Going through reviews on Glassdoor, complaints about VIOC’s upper management seem common place. Across the country, other assistant managers have said pretty much what I’m going to.
VIOC has a set of 5 core values: to be fair and honest with employees and customers, to make self improvement and learning a way of life, to recognize and celebrate achievement, to make our jobs fun and safe, and to be great at what we do… These values are certainly admirable. However these tenants are only put into practice at a store level.
How can we be fair and honest with customers when threatened with demotion if we fail to meet non oil change revenue targets? At a basal level, sales and marketing is about convincing someone to spend money on a good or service which they don’t NEED. If a customer needs a good, they do not need to be sold to. They will pay what it costs to satiate their need. Certainly, consumers may not always KNOW what they must do to meet their vehicle’s maintenance needs, which is why I explain to every guest what is recommended for their vehicle. But by threatening an employee with demotion by failing to meet sales targets, you are motivating that employee to do whatever it takes to meet said targets, most importantly, being DISHONEST with customers.
Developing employees is certainly part of Valvoline’s training program and I do see my new team members improve on a weekly and even a day to day basis. But what of my Senior Technicians? Valvoline has no incentive to further their growth, because those team members have already received all the training necessary to perform their job sufficiently. At a certain level, Valvoline does not allow for further development.
Valvoline will recognize and even celebrate achievement, we receive emails from upper management about team members who were left very positive reviews by customers, but looping back into my earlier point about sales targets, the only achievements which are truly celebrated are sales improvements. That’s truly a shame because sales are not a metric for achievement in my mind. Quick and consistent service as well as excellent customer service is what I choose to celebrate with my team.
Make our jobs fun and safe? You can’t have fun when you know your area manager is breathing down your neck.
Valvoline does take safety very seriously. Procedures in place must be followed 100% for the “safety” of our team. I put safety in quotations because it is not the employee’s safety which is of upmost importance. Procedures are constantly being changed and added, not to keep my team safe, but to keep them on their toes. If my employee were to get struck by a vehicle and they were not wearing gloves, both them and I would be on the brink of termination because they failed to follow protocol and i failed to enforce it. How is it fair to my employees we are both incentivized not to report injuries, which PPE would have no way to protect against, if they were not wearing their gloves. Mistakes happen and you certainly should wear PPE in an automotive shop, but it’s truly mind boggling that Valvoline values their procedures more than their team’s wellbeing.
My team is great at what we do, help people and work on cars. Corporate is also good at what they do, try to squeeze as much profit out of us as possible.