I am a current manager working for Student Works Painting. The problem is that they hire many enthusiastic university students and make them sign a job agreement and pay $250 upfront, before any training and before any detailed knowledge of the job is gained. Even worse, the job agreement sets up many fines for students who were not suitable for the job and were hired anyway. If someone can replace you within 10 days, you get fined $1000, and if no one can replace you, they fine you $3500. This is tremendously unfair, because after learning the "system," some people realize that they are not suitable for this job.
Even worse, some people may realize that the "system" is not as good as they said, and some of the things they teach you to do are not true at all. They tell you that no one else gets prices on paint as good as theirs and that they get the best prices, but that is simply not true. We purchase 1-gallon paints for the same price contractors pay, and some contractors pay even less.
Furthermore, they take up to 34% in royalties, 250 in materials, and 1200 in administration fees right off the bat. About 4 of my friends I have met there have already quit, accounting for 3500 for some and 1000 for others. This is a ridiculous amount.
I thought the job meant flexibility, that you are in control and can manage your own business. In reality, they are a management company that outsources everything to you as a franchisee. I have to have 45-minute calls or in-person meetings on Mondays and Thursdays to report to my General Manager, and I face fines if I do not go, starting at 10 for the first 3 and then doubling, and so on. I also need to input into their database every week or else suffer the same fines. What is really going on with this company and fines?
They also make a load of money off you, which is too large and unjustified. I do agree that as a manager you can make a lot of money, but a lot of that money goes to them as well.
Right now I really want to quit, but this job has already cost me around $600 and I am pretty screwed. They expect university students to pay 3500 for quitting a job because that is how much it "damages" their company, but I believe 3500 is a far greater expense for university students than for them (if it is really that amount).
Last summer I worked for two months and made less than 3500. Now basically that needs to go down the drain, because someone from Student Works Painting decided to hire me. As a student, my university tuition, textbooks, rent and living expenses already come to more than 15 grand a year, and now I must pay another 3500.
It is poor practice to impose so many fines, especially since so many people are hired and so many quit. They create such a high demand for their job and hiring process that students are more focused on getting this job than on learning more about it.
I am not saying this job is bad, but they know a lot of the people they hire quit every year. Instead of teaching people or making them aware of this information, they place fines and regulations to make money off the people they hire who are not suitable for the job.
I would love to hear comments from other managers, GMs, DMs and owners.
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