The License & Title Department within Enterprise Fleet Management has proven, on multiple occasions, to be managed poorly, inefficiently, and with hostility. The below points, and more, were brought to the attention of management and HR multiple times. At each turn, they were dismissed and faced with a complete lack of accountability or responsibility. Instead, management will gaslight their employees into thinking they are the only one experiencing the issue, and turn the entire situation around so that the employee is just being difficult.
When concerns of a hostile, toxic work environment were brought to the appropriate parties, the response was “Your words are grounds for investigation into the department. So you need to watch your words because they are unprofessional." They willfully admitted that there should be an investigation into the conditions in the department, and willfully admitted that they would neglect their responsibility to launch said investigation.
There is a tremendous amount of gaslighting that occurs within the company. Concerns regarding the morale, treatment, and exhaustion of the employees was brought to the appropriate parties. Rather than attempting to resolve more than the most minor of issues, management uses the time to accuse employees of being a “negative influence in the department”. Employees are repeatedly told not to talk to their coworkers at all.
There is also favoritism within the company. This causes a hostile, unsupportive work environment for those individuals who are not deemed favorable. Especially since the favoritism observed is not based on any ethical means. It is not based on work or skills, but on personal traits (e.g., if you are a mother, one person gives you special treatment as she, too, is a mother). However, despite not being merited, these favored employees are presented with opportunities similarly or more capable employees are not. Supervisors will lighten their favored employee’s workload so that they could focus on career advancement. When applying for the same promotions, other employees are not given the same grace. Instead, their workloads oftentimes are increased to pick up the slack of the favored.
There is a great lack of consistency in the expectations and accountability within the company. It is stated that expectations are held at a department-level than a company-level. However, in this department, the expectations are not in fact held at a department-level. Nor are they even held at a manager- or supervisor-level. Instead, they are held on a person-by-person basis. It is clear that managers/supervisors have different expectations on responsibilities and accountability for certain individuals than they do for others. Furthermore, policies are also inconsistently upheld on a person-to-person basis. Some employees are given special treatment and not held accountable on matters including attendance and core hours, as example. Certain employees have not been held to the guidelines of working the 9:00-3:00 core hours, in office on appropriate days, while others have been fired under the same grounds.
Between the gaslighting, favoritism, and inconsistencies, the department’s morale greatly suffers. This is an easily observable pattern. Hardworking employees are overloaded with assignments while less responsible employees are catered to. More often than not, it is the latter group that is put up for promotions and leadership opportunities. This practice, instead of creating a productive workforce, drives the reliable employees out of the company. There is a reason there is so much turnover in this job, and it is not because of promotions. More employees are willing to make lateral moves just to leave. This has created a shared impression among many in the department that management pushes out “difficult” employees—those who challenge the company to be better, and who work harder than others while maintaining department- and position-specific goals and expectations. Management pushes out these "difficult" employees. Some have quit out of frustration, while others have been fired (in many ways) unjustly to “shut them up".
There is an obvious sentiment of “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” in this department. Management has made it very clear that they do not want to hear criticism of any kind. Anytime any is brought up, it is met with dismissal and defensiveness.
One of the founding philosophies of this company was “Take care of your customers and employees first, and the profits will follow.” There has been some history of this department taking care of its employees. However, the more time that passes, the less care management shows for the employees.
