How to use lies and manipulation to trick your employees 101
Pros
Note: All of these pro's are also cons. Nothing here is given without ulterior motive. They will suck you in with talks of commission, free gym, discounted chef meals, great company events, discounts on the company product, agent empowerment which is basically giving you the ability to be in control while on the phones. They love to boast about what a great positive attitude the company has, how everyone here is friends, and how many people have found their spouses here which really does appeal to the young 20 year old LDS demographic they target in hiring. I honestly believe the CEO is a borderline genius-- but you will see why I think this in the cons section.
Cons
Let's break down why this company offers the perks they do and how it benefits the company and, ultimately, robs you of your livelihood. Free Gym, discounted meals- These are great perks at first- until you realize that a limited amount of the meals are discounted and then the price goes up. They fail to mention this and so you find yourself paying way more than anticipated. Not to mention all purchases are just deducted from your paycheck, that way they can give you 'discounted food' and also pay you less. In addition I betcha if you looked at their overhead of how much these meals actually cost, they are not losing any money by doing this. Gym? It's about dependency. Why would you want to leave a company if you have to go buy a gym membership, too? It is a cheap way to keep you from leaving. Commission--it's a lie. You don't get commission, period. They wait until the end weeks of training to let you know that they have a bonus structure for only top performers and you can earn up to $3 extra an hour if you hit these metrics. Crunch the numbers and you will find if they even gave you 1% commission on every sale (no company gives only 1%), you would make way more money. The bonus structure is designed to make you work harder for less but still feel like you are being paid fairly. Very, very, very smart. Agent empowerment- they talk about how you have the power to give discounts and such to customers at your own discretion. It's totally true. But the purpose of this is quite sinister- it is to make you feel as though you have control and a real stake in the company. If we are actually empowered, why is there no option to own a legitimate share of the company? Because that would be far too expensive. It is easier to let you give $20 discounts to customers and give you the delusion that you are somehow responsible for if someone buys a product or not. Factor in the money they are saving by not giving you real commission and they have a cushy overhead to give you this 'empowerment'. Dependency- the culture of this company, and you will hear them talk about it a lot, is to identify people pleasers and those with co-dependency tendencies. The perks are offered of low cost to the company and perceived as high value to the employees even though they are not. The activities the company puts on are emphasized because they would actually love if your only friends and your spouse were within the company- it makes it harder to leave the company. The fact that you were hand picked by the company is not actually a complement- they profile people using a psychological assessment and only hire the most agreeable people. Anyone who they believe may speak out and ask questions is eliminated, which is why their training classes are full of young kids who don't know anything. I originally thought they were ageist, but now I think it's more about the idea that young people will be easier to control. Their culture of positive attitude is actually just active thought suppression. You cannot disagree with people here or challenge higher ups. You cannot even vent or admit if you are having a bad day. It is a carefully crafted illusion to make you believe everyone else here is happy, so why aren't you? Majority of employees are just putting on a fake face due to inability to be honest. It is true psychological warfare. Don't forget that upon hiring, there is no promised time off. You earn 15 minutes every 40 hours you work and they rely on this ridiculous point system that basically if you have an unexpected sick day you are the person who is penalized. So if you ever need time off that is not 3 weeks in advanced, forget about it. They want old dedicated workerbees to whom work is their main concern. The CEO manages to make a profit by exploiting employees in the ways listed above in conjunction with a long list of SLAPP lawsuits where their main goal is to bankrupt their competitors. That's what the floor of legal team is for. With these two money making strategies, of course they can afford to give their customers discounts....all on your back!