UniFirst reviews

3.6

62% would recommend to a friend

(2,543 total reviews)
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Steven S. Sintros

70% approve of CEO

54% positive business outlook

UniFirst has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 2,543 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The UniFirst employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Personal Consumer Services industry (3.4 stars).

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
2.0
May 1, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Provides initial and ongoing training.

Cons

Management applies same sales metrics for all territories regardless of market opportunity. Always assumes the problem is the Sales Rep, not the territory. Sales cycle can be long, yet Sales/Branch Mgrs can change territories on a whim. Sales Mgr turnover high as well (think 18 mos). Emphasis on "boots on the ground" which can result in fewer sales opportunities per Rep.

1.0
Apr 22, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Freedom to plan your own day.

Cons

-Phone bock was the most useless "tool". Through off your entire day and really unproductive in setting appointments. -Sales executives have the worst plan I've ever seen, basically want you to make fake appointments so their numbers look good. -You are threatened by corporate on a weekly basis by not having enough CNA's which they know are fake. -Corporate says you are paid to uphold the database, which means you are expendable at any time -They monitor your activities so close any gaps need to be explained but you were actually presenting and closing a customer, they wanted activities. -Vidcons are the biggest waste of time -Every report contradicts one another, there are a million reports -They want you to do all your work on your own time, but tell you your not paid for you time but your database

2.0
Apr 15, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

In comparison to other companies and their sales organizations I cant honestly think of one pro that Unifirst offers.

Cons

Wow, where to begin. I guess first thing is just look at the reviews its either five star or one star. Very little middle ground. Unifirst is very concious of their image as it relates to their ability to attract new salespeople and as such will "encourage" current employees to leave rave reviews and check on them later. Now the "Cons" Unifirst has a horrible rate of turnover that tops 80%. At that clip it's time for Unifirst to look inward because the system is broken. I'm also confused by the folks that think the training program is great. It consists of watching video lessons in the office for five weeks and then being told to go into territory. I have been in sales over ten years and was shocked at the poor quality of training Unifirst provided. They really believe they are on the cutting edge of technology by employing a cloud based CRM system. I was told that i was mistaken when I informed them that every competitor had adopted salesforce at least a couple of years before. These guys really do define the the stereotype of blind homers that fail to see the real world competitive landscape. Overall just not a very bright group of people in mid management. Their base pay is by far the lowest in the industry. No matter what your geographical location the starting salary is $35k. They will give you $160 a week for gas and car and if you are among the 3% that meet the weekly quota you can make another $10k. That added together is where most of the competition starts their salespeople. One other quick thing to remember, if you do happen to join them, is during the first five weeks of training. You receive none of the gas allowance and will be paid $12 an hour. They like to wait until your first day to tell you that There is also this creepy almost religious like devotion to the company founder. They have have a founders day party and posters with his likeness and sayings everywhere. The guy passed away a decade ago but he is spoken of like he is still in control. Its just one of those things you have to experience to understand.

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UniFirst Response
12y
UniFirst Corporation encourages employees to share information with co-workers and with those outside the company for the purposes of gathering information, generating new ideas, and learning from the work of others. While we feel that we have in place a sales training structure that enables our employees to be successful, we are continuing looking for better ways to help our employees meet and exceed their own personal goals as well as organizational goals. Many factors cause employee retention problems and here at UniFirst we are continuously working diligently to provide opportunities for our employees to understand the organization 's goals and to recognize how their individual roles fit into the big picture. UniFirst values what each individual employee brings to the overall success of our organization and will continue to invest and explore ways to uphold morale while producing a positive working environment that fulfills personal and professional success.
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