Shady pay system. No one had any idea what my actual title or pay was. I was forwarded my colleagues pay on my offer letter with my name on it.
-No training. Abysmal training. Most people did not have a full grasp of their job description until years down the line (even directors).
-Expectations fluctuated…A LOT. Sometimes the standard to perform was too unrealistic. There were expectations thrown at you in the spur of the moment because the manager felt like it or had a sudden mood change. Nothing was ever clear until last minute.
(I understand that companies evolve and that the Sylvan is an innovative, rapidly-evolving company nationwide and each franchise must keep up locally, however, no one can keep pace and sanity with that level of fluctuation and constant change.)
-Zero room for growth unless you were a favorite. The favorites had opportunities to call off whenever or shorten their days while others were held to a different standard and/or treated like trash.
-If you weren’t a favorite or a high revenue generating center, you were treated like dirt …ignored messages, texts, questions unanswered, nasty tones etc. Strange and bizarre way to treat ones employees. The managers were only interested in the high revenue centers and could not be bothered by anything else.
-Everything is back to the bottom line…revenue, revenue, revenue. If you can’t generate revenue, you’re bottom of the chain and they are blatant about their disdain for you even though it’s their fault they’re not taking care of business how they should be.
-Lack of positive regard unless it’s revenue related. Management was too selfish to notice or highlight anything outside of revenue. Your talents will go to waste or be under appreciated or unnoticed if it doesn’t generate them revenue.
-Center ran through 3-4 different directors in one year. That level of ran-through is a huge red flag. Talented, well-meaning people tend to drop out because there are ever-fluctuating expectations and a very unstable work environment.
When I was first offered a job at Sylvan of St. Paul, I felt mission-driven and hopeful that I could impact the lives of many families at once and make a genuine difference in ways that I could not have without Sylvan. Management seemed supportive and the owner periodically checked in.
Then, things took a turn for the worst. Suddenly, management went AWOL and could not be communicated with. Answers were never provided and things went dark. The management direction took a hard nose-dive into generating revenue. You were hounded by all sorts of bizarre new revenue tracking logs on a daily basis. Everything had to be documented and the stress went from 0 to 100000 overnight.
You received nasty emails with nasty tones asking you nasty questions from management while your own questions remained unanswered. The phony honeymoon phase slowly starting fading away and management revealed their true colors.
