To provide just key factors as to why this is a less than stellar place to work:
Would like to preface these by addressing the turnover. This companies turnover is INSANE. I encourage you to go look at hiring managers’ linked in. Constant job posting for account executives claiming “growth” but in reality they can not keep people on staff. 6 months into the position and the “sink or swim” expectation results in a sink, and they quit. That’s why they are always recruiting for new people. If you are interviewing, please ask questions about this.
1. Outside of young professionals starting their careers, compensation at Thompson Safety is egregious. Salespeople experience a very low base, and commission structures that truly do not compensate for the revenue they produce, nor the unpleasant activity expectations (physical cold calls, driving 35k+ miles annually, mundane call blocks and micromanagement all the way down to the amount of business cards you collect weekly). Side note: commission percentages were CUT as of recently, where you’d expect with the economy around us they would be increasing them. Service Representatives will experience unrealistic workload demands for a minimal commission structure, rewarded more for getting 5 star google reviews and aggressively billing additional revenue to customers, than for long hours and accomplishing very heavy workload.
Key point on comp: you will be fictitiously motivated (with empty promises of promotion) to provide as much value to the company as you possibly can, for the least amount of pay they possibly can. Thompson is simultaneously increasing prices to their customers, while trying to reduce wages everywhere they can.
2. Here’s the order to explain the ultimate issue: Demanding growth expectations lead to spreading capacity very thin, therefor new employees have inadequate support to effectively succeed. GM’s have inadequate support, which means mid-level managers, salespeople, and service people who report to GM’s have very inadequate support. Markets underperform, service quality lacks, customer satisfaction declines, then a tail-chasing attempt to hit numbers by upselling and increasing prices.
3. In a world where property, safety, and lives are at stake, sacrificing training, licensing, and service quality in order to inflate revenue is nauseating and unethical.
4. The dream that is sold, the “carrot that is dangled” at Thompson Safety is NO LONGER REALITY. They sell employees on the future and false promotion opportunity in order to create buy in for long term. Please ask specific questions about what 5-10 years down the line ACTUALLY looks like.
