Pros
A great idea. In theory, this should be great experience, with the opportunity to work as a rideshare driver, in the company's maintained and insured luxury vehicle, with benefits, including insurance, W2 status, paid sick time, and 401k after six months. Alto also states a very conscientious mind-set, across the board, including clear, open communication, vetting its drivers, and safety for both the client and the employee. While not for everyone looking for work in the rideshare market, it certainly held its appeal for me.
Cons
Poorly executed. In practice, it was not a good experience, from the start. My take-away was confirmation of the negative reviews I had read, primarily having to do with poor management and communication. Every communication I received ended with "Send us a text message if you have any questions!"; not one of the five I sent received a reply.* My onboarding seemed rushed; essentially that I would be starting immediately after passing a driving simulation test and a saliva drug screen. After closely reviewing the job description, I decided to opt out, based primarily on widely varying pay, depending on shift (from $12/hr to $24/hr), and the stipulation of “10 hour minimum availability each day, schedule will reflect 6-8 hours shifts”, but also because of what I had come to feel was very poor communication. One email contained this: "Below is the availability you provided please (sic) keep this for your records, it cannot be changed but it will be discussed in person during the driver assessment when we build your schedule", but it was not included. I got no reply to my request that it be sent. Finally, and ironically, although I sent a message of my decision to not proceed to two different people, my final communication from them was that, "(because) At Alto we value clear communication with our employees (and) you recently missed your scheduled Drive Along with Alto and did not inform us that you would not be able to make it, we must rescind the offer of employment." And although I did not get to a point where I might experience this, another frequently mentioned issue in reviews is that the operations staff - dispatch and management - functions poorly and ineffectively.