Pros
I loved my co-workers. Roth has a talent for attracting the best and brightest, and I made my professional career here. The training was top notch when I started, and they are sincerely committed to being the best in the eyes of their clients. They were competitive and creative with their ideas (Videoselect, the Ambassador program), and my immediate managers allowed me to operate as I pleased, as long as I was productive and worked well with the team.
Cons
They took us for granted. I was here during the Great Recession, and I remember a company-wide conference call with senior management, telling everybody that those who stuck with them and worked under their guidance during the storm would be the future leaders of the company. My team got together, battered and bruised, and came up with a gameplan to turn the tides. After a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, we pulled through, and put turkey on the table. However, when managerial positions became available, they went outside first, and it wasn't until some of the most loyal and highest performing players left the company before they decided to make a change. That said, they DID make the change, so I will give them credit for that, but it makes me question their integrity and purpose. Being a loyal minion of the Roth Mission, Vision, and Values, a natural leader, a top performer, and part of one of the most successful branches in our division, I felt betrayed. To this day when I think about it, I am overcome by bitterness and regret about not leaving sooner. Full Throttle. During the Great Recession, they put us through the blender, slashing pay and imposing furloughs. Cuts were made, and the expectations for those of us who were left grew significantly. I get it.. EVERYbody was hurting, we were running as lean as ever, so sacrifices had to be made, and we had to really work. My team and I took it all in stride, and didn't let it keep us from working ourselves to the bone. Responsibilities tripled. Support completely disappeared. Training and growth vanished. Essentially, all of the reasons why we all loved the company were replaced with unattainable goals, belittling remarks, and complete disregard for ideas that were anybody's but their own. It was one punch in the gut after another... and one failed corporate objective after another... They were taking month-long vacations around the world, letting their responsibilities fall to the wayside. I PERSONALLY lost a tremendous amount of billing opportunities based on their disappearance. My job orders withered and died because recruiters were let go in droves, and every cry and plea for help was met with total disregard. Meanwhile, Senior Management was EXPANDING!!! Regional sales meetings were full of reprimands, and it was OUR fault numbers weren't where they were before the recession. Our ideas and success stories didn't fit the Roth plan, so we weren't even allowed to share our secret sauce with the other branches that were struggling. Once we pulled through the worst of the recession and into growth mode again, many felt it was time reap the rewards of our loyalty and sacrifice, especially those of us who lead the charge out of losses. But did they even ENTERTAIN the idea of promoting from within? Not even for one second. One by one, some of the biggest names in Roth Staffing history began to leave, and I wasn't about to let my career get sucked down any longer, so I bailed. When the chips are down, true character is revealed. Roth fed off the blood sweat and tears of their employees, while the rest of us went into debt, struggled to make ends meet, and downsized our lives significantly. Good recruiters. Terrible leadership.
