Thread regarding Hertz layoffs

Wish they would just get on with it and get the redundancies done.
It is the not knowing that is doing more harm than anything else. Communication is dreadful, and I am sure people are holding on to the fact they might keep their job, which is stopping them looking for a new job.

They really should hang their heads in shame the way this whole sad situation has been handled.

Hi @38kal+14PvfaDW,

Nice try... I am not a lawyer, nor am I associated with any lawyers. You don’t need a lawyer to make the request, it’s simply a matter looking up a template, completing and then sending it in. I’m not padding anyone’s pockets. You’re trying to scare people! I wonder why?

Hertz UK/HEL leadership are TERRIFIED about this, because they know exactly what emails have been circulating about redundancies, and a correct process has NOT BEEN FOLLOWED. How foolish they have been...

Here’s a sample template:
(from https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/your-right-to-get-copies-of-your-data/preparing-and-submitting-your-subject-access-request/)

Dear Sir or Madam

Subject access request

[Include your full name and other relevant details to help identify you].

Please supply the personal data you hold about me, which I am entitled to receive under data protection law, held in:

[Give specific details of where to search for the personal data you want, for example:

my personnel file;
emails between ‘person A’ and ‘person B’ (from 1 June 2017 to 1 Sept 2017)
my medical records (between 2014 and 2017) held by ‘Dr C’ at ‘hospital D’;
the CCTV camera situated at (‘location E’) on 23 May 2017 between 11am and 5pm; and
financial statements (between 2013 and 2017) held in account number xxxxx.]
If you need any more information, please let me know as soon as possible.

[If relevant, state whether you would prefer to receive the data in a particular electronic format, or printed out].

It may be helpful for you to know that data protection law requires you to respond to a request for personal data within one calendar month.

If you do not normally deal with these requests, please pass this letter to your data protection officer or relevant staff member.

If you need advice on dealing with this request, the Information Commissioner’s Office can assist you. Its website is ico.org.uk, or it can be contacted on 0303 123 1113.

Yours faithfully

[Signature]

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by doing this. Want to find out how they made up the redundancy lists without following the correct process? Send the request. Want to find out what kind of nasty things have been written about you by management? Send the request. Ask for all emails and attachments referencing you.

This is your RIGHT. HR, Legal and some very senior leaders have done a terrible job, and this is your chance to restore some balance.

Good luck!

Ps - of course they don’t want to comply, but IT IS THE LAW! This makes them more likely to reach a decent settlement.

good one. looks like a lawyer via Santa's little helper is wanting to pad their pockets with the ignorance of people on this site. best of luck on this one.

THIS IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR HERTZ U.K. OR HEL EMPLOYEES THAT MAY BE ABOUT TO BE MADE REDUNDANT.

I CAN TELL YOU NOW THAT EMAILS HAVE BEEN CIRCULATED AMONGST LEADERSHIP, HR AND YOUR MANAGEMENT THAT CONTRAVENE ANY KIND DUE PROCESS.

MOREOVER, THIS ADVICE WILL HELP YOU DIG OUT ANY OTHER INAPPROPRIATE EMAILS THAT MAY HAVE BEEN SENT ABOUT YOU.

FINALLY, IT WILL TIE YOUR INEPT HR FUNCTION UP IN KNOTS.

FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW, READ, UNDERSTAND, GET ADVICE, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY...

• MAKE THE REQUEST

https://www.monacosolicitors.co.uk/evidence/subject-access-requests/

Specifically:

How can a subject access request assist in negotiating a settlement?

Making a subject access request can be a great way of obtaining a satisfactory settlement or improving an offer which is already on the table. Sometimes your employer may be aware of incriminating emails about you and may want to settle to avoid these emails surfacing. The documents that you obtain in response to your request should help your case, strengthening your negotiating position

We have seen numerous cases whereby management have exchanged internal emails about the employee, discussing how to engineer their departure from the business. Even internal communications from HR have to be included in the documents disclosed in response to a subject access request. We have experience of smaller companies whose board members or bosses have denigrated employees in emails and WhatsApp groups and because of this, a subject access request has really brought them speedily to the negotiation table.

Even if your employer has nothing to hide, searching for and reviewing the information you have requested can cost your employer a lot of money in time and resources. Sometimes an employer will agree to settle just to avoid the costs associated with complying with a subject access request.

Sometimes however, making a subject access request can be counterproductive. If your settlement discussions are already progressing well, it can annoy your employer and make settlement harder. Also, large employers are used to dealing with such requests. This means the fact you have made a subject access request is unlikely to faze them, although you can still obtain useful information as a result.

HERTZ IS LOOKING TO SHAFT YOU. THIS WILL HELP YOU, BECAUSE THEY HAVE ALREADY HAD A SIGNIFICANT NIMBER OF EXCHANGES WITH NAMES OF THOSE WHO ARE TO BE MADE REDUNDANT. THAT IS WRONG.

BE PREPARED. EVERYONE OF YOU SHOULD DO THIS - IT IS YOUR RIGHT!

AB is not employed to do anything simply existing is sufficient it appears?

AB do something! Where is the reorganisation? What the feck are you doing???

Rishi Sunak accused of propping up failing firms as insolvencies fall
https://mol.im/a/8928857

Yes.

Time for Thrifty UK to swallow up Hertz UK?

The countries will be franchised? Who on earth is going to step in and spend money for the whole Europe to transform it in franchisee...? It will take ages to find the partners and start the process.

Be grateful Hertz U.K. - the government has just decided to throw you a lifeline until March 2021. Gives the talented more time to find an escape, and the undeserving more time to take advantage.

About HESC future, I don't have insight information but the fact that you raise the question shows that the outcome is foreseeable.
I believe HESC and HEL will be closed.
The countries will be franchised.
Better be ready than sorry so start looking for jobs.

Seems like Barbie has taken a little vacation AGAIN!!

Closing the office hoping no one would notice, 12 weeks and counting in her holiday bonanza.

Of course she did state in her last PR spin that she spent her time between Atlanta and London?

Hopefully given the U.K. is in full lockdown she can’t return to wreck more havoc on the business, although I fear it’s already to late given Avis results and Europcar it seems the pandemic has targeted Hertz specifically..🤔🤔 very strange???

What would happen to HESC (Swords, Dublin) if this franchise option was to come about? Anyone any insight?

I wonder if the European Leadership feels any shame in the fact that their own corporation wants to turn them into a franchise operation?

Let’s be realistic - that’s basically saying that they don’t think you have the ability to run the business, and so they are going to give it to someone who can.

There’s no other way of looking at it - you have wasted millions of dollars on executive salaries and wanton cronyism, and completely forgotten what you are there to do.

So now they have started to send Americans over to dig into the problem (Jeff ‘find something for him to do over there before he breaks something else in America’ Adams and BB).

Maybe think about that when you’re posting #hertzproud and similar junk stories on LinkedIn? Basically you are incapable of running a business that is more than 100 years old.

Well done European leadership. Shame on you.

It is key to listen to the customers.
Your message highlights the reasons why Hertz will have an almost impossible path to get back to business.
The company is slowly dying. It is a real sadness.
Most employees aren't responsible for this decay. They just gave all they could without the required recognition and investments.
Now I doubt Hertz will shine again.
We must recognize that Avis and Sixt are the leaders now. And by far.

Just as an aside to the most excellent exchanges on this thread...

To be clear, I am a customer not an employee. I have read this thread in full, and it's a really depressing read. Here is some direct customer feedback - I think this goes some way to explaining why Hertz in Europe/UK has so many problems:

• Have you tried booking a car on the Hertz website? It's a terrible experience.

• If you close down locations why are they still available to choose when booking? I choose a location, start my booking only to be told that the location is closed and have to go back to re-select a different location, which then turns out to be closed, back to step 1, and so on and so on... IF YOU CLOSE YOUR LOCATIONS REMOVE THEM FROM THE LIST OF AVAILABLE OPTIONS.

• Let's say I persevere, by process of elimination I eventually work our which locations are actually open, select my dates, press go... THEN I'M TOLD YOU HAVE NO CARS. By the way, in the end I chose HEATHROW! It's not really near me, but it seems to be the only location that's actually open! BUT IT HAS NO CARS.

• Hertz live chat is down, and I can't get through on the phone. The only way I can communicate with you is on this forum.

• WHAT A JOKE.

• I CAN ONLY ASSUME YOU DON'T WANT TO RENT CARS.

• HOW BACKWARDS ARE YOUR BOOKING SYSTEMS THAT YOU AREN'T ABLE TO CONFIGURE ACCORDING TO LOCATION AND VEHICLE AVAILABILITY?

I understand that there my be Hertz leadership lurking on this forum, then you might want to take a good hard look at this issue, and quickly - because I can tell you this, most customers going to the Hertz website will give up and never come back.

Friends of our turned up at the house yesterday in a rental car - I asked if they got it from Hertz and they laughed. They used to be a Hertz hardcore customer, but they just couldn't get a car. Avis has given them a nice new car at an acceptable rate.

So whoever is reading this, I suggest you sort this out FAST. I came to the conclusion from reading this thread that Hertz is in trouble, and when I tried to book a car it made me CERTAIN on this fact.

Sad to see, but I reckon you are the authors of your own demise.

Watch the directors attempt to build their little Empires to retain their unemployable friends

So if Jeff is in Uxbridge and Bob’s back, what’s Barbs doing? Wait sat on her throne taking her pay, b–ching and lying. Pretending she knows something ANYTHING about the business?

I don’t know Jeff but it can’t be worse!

Bob well that’s unexplainable his issues ran deep deep deep..will get deleted if I put them on here..but blackmail when he got fired the last time seems to spring to mind, just for starters??

Who’s Bob?

Brought back Bob B. for franchising. What a move! If the job description has high alcohol tolerance and regularly hitting on women as “must haves,” then Bobby is our man. Unfortunately, he is not good at anything else.
But wait. When you thought that we cannot do worse, the corporation just parked Jeff Adams in Uxbridge. That’s right, closed all car sales locations in US, fired all car sales personnel, but Jiffy still has a job, high salary and got the nod to oversee what is happening in Europe. Fancy slides full of lies being prepared for his benefit, such that he reports only positive stuff back to the corporation. We have more chances of explaining colour to a blind person than getting Adams to understand car rental. Statement “who died and made you boss” has been commonly used in the US to describe frustration about his career path. Effin brilliant choice of people!

Current employees - develop your own U.K. workers council as a collective representative of those who have been told to in effect take a 20% pay cut. Nominate the most senior person you trust. A lawyer will be affordable across a group and there are plenty who will negotiate for the company to cover the cost.
On the face of it the Hertz Europe senior team are making a right fist of it.
The commentators are right, I doubt there’ll be enhanced redundancy pay as there used to be but atleast make sure you get your legal entitlement. I’ve heard HR lack basic knowledge of U.K. employment law, your lawyer will have fun with that!

Hard to understand so Bob B is back running Global Franchise but not APAC, so technically not Global.

0. O.B is now reporting into B.O.B?

AB has lost 50% of her role the part she claimed she could do, claimed not proven and given the disaster that’s unfolding????

Better days might just be around the corner. A little sign of light at the end of the darkness perhaps?

What?!

Good analysis.
Sinking boat.

Ooooh negative reactions to the last post...some heavyweight HEL must be reading this... boffin?

When you say 'European Partners' interpret this as 'the banks that own you'.
And 'the plans' means 'the latest pack of lies to keep them off our backs'.

Europe is done for. It's going to be shut down and the brand upcycled as a franchise operation. Probably should make sure you have someone who knows something about franchising in the franchise team. Angela Brav likes to pretend she knows how to run an asset-light business, but don't forget the reason why she left IHG.

Hertz is going to save a fortune just by removing all the super-heavyweight HEL salaries, and then again by getting rid of the country operations.

Writing was on the wall a long time ago - after all, just look at Thrifty UK vs Hertz UK.
One makes a profit, the other makes a mess. So much waste at the top, and such a shame for the hard working employees (director level and below).

You have all been told - I hope you are finding other jobs, because this one is about to end.

Good luck to the super-heavyweights - if you haven't left already it means you can't find a job - certainly not at your current over-inflated salary (no surprise there).

What has made my blood boil this morning is an internal comms has gone out to including sharing that ‘the plan’ has been shared with our European partners so why the feck can this not be shared with us, so we can read what the plan is?

Any business which has leaders who require to engage the services of a consultant, really have no idea of how their own business works. Such leaders should refrain from spouting Micawberesque hope to those facing unemployment. Time has almost run out. Iceberg dead ahead

A genuine question:

Before the latest UK update email arrived, there was discussion/advice on here about not accepting the new "Hertz Furlough" as Hertz were essentially in breach of contract by not paying employees their full salary in November and December.

Has anyone taken this advice and had a "pay me and let me work or make me redundant" conversation, and if so, what was the outcome?

What emails? I haven’t received anything, not sure if that’s good or bad?!

Oh Angela Brav, you are truly hopeless. I have sent a link to this thread to the Leadership Council. They need to know what they are dealing with.

This made me laugh so much...

“If you aim to be a purposeful leader you need to ask yourself this. What does my team get out of bed in the morning for, why are they coming to work? And what kind of business would we say absolutely no to? Or what country would we refuse to work with? Until you have thought through what a commitment to purpose really entails, until you are prepared to make the sacrifices, be extremely wary about making grand statements. As soon as employees, let alone external stakeholders, sense that purpose is all about high minded ideals which don’t change a thing on the ground, your credibility vanishes.”

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

It’s vanished.

http://leadershipcouncil.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/11-Purpose-First-Think-Small.pdf

Incase you don’t believe the last post I’m sure this makes interesting reading.

And Hertz approved this release??????

So proud of you guys in the USA, so proud.
HERTZ #1!

So proud of being in Chapter 11.

So proud of our inability to communicate honestly with employees.

So proud that we are taking cash from European taxpayers to keep paying high salaries to the delusional senior execs who crippled this company BEFORE COVID-19 EVEN EXISTED.

So proud.

Speaking of basic research...
As previously mentioned, I agreed to being furloughed for the duration of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and no more. I look forward to being paid my CONTRACTUAL SALARY from end Oct onwards. If I am not paid this then Citizens Advice says that Hertz is in breaking my contract of employment. So I'm not waiting for a fat payout, I'd just like to be paid what I am legally entitled to, and whilst that might not be much to you (you've given yourself away there as one of the higher paid people) it is A LOT to me.
Come on Hertz - sort it out!

If you think we will get a fat "cheque" payout you're all living in a dream world!! Check your contracts, there is no redundancy package built in for the majority so you fall under statutory! So you've all been waiting this long for nothing! Come on people! Basic research! 🤣

https://www.gov.uk/redundancy-your-rights/redundancy-pay

Sorry on the last post it could not possibly be Angela, it has more than 3 words??

I agree that we have to find other jobs, but I’m not leaving without my cheque, while she sits and does nothing driving the company deeper and deeper in to the abyss..

Well said, Angela. About time you gave your employees some tough love. They need to hear exactly this message - it’s over for most of them, they need to go find something else and quickly. All this moping around and leaking on this site is utterly pointless. As long we get to keep our money and get our payout - that’s all that matters. The rest of the useless so-called employees can starve.
With love,
Your Leadership Team.

Then leave! What are you waiting for??? This is how stupid you all sound and not knowledgeable about the wider consequences! You sour lot who keep complaining about the company then why are you still here and not handed in your notices or used the time to find another job?? But No, you want what you think is "free" money but what you fail to realise is nothing in this world comes for free. You and everyone else will have to pay the furlough money back over time so the more you s— out the system the more you have to pay back, then your going into a wider pot of people at the end on this month like many other companies who are planning redundancy so now will make it even difficult to find a job, then you will run out of money then sign on! Then that will have an effect of your taxes and pension later on! Not very clever if I say so myself. How about everyone stop moaning, grow a pair and leave if you hate the company. Yes there's been mistakes but people are only human, no one could have predicted the impact of CV19 but yet you passing the blame on to others! I agree that communication has been poor but my main point here is if you're waiting on a big redundancy payout then you got another thing coming!

I think the outcome of Brexit and the years of horrendous leadership in the U.K. demonstrate the level of stupidity in this country. I am happy to be leaving. You, MY FRIEND, will start to understand the true meaning of ‘getting a life’ when you struggle to support yours after this series of train crashes. Good luck to you and your very sad bitter and twisted post-Hertz existence.

They may all be screwed but, my friend, you sound sad, bitter and twisted and really need to try and get a life.