away your name and contact information.
Challenging the other person to be a "Man" really is over the line.... JMHO
Bandit,
I never said IT was incompetant. I said we needed more competent management, programmers and analysts. That was not to say that there are none now.
I will say, however, that I have been part of and seen IT organizations that did much more with much less people.
I will happily come show my face to you and take on any challenge you may have as soon as you tell me where to find you...however, you will have less than two weeks to challenge me enough to withdraw my notice...
So we now have plastic and aluminum buckets in which to throw our stuff in order for MF and whoever to pretend that hertz is green. Well, as long as the sausage guy keeps parking that black gas-sucker out front, this management has virtually no credibility concerning any algore procedures that are meant to bamboozle the outside world.
A note to bandit, whocares, and others of your ilk – why don’t you all-knowing egomaniacs go jack-off in some other blog? Your macho attitudes are becoming extremely boring and predictive.
So we now have plastic and aluminum buckets in which to throw our stuff in order for MF and whoever to pretend that hertz is green. Well, as long as the sausage guy keeps parking that black gas-sucker out front, this management has virtually no credibility concerning any algore procedures that are meant to bamboozle the outside world.
A note to bandit, whocares, and others of your ilk – why don’t you all-knowing egomaniacs go jack-off in some other blog? Your macho attitudes are becoming extremely boring and predictive.
Blah, Blah Blah, the post on this blog sound depressing. I don't know whether to sympathize or curse the pre-MF employees. Having been one of them, I can say Hertz was a good place to work at the time though the benefits were weak, management and the employees never seemed to get along as a team but the brand was world reknown. I left because "the times were a changing" and it was for the best. During my time, Hertz was a somewhat difficult place to work but what made it reasonably enjoyable was the comraderie among those in the same situation, either the "haves" or the "have nots" and if you were a have not, everyone was in the same situation. Now, all the pre-MF employees are the have nots and the new hires are the haves. If they are treating you like dead wood, that should be the writing on the wall to get out. Every organization has to change and Hertz needed to since enterprise was encroaching on it rein as #1 BUT the risk today is that with all the changeover in management, the new people may not know how to run a rent-a-car business and therefore may not be any better. It is not only financial wizardry that will make Hertz successful but also operational prowess. If the operational prowess is gone, look out. There is a real risk that the brand could be deminished. What made Hertz #1 was service regardless of how inefficient the organization was and from what I am hereing now from business travellers is that service is deteriorating. Private equity and management are not motivated by anything but improving shareholder wealth (which all public companies should be) so if you are still employed with Hertz, stand up and make a difference or cut your loses and get out.
We recently completed the second Pulse Survey, and almost 23,000 employees participated. The 76% response rate is 4 percentage points better than the last survey and is slightly above the “best-in-class” benchmark of 75% participation for large, multi-national companies. Congratulations in particular to our colleagues in France, Australia, and Canada where participation almost doubled. Additionally, we achieved at least a 50% response rate in every country. The overall response indicates a high level of employee engagement, and a willingness to provide management guidance as we transform Hertz into a “best-in-class” company. Your participation is important and I appreciate your responses as well as every manager’s effort to facilitate the process.
Companywide results improved slightly compared with the first survey, with an overall score (on a 1-5 scale) of 3.71, up from 3.67 last time. There were improvements in almost every one of the ten survey statements, with a significant increase (3.64 to 3.74) on the statement “I understand the reasons Hertz is changing”. I hope the improvement means that employees at all levels are receiving and understanding communications about the company’s direction and strategy.
We have comparative data on employee surveys and, according to the consulting firm Towers Perrin, the average company scores around 3.5 on similar surveys, while “best-in-class” companies score closer to 4.2. At an overall score of 3.71, Hertz is better than average, but we score below companies with the best levels of employee morale and satisfaction. The management team is committed to moving Hertz to best-in-class levels.
BS bs bs, almost everyone I talked to filled it out as very negative, there must have been many ballot box padders that put in perfect results, MF probably hired people to fill it out with perfect scores
mad-as-hell said...
BS bs bs, almost everyone I talked to filled it out as very negative, there must have been many ballot box padders that put in perfect results, MF probably hired people to fill it out with perfect scores
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I have to agree with that statement. I would never have thought in a million years that this survey would have been better than the first.
Everyone is wondering if they will have a job in the next six months and things look good....I don't think so.
Just my two cents.
well i been watching this for awhile...seems like even in this blog hertz employees are falling in to their own little "silo's" (haha)....sad what is happening...to a great company....but it is happening all the same.....and no one wants to post anymore because of the fighting....what a surprise...no teamwork from hertz employees....everyone is too scared of what will happen to their own life....au revoir!, adieu...to all the ones who left and got better jobs....prayer for those still unemployeed from Januarys reduction......
SOMEBODY SAY SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!
Okay I'll bite... I have heard that CGI is pretty much selected as the outsourcer, and that IBM is out of the running. Anyone else hearing anything. And just how sad is it that we have to get our info here rather than from our managers and directors...
well that is what the rumor mill is saying in my area also, and cgi lists merrill lynch as a client partner-surprise! Managers are meeting behind closed doors, all day today so as usual they are the only ones who will get to provide any input, and much of what they provide will be with the motive of protecting their little world- I am thinking they must be stabbing each other in the back furiously. Maybe its good to be a cubie this week....
If you believe that the "Managers" have any true input into this charade you're in need of a reality check........Charade it is- Sorry you are not being included......... If there's anyone below Director involved it's because CGI & IBM have to ask the Managers to find out how the real work is getting accomplished.......amen........ The Managers have an interest in keeping everyone employed otherwise they're out of a job too!.......some should be-the place is a mess from years of poor mangement...... CGI deadline for their BAFO is Nov 12th.........BAFO-dream on the numbers are in the bag.....now it it is who gets what piece of what pie.....
i'm tired of the whole thing- and of doing three jobs... another two weeks will be given at 9am tomorrow........good luck to you all
I hear that it would be IBM that would be chosen in our area. But I would think that it would be both of them so that they are not dependent on just one vendor.
BTW, Have anyone heard about how CGI and IBM are? IBM has been around so have some idea.
It is nice that finally infighting has stopped in this blog.
1. My sources indicate there will be no split. Someone is getting all of it. Could be either party.
2. CGI is broke. The rumor about them buying the data center is fantasy. They'll be lucky if they can afford to deliver if they win.
3. Current meetings are not backstabbing or turf guarding, it's for the bidders to see what is really needed to run the place in case they need to modify their bids.
4. BAFO is due by 11/19. Decision shortly after.
5. IBM's contract with Hertz (or Avis) is decided after this one. Draw your own conclusions.
6. Most of the work is going offshore regardless of who wins. Plan on it. A few stars will remain to lead the offshore teams. All others will likely be let go or phased out.
Hope this helps.
Interesting about CGI being broke. I have heard that they want the Data Cen... oh sorry, the Hertz Technology Center... :) so that they can expand their ops in the midwest. Guess we will see. It also looks like the re-org is happening next week as well. Maybe some news as early as Tuesday. Anyone got info on this? There are some interesting calendar entries on this if you are into calendar surfing.
Hate to sound dumb...what does BAFO mean? Also, the BAFO due on 11/19 is that for MIS only or other depts?
Anyone out there have knowledge about A/R depts?
"Best And Final Offer"
Far as I know, 11/19 is MIS only. I have no info on other areas. Anyone?
Most of the companies nowadays are having multiple vendors especially for outsourcing.
I would be really surprised that hertz would go with just one vendor.
Eitherway IBM appears to be getting a good piece of action.
Looks like Director is out of here.
MF has another webcast scheduled for November 7th. Have to wonder what words of wisdom will flow this time after the beating the stock is getting this past week.
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