As a former employee of Measure Comp, I am glad that I am not alone with my experiences. At the orientation, it was explained by Brian Luther (Market Manager at time of hire) & Dwayne Picinini (Corporate Trainer) that we (the technicians) would be assigned territories based on the number of stores located within a certain radius of our home.
We would be required to service the routes between 8am-5pm. Calls for the next day would be made before 9pm the day before since the work would be available for download (get) by 6-6:30 pm the day before.
We were told that gas compensation for mileage was factored into the zone rates based on a milage calculation and average distance between appointments.
Cell phones were required at the technicians expense to have mobile communication to Home office staff and contacting customers if running late. A basic package was suggested.
Tolls would be reimbursed if a receipt was turned in. For meetings, half-days pay would be compensated or additional time off if scheduled on a day off.
My territory was Southwestern NJ (servicing the Home Depot accounts), which was paying a rate of $13.00 per measure. Many times I was assigned to service appointments outside of my territory (South, southeast and Northwest of my assigned area in addition to Middlesex County. Many of these areas were in the $15-$17 zone rate pay.
It was explained to me by the Market Manager (Brian then Pete Cancelmo) that I would be given additional pay in the form of trip charges. On a weekly basis for months, I was assigned measures in these areas but not paid the correct pay rate nor was I given the promised trip charges.
In addition to the inaccurate rate pay, I also noticed failure on Measure Comps part to correctly pay for additional rooms measured & different surfaces then carpet as stated in the manual. Hard surfaces were to pay an additional $5.00 and extra rooms at $2.00 per room.
As the number of appointments scheduled for the day increased and the distance traveled, I had concerns about the time needed to complete all the appoints. I heard from other technicians about situations where other technicians (A) did measures close to Tech B house but tech B was not giving the appointment to do.instead, they were giving appointments further out when those closer would have made more sense. I inquired as to how the routes are complied and about the overloading since I needed to make later appointment times then what was stated in the manual.
Technicians will schedule AM (8am-1pm) or PM (12pm-5pm) appointment times with the customers giving a 2-hour window for each appointment. The manual stated the last appointment will be by 5pm to allow for travel time back home to finish the PM reports, do a send (days work) & get (received next days work).
Also, to give the technician time to relax, review and adjust next days route & make next days calls by 9pm. It also was stated that if a technician had issues with routing to contact the District Manager to adjust schedule if a conflict or over routing occurs.
I addressed these issues amongst others along with the ongoing payroll shortages with Pete Cancelmo. No immediate remedy was arranged. I was constantly hearing the same excuses over and over as the situation was getting worse with no corrective measures insight. I tried other means to have the situation rectified but it appeared that I was always instructed to contact Pete.
Since the Home office was not addressing the issues either and I was taking timeout on a weekly basis to pursue correcting, I decided to leave the company as others before me did.
Here is a brief list of other issues that developed while I was with Measure Comp:
1. Gas cost (mileage rate) not being increased as gas went up and drive distance increased (measures were further apart & further out of area). Measure rates included. 33 per mile as stated at the orientation. Technicians were guaranteed $13.00 per measure minimum. If you calculated the mileage traveled to the guaranteed pay of $13, the technician is making less then $13 per measure. Measure Comp should have recognized this and offset to compensate.
2. Cell phone use was higher then what they implied at the orientation since the home office including managers would keep you on the phone for long periods instead of waiting till you found a payphone or returned home (used up those minutes). Back then the cell plans were not what they are to day. Plenty of occasions, I know I was on hold for 5-10 minutes before they would return or if being transferred waiting for them to pick-up. This 1 call would total out to a 10-15 minute call. Also, times when I received calls to review a drawing of a plan from a different day, took more then a few minutes to go over for them to understand or verify information.
3. Equipment malfunctions while at the customer's house. Mainly the unit crashes and causes you to redraw 50% of the time since it couldn't be recovered. Trying to reach tech support wasn't quick. Most of the time you had to be put on hold. Burning up those minutes.
In short, I doubt that Measure Comp had priority concerns about correcting the issues that put money in their pocket and not the technicians. Home Depot paid them, but it appears they didn't want to pay the technicians in my opinion.
Looking back, I should have contacted Home Depot to see if they were aware of what Measure Comp was doing to its employees. You had to fight for your money. Those of us that worked during this time know what I am talking about and I know of some that have experiences different to mine. What goes around comes around and in time, I hope they pay for their unethical & unfair procedures.
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