No company is ever perfect, but please take this as constructive criticism. In order to have a good work-life in Booking, depends on the Team leader that you are assigned to. As micromanagement is at the forefront in this role, luckily my TL treated us like adults and continued to let us get on with our work, so long as we met the office targets; whereas other TLs will put a lot of high pressure on their agents in an attempt to surpass the min office targets, as a result, this is counter-intuitive and produces the opposite results.
The TLs only want high results so that they can get higher bonuses and if that does not happen, they will find ways to make the agents work-life not so great, giving them an excuse to leave the firm and thus giving the TLs better stats, leading to another criticism, the firm is all about numbers. Whilst they heavily preach that the "customer is at the centre of everything we do", could not be further from the truth. I will not go into full details, but due to the firm being so stat driven and TLs wanting high team stats, this has led to agents cheating the system, in order to elevate the pressure that they are receiving and not be constantly threatened with a Personal Improvement Plan or dismissal.
It is very hard to be dismissed by this firm, and that is a good thing however some of the TLs will try to find ways if the agent is not meeting their personal expectations, even though they are meeting office targets. Nonetheless, I do admire the organisation trying to find ways to improve personal development and hire from within, but unfortunately, Booking is also a victim of brown nosing and who you know, in order to be promoted or to be part of certain CRM projects. This company is a very LGBT friendly environment and that is amazing for being inclusive and progressive, however they are constantly shoving their own beliefs in our throats and it can be overwhelming at times. Some staff and Management as well need to be reminded that this is a workplace and not a drag Queen race or a club.
I have seen some pretty obscene stuff and heard some pretty hurtful things for someone having an opinion or raising concerns. For example should a staff member that happens to be gay, is in the wrong no one will say anything as that person will scream homophobia. I strongly believe in equality and that we need to treat everyone the same, but we need to be professional and if there is insubordination, people should be able to comfortably raise concerns to management as this is a workplace.
Lastly, the new CEO Glenn I would describe him as a Shareholders w3t dream, but just like when seeing a lady of the evening, the pleasure is only temporary and does not last very long. Some of the decisions that he has made are understandable, given the current pandemic; however in the long run, it looks like he will be shifting operations over to the USA due to its lax labour laws in comparison to the EU and closing some operations down and giving them to 3rd parties instead.
Working life was great under the previous CEO Gillian, who recognised the importance of work-life balance, however as I cannot go into detail, some of the decisions made are highly questionable and that has led to a mass exodus of staff leaving the company, whether this was intentional or not, we will never know but staff retention and satisfaction were very high under Gillian, but the trend is now declining under the new CEO. Finally, I would still recommend this company, it is a great place to work with great people, however due to an American CEO who not only knows how to please the shareholders but also taking over a European company; please be aware that you are now a number and expendable, only work for Booking if it meets your personal criteria and goals.
