H&R Block Reviews

Former Employee – worked at H&R Block full-time for less than a year

Pros – Good Training program. I found the instruction material to be easy to understand and my instructor to be an expert in his field. After you finish the training program, the company will almost certainly hire you. If you're retired and are bored at home, this maybe a good place to work.

Cons – They pay minimum wage. The work is seasonal.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at H&R Block full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Casual environment. Probably the best call center if you have to work in a call center. 401k match dollar for dollar. Free parking in heated garage, onsite cafeteria, many discounts to local events.

Cons – Only certain people advance. Others cannot move around within the company no matter what your education and training is. I could never figure out how to become one of those certain people.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at H&R Block part-time for more than a year

Pros – The best thing about working here is the commission, but the first year you work there they have you doing somerthing like answering phones or greeting customers.

Cons – Could have been alot better if I were given more access to customers so that I could make more commission. Clientele is everything so if you have none you make nothing.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't hire so many people so that the people that do work there can make a decent commission.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at H&R Block as a contractor for more than a year

Pros – Great education system for getting Enrolled Agent Status. Flexible hours if you have a full time job.

Cons – Pay and retaining top talent. Too many people who are not qualified enough to be doing taxes.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at H&R Block part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Making connections with employees, clients and staff real easy. Really enjoy helping people and putting smiles on their faces.

Cons – Some clients DONT walk out with a smile on their face. In most cases, self-inflicted injuries and others Tax Pro Customer Service. It also takes toooo long to make commission on your return. You make the company tons of $ but you don't see until 10yrs later in your commission checks.

Advice to Senior Management – Give better incentives for returns for new Tax Pros or change the salary structure.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at H&R Block full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Intelligent, independent, and caring people who have been with the company for many years.

Cons – Seasonal employment cycle, which is an issue for retention. Competing demands of other full-time year round employment opportunities.

Advice to Senior Management – Transition to a year-round business model based on banking products.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at H&R Block part-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Short seasonal work, great easy pay, learned a lot, great training.

Cons – sometimes it was a little slow

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at H&R Block part-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Low-cost online educational material is excellent for those who are self-motivated.
Working with clients and developing relationships is very rewarding.
Being able to work just the tax season is ideal for some.

Cons – Dishonesty, unethical practices, and back-stabbing were prevalent among district management.and some office managers.
Regular turnover of district managers and tax professionals.
Required to sit through hours of non-productive "skills training" at minimum wage compensation rate, regardless of you year of experience.
Tax professionals are not treated well -- the best and brightest are often required to work for free.
Work schedule is inconsistent and regularly changed.
Company does not seem have a clear direction. They change their focus and marketing strategy every year.

Advice to Senior Management – Take heed of the behavior and management style of those district managers and office managers where there is little or no employee turnover be a lesson to you. Treat your tax professionals with respect and your business will flourish.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at H&R Block part-time for more than 10 years

Pros – The coworkers that I have are great. We have worked together and developed a rapport that enables us to know we can go to someone else and know we can get help if we need it.

Cons – The company doesn't care about the employees. Their main goal seems to be as it always has been, to make more money than the other companies and they will push us preparers to do what they want. They are constantly changing the methods used to calculate bonuses, it seems as if every year we get less and less.

Advice to Senior Management – If it ain't broke don't fix it. This company needs to make sure that they are putting their preparers first. When we have 3 preparers working and no receptionist, not only do we have to make appointments with clients at our desk but they are able to get information that we are inputting in the computer for the appointment. Whatever happened with Cliet confidentiality.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at H&R Block as a contractor for more than a year

Pros – Flexible schedules, good continuing education, support for tax pros who want to earn Enrolled Agent status with the IRS. In my experience, Block really does try to do the right, ethical thing for its clients.

Cons – The new Block tax pro is going to discover two problems when they join the company.

First, don't expect a lot of walk-in clients, because those days at Block are gone. The market has effectively determined the price of tax prep to be $50-$80 -- the price of TurboTax and other software. Unfortunately, Block has a lot of legacy costs, and the way Block is addressing it is via a lot of small, semi-hidden additional charges that mean a Block return for anything but the simplest cases is going to cost more than $80 -- often, hundreds of dollars more. And clients might be willing to pay a small premium to meet face-to-face and get some advice, but not a $200 premium. Our walk-in traffic is off dramatically from even last year, and our returning customers are now falling into three camps: retirees or others who don't want or can't learn how to do their taxes on a computer (and who often have very simple, i.e., cheap, returns), people who come in on a free 1040EZ promotion (which is cheaper than buying the software), or people who are relatively price-insensitive (they may be getting a high refund due to EIC and they view the $300 preparation cost as a necessary evil). Don't expect to get a lot of 1040, Schedule A clients -- they're doing their own returns.

Second, don't expect to get very many of the walk-in clients that do turn up. Block has instituted a policy that means new customers are supposed to be placed before the tax pros with the highest retention rate. That sounds like it would mean the best pros -- but it often means the pros who have been with Block from when people waited in line for hours to have their returns completed in a Block office. Over 10 or 20 years, even a so-so tax preparer will develop a loyal clientele. In my office, I have five pros "ahead" of me, all with more than 10 years of experience. So I can spend an eight-hour shift with two other pros in the office, both of whom have eight appointments where I have one or two -- and a walk-in will still go to one of the others before it comes to me.

So much depends on what office a new pro gets placed in. If you can generate a lot of business yourself, then you can make more than the $8.50/hr base wage. If you're lucky and get placed in an office that has few senior pros or has recently lost pros with clients to divvy up, you can make a little money. If you want seasonal work that can be rewarding but don't really need the money to live on, you'll find Block is a good company to work for.

Advice to Senior Management – It's time to drop the "our prices reflect the complexity of the return" charade and go to an easy-to-understand, flat price, say $50 for a 1040A, $75 for a 1040 with standard deduction and $100 for a 1040 with Schedule A. I bet volume would take off.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company