Pros
Most coworkers were truly amazing people, and pleasant to work with. Nice floral arrangements.
Cons
"Mismanagement" is an excellent way to describe the running of Bennett Automotive group. Management took a backseat on most issues, leaving employees to train themselves, and figure out the job themselves. When management did not approve the actions of these poorly-trained team members, they made it clear how swift they would become with their skewed version of workplace "justice." Being prepared to be screamed at by someone above you who, in theory, should also be accountable is a must with this company. The owner acts and reacts simultaneously as though he's been unaware of impactful issues, and as if he's been aware, and involved the entire time. Bennett management has a laid back approach to their employment policies in regard to supporting their staff. Staff complaints often went unaddressed. Employees were later blamed for the consequences of problems that were left unaddressed. Co-workers were in literal tears weekly due to the treatment from customers and management. There were issues with paychecks being withheld as punishment. When everyone in my department (including those employed after me) got raises, it took weeks for management to give me that same raise. Respect was sparse except among the "lowest" employees in the dealership. When management of a healthy company is expected to be on site, employees are excited to have them there, employees feel empowered by the manager's presence, and feel there's ample opportunity to have their voices heard, respected, and represented. When management was expected to be on site here, its generally met with dread. Any joy and good morale quickly turned in to foreboding. Bennett and his highest underlings all had attitude problems, were poor communicators, and disregarded anything said by others. Bennett had a habit of pumping people up emotionally and then firing them suddenly. The turnover rate was the highest I've ever seen at a job. A former job I had as a counter person in school didn't have this astounding of a turnover rate. If people weren't being outright surprise fired (there were no opportunities given for growth or dialog and there was usually someone waiting in the wings to take over those positions), they were leaving in droves after being bombarded with constant mistreatment. There were very few opportunities to grow within the company. I saw an overbooked workload with a short staff of technicians, which brought along with it continued stress, including in communicating with advisors. Metaphorical wires were being crossed, communication was not on par. When I began working there I applied to be a driver, and during the interview was asked if I could do part-time auto-parts delivery while they looked for another drive to fill the role. Sure. Weeks turned in to months, and began to wear on my willingness to help out when I saw a need for it. This shifted over time and I began doing more parts deliveries than my valet duties during the week. It made it difficult for scheduling to properly accommodate valet needs when one of the drivers was unavailable half of the time, when this was supposed to be "temporary." Prepare to be lied to about any situation like this. Management will absolutely take more than necessary time on holding up their end of an agreement. Included in the Parts delivery was a truck that had a constant check engine light, and a situation where I was instructed my management to continue operating the vehicle after warnings came on the dash, which did result in a breakdown on the side of highway in the middle of winter with no heat for and hour while waiting to be towed. Even the tow company had no good things to say about the way the place was run and management's unfairness in finding the cheapest option even if it meant slacking on service quality. Everything in the valet department came to a head when a company-wide memo was sent which restricted overtime hours. Every overtime hour had to be approved by management, which took away necessary time for valet drivers to accommodate customer vehicles. Instead of asking employees why they were logging so much overtime (understaffed and overbooked), management shut it down completely. Customers then bore the brunt of apologies that their vehicles would need to be returned at another time than promised. There simply was not enough time in the day. There's no consistency, there's no standard of operations. It's a series of professional "winging it" that barely reaches professionalism. Bennett constantly shifts his mood and wants, he takes out frustration on employees. Besides being personally unhealthy, these wild fluctuations in mood and preference are detrimental to employee health, and make it difficult for employees to focus on their work. The micromanagement also became a problem towards the end of my employment. This is not the way to run a thriving company. This entire situation is a desperate grasp at maintaining power no matter the cost to employees. Almost every single person working there is severely underpaid and overworked. People who have been there holding the place together on the day-to-day would receive high praise, but no increase in pay after months or years. The favoritism also became exhausting.