Used to be an exciting employer, but things have negatively developed. Glad that I left.
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
Compared to other mobility providers, SIXT makes sure to stay in front when it comes to products and product experience. It's a good feeling to contribute to that.
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
No consistency when it comes to career development and salary. It shouldn't be possible that employees within the same department and same career level have a 20K salary difference.
Promotion in my team/department was super difficult, yet in a neighboring department someone even skipped one level and went from junior to senior level, how is that even possible?
Short-term decision making.
Family owned, family run - decisions often irrational and inconsistent.
Verbesserungsvorschläge
Please improve communication.
Please don't go into panic cost-saving mode when for once the last quarter was not a record-quarter.
Please rationalize your decisions.
Arbeitsatmosphäre
In the last 12 months that I worked in the department there was a negative vibe. High work pressure, high expectations, low reward (not talking about salary but showing appreciation and such).
Many top-down decisions that lacked reasoning, leaving the people "down there" with uncertainty and many questions.
Kommunikation
Comes in waves - sometimes there is an overload of comms, sometimes nothing is communicated.
Also too many comms channels and tools: intranet, Outlook, Teams, Slack, Jira, phone. You just lose overview and don't know where to keep up to date.
Kollegenzusammenhalt
We were a close group of intra-departmental colleagues, motivating eachother, sticking together and doing fun stuff after work. At the end, my colleagues were the only reason why I stayed longer than I have should.
Work-Life-Balance
Working hours are based on trust. Usually there were 1-5 overhours per week and it's up to one self to leave earlier and reduce the overhours that you build up. In my case I could do that, but others were not able to.
Vorgesetztenverhalten
I never had problems with my past managers. They were quite fair and understanding and goals and expectations that were set were acceptable. However, my managers were never of that level that they inspired me or that I could learn much from them (due to limited seniority).
Interessante Aufgaben
One good thing about SIXT IT/Product Management at SIXT: it never gets boring! Sometimes it's even a bit too dynamic, but generally there is always a core topic or side quest that is super interesting.
Gleichberechtigung
Diversity gets quite the attention. Also quite some women in leading positions up to a certain level. Hence not bad but definitely could be improved (e.g. female board members and VP levels)
Umgang mit älteren Kollegen
Mostly young employees, especially in Marketing/IT/Product Management (I guess around 35). Elder colleagues are rare, but when someone that is in the company for 20+ years leaves it is posted in the intranet and gets some positive attention.
Arbeitsbedingungen
Very modern open office. Personally I liked the design and openness. IT infrastructure in meeting rooms and such works flawlessly. Plenty of natural light that can be regulated.
Umwelt-/Sozialbewusstsein
Not much... on one hand SIXT communicates to be environmentally minded but then on events such as fairs, a truckload of single-use goodies are produced (plastic crowns on the AGC, orange blinking lights, these cheap plastic bags with SIXT printed on it, SIXT printed drinking bottles that nobody uses, etc., etc.)
There are different waste bins for separation but then the cleaners empty them into one single bin.
Gehalt/Sozialleistungen
My previous manager told me: "I'm going to be honest with you, if you want to earn more, you need to find another job". I think that says it all.
If you are going to apply at SIXT, make sure you negotiate a proper start salary because salary increases throughout your SIXT career can be very tough to get. Not because of lacking performance, but they always find a reason (economically difficult times, no budget, etc.)
Maybe the most annoying and demotivating thing is that salary increases are super inconsistent. A good colleague of mine (same level) received an 18% increase and I could only get 3%. Not because my performance was lacking, but "because the budgets are tightened". Well how can someone else then easily get 18% increase?
On top I learned that new employed junior in a neighboring department had a starting salary close to mine (and I was a senior). Like, how?
Also, the once-every-2-year salary benchmark round is a joke...
It's not that I want a extremely high salary, I just want a fair salary and that there is consistency between colleagues and teams.
Image
Thanks to crazy good marketing I think that SIXT has quite the good outward communication and created a very positive image. Everyone I talked to knows SIXT and thinks positive about it.
On the other hand, my new colleagues at my new employer said: "Oh you've worked at SIXT, we heard negative stories about them".
Karriere/Weiterbildung
No fixed guidelines here. In one team it's easy and stimulated to grow, in others it's not. Career possibilities also highly dependent on your manager, not on your performance.
Arbeitgeber-Kommentar
Dear former employee,
thank you for taking the time to rate us, we appreciate your detailed review and will gladly pass this on so that we can continue to improve as an employer. We are happy that you liked many aspects of working at SIXT but take your feedback very seriously on how to further develop our employees as well as our culture. Therefore we would like to offer you a personal interview to discuss the circumstances that led you to lose that excitement you were talking about and learn more about the other issues that you mentioned. Just send us a short message to karriere@sixt.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Best regards,
The SIXT Career Team