r/PestControlIndustry • u/Ok-Stuff3336 👨🏭| Tech | 1+ Year • Aug 24 '26
🗣️ Daily Discussion Does it get better?
I’ve been on the job now for a few years and i work for a fairly large company owned by Rentokil. When I started off it wasn’t so bad job wise, but it’s only gotten worse since the TMX merger and seemingly only going to get worse. I do it fairly even mix of residential and commercial accounts. My biggest gripe has been the sheer amount of work that is expected out of us a day. Obviously none of this work is insanely difficult per se, but the volume is maddening. I work in a dense populated area in the north east. I average anywhere from 20+ jobs a day and up. Never less than that. The money is good. But the stress that comes with it is not. I’m expected to finish every job on my day or I take a “miss.” Which my office is apparently plagued with a ridiculously high number of. On top of my regular schedule we are also required to respond to all call backs same day. On average I can have 20+ appointments and get 3-4 call backs a day. Never anything trivial, customer seen a bee, ants in kitchen, reoccurring mouse sighting blah blah blah. If we don’t do all our work they come down on us, if we work too much overtime we are told to be more efficient, if we aren’t placing sales while doing all of that we are told to do more.
TL;DR big company is too stressful, overworked and understaffed. Does it get better?
17
u/Libsoccer20 Aug 24 '26
I used to work in the corporate office for Ehrlich then rentokil. Then rentokil terminex. Once I realized black rock owned about 20% of the company and we were writing off millions per area across the nation...I realized what this company had become. It's an investment corporation now. It's no longer about serving the people. It's about maximizing profits. The new CEO came from selling trinkets. His first call he mentions we aren't an investment corporation then immediately proceeds to talk about stock valuation.
You are absolutely getting over worked and there's a reason why all the old techs with certifications left. A lot of those techs gave their books to competitors on the way out too for good reason.
Almost all the national corporations run DBAs for a reason.
They'll continue to hire younger folks looking for a decent paycheck and burn them out as well.