ValleyCrest Companies Reviews

Pros

i like the benefits and management

Cons

terrible hours for a new trainee

Advice to Senior Management

good job

Pros

Not too many pros. As a crew leader or account specialist, they will allow you to work 40 hours despite reducing hours for crews during the off-season.

Cons

Lack of communication b/n crew leaders, account managers, branch managers, and corporate. Promotions seem to be made solely on the basis of time employed and not on ability to perform the job, resulting in under qualified account managers, and thus, problems for crews on the job-site.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more open about training opportunities, require more knowledge of Horticulture from account manager candidates prior to promoting/hiring them.

Pros

They pay for training and are willing to get you the help you need to understand the business better if you are wiling to put forth your best effort. We have a crew leader training day every month or two in order to train the crews how to better serve the needs of our communities and/or properties. The crews learn ways to eliminate wasting time when sequencing through a property to better serve the need of the clients. After a year with the company they offer crew members the opportunity to receive tuition compensation for taking classes in order to better their knowledge of the field.

Cons

If you are not willing to work hard, then you will not last long at this company. They want you to succeed but you have to want to make a difference in your life and make the necessary changes.

Pros

Great trucks and salary, solid agricultural plan, resources of qualified employees

Cons

Won't hire nothing more than low minimum wage laborers to keep their average labor rate low.
In effort to save money, laborers came to work with holy pants, clothes, faded hats and wouldn't provide PPE half the time HOWEVER would order $100's of dollars weekly for "staff" meals during weekly meetings???
The Branch Manager (ARau) ate more on the job than worked.
Expectations of some VPS (Valleycrest Production System) mumbo jumbo is supposed to be efficient however nothing short of a circus.
Too many redundant "safety" meetings where the laborers stand around picking their nose.
Not enough training on proper techniques for using small equipment by the laborers.
No support from Branch Manager, only interested in ordering chocolate and Mexican food, lost priorities?
Irrigation billings to property managers are fpr more components than actually used for sales orders.
The new bidded jobs promise free mulch but never follow through on their word, true leaders do what they say they're going to do.
Run! Far away. Don't sell your soul.

Advice to Senior Management

Allowing Branch Managers to spend hundreds of dollar on food every meeting while neglecting on providing small tools for the crews to be efficient: rakes, scoop shovels, trash cans with wheels, and clean uniforms without holes just takes the wind out of the labor force. Account Managers do all the work and get mistreated.

Pros

Industry leader, good place to get experience. They provide you with a gas card and car for business and personal use.

Cons

The quotas are unattainable; they are not set according to the territory. They put GPS on all their vehicles and watch every move you make, including your personal time since you are allowed to drive your car for business and personal use. Insurance cost is high. They offer poor training and expect fast results. Their commission plan is horrible.

Advice to Senior Management

There is a lack of leadership skills; even though most are educated they do not know how to lead a team. High turnover in the Pleasanton Branch. Lack of Regional and Branch leadership, the region is out of control and spiraling downward. Corporate leadership, more interested in their financials rather than their employees.

Pros

very large company with lots of jobs in the bayarea. They have lots of room before going out of business. Some of the managers are very smart.

Cons

They have little respect for the working man. There is very much pressure to make the company money even if it is not for a good reason. This is a place to work until the economy changes back. I brought my friend here and I hope that he stays.

Advice to Senior Management

Show more respect for the workers and the propertys.

Pros

Great culture - very family oriented even though it is a large company
Phenonmenal tenure - some people have work there for more than 35 years
Stability - company has been around since 1949

Cons

Management can be slow to make a decision, but once the decision is made they are consistent and don't waiver much.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep doing a great job in leading the best landscape maintenance company in the green industry! Looking forward to another great year.

Pros

Company car
Good Salary and Benefits

Cons

Almost no training or support
Overworked operations managers
poor communication
minimal sales literature

Advice to Senior Management

develope training program
offer greater lines of communication with employees

Pros

The level of education of the employees is probably the best in the industry.

Cons

I can only describe the branch where I worked. slow, non-responsive, little internal support but lots of internal criticism. Very poor insurance options, and little compassion for the seriously ill. A colleague who was very ill due to medication changes was called on the carpet for coming in half an hour late only one time. Office administrators are full of inflated self-importance and are clueless about customer or colleague relationships. Impossible to respond to clients on a timely basis because estimators or branch mgr would not supply necessary information by deadline. There were terrific people working there, but many left because of the lack of professionalism. Big disconnect between corporate and local branches.

Advice to Senior Management

Unless you love horticulture so much that your are willing to put up with snide comments, unnecessary criticism, and no support systems, look for project management or sales work somewhere else, best in some other industry.

Pros

ValleyCrest is a company that can provide the right person with a great deal of growth. There are employees who have been with the company for many years and create stability and experience for the company. The ValleyCrest name is recognized nationally and now internationally, and this always gave you immediate status when meeting potential clients and vendors.

Cons

The size and long-term employees can be a problem. ValleyCrest can be unresponsive and slow to act when urgency is needed, and this frustrates employees and clients/vendors alike. Many smaller companies refused to do business with ValleyCrest as they felt like they were being stepped on.
This was also the attitude of clients who we were working for - many times clients complained that they felt unimportant. Trying to get upper management to understand this situation was frustrating as most were unwilling or unable to to break away from the lumbering bureaucracy that exists within the company.
While the long-term employees provide stability, they have also created a 'boys-club' mentality where people will look out for one even if it means covering for an incompetent co-worker. There is very little cooperation between the various companies that make up ValleyCrest, and this lack of cooperation and downright tribalism hindered the smooth, seamless completion of projects that ValeeyCrest promises potential clients.

Advice to Senior Management

Work on fostering cooperation between the many entities that make up the company. Everyone is working for the good of the whole, not the individual.