When I was hired at Trugreen I was desperate for a job. I had a dispute with my previous employer and I was looking for work. After apply and receiving an interview, I had agreed to take the job at $12.50 an hour. After the DOT physical and drug screening I was officially employed with Trugreen. The initial training was great. We learned the safety of driving a commercial vehicle, treating turf, and satisfying customers. I thought it was great coming to work for. When we actually got out in the field I instantly learned the horrors of being a lawn tech.
Every work day started at 6AM. We would have a quick meaning while planning our routes for the day we listened to our managers complain about how we need to make all of our stops for the day. Our routes were planned to the tee. Every stop was literally planned out. For example if you had 27 stops for the day, your paper would have each house, how long you were suppose to be there, and departure time. After leaving shop I would arrive at my first house. I worked as an aerator which entails poking holes into the ground with an aerator machine. Rain, 110 degree weather, windy, it didn't matter. They just wanted production and sales.
The sales team worked on a partial commission base, meaning if they didn't sell lawn care packages to customers, then they were making minimum wage. There would be lots of times the sales team would sell a lawn care package to a lawn quoted at 5,000 SQ FT even if the lawn was 20,000 SQ FT. Essentially that means the lawn techs are suppose to make up that time. That would lead to lawn techs "cutting corners" to make all there stops. We were constantly told that us lawn techs were a team. If you got your stops done early, you were expected to pick up someone else's slack. That lead to techs slacking, knowing someone else would pick up there work.
Overall it's a bad company to work for. You are expected to work from 6AM to 5:30PM rain or shine. You are responsible for driving a commercial production vehicle. You are expected to make the company $1,500 day in production. You are expected to work insanely hard in 100 plus degree weather. You are expected to make sales out in the field. You are responsible for any missed stops for the day and calling the customer to reschedule. That's a lot of responsibility for $12.50 an hour. There's a lot more than what I explained, I could go on for hours, but that sums it up. Good luck if you decide you are going to be employed by them.
