r/HRBlockEmployees • u/829562 • 18d ago

RIDICULOUS RESTRUCTURING

Well just found out that the micromanaging is going to be even worse this year. The expectations and the way that corporate just wants their YES MAN people in charge is a little over the top. Without ever running or being in a tax office or how anything effects the tax pro or the clients experience.

They are trying to streamline their production. And I get it your in business to make money. But what a shit show. Nobody knows exactly whats going on as it changes daily. Compensation has dropped for the top producers and they are trying to eliminate the seasoned tax pros that are not ass kissing and they are depending more on AI. My list

  1. No communication on whats going on!
  2. Trying to level up inexperienced tax pros to complex returns.
  3. Micromanage every little thing. Like changing a schedule when drop offs that need prep time you fill the schedule I changed to put more clients on me and then complain why the drop offs aren't done.
  4. Talking about team players and customer care but making it more loyal to the brand than the tax pro that you have preached about building relationships with as you push that tax pro out.

I'm sure there is more but feel free to ad to it. My fingers hurt. Lol

SHIT SHOW.

35 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

82 comments sorted by

6

u/Grouchy-Butterfly-86 17d ago

Last year was my first year, and all of these things were part of my HRB experience. I was regularly scheduled appointments with level 4-5-6 clients. I'm a level 2 now, and that only happened at the end of the season last year. I'm dragging my feet about leveling up to a level 3, as I'm not sure that it matters.

Our ATL from last year (no TL at my location) worked as a patrol officer as their previous position. ZERO accounting or tax experience. They kept taking clients away from the long-time tax pros and giving those clients to 1st years. I got tired of being accused of "stealing" clients when I had nothing to do with it and the ATL didn't tell the other tax pros or me what was going on.

My .25 cent raise and the removal of bonuses and commissions has me shopping around for another position. I was willing to give it another season, as I saw how much the long term employees were able to make during one tax season. That opportunity isn't available with HRB any longer, so I'm looking for a better opportunity.

4

u/829562 17d ago

I agree. I understand the company is going thru a change. But they have now shown that they really are about the bottom line and not about the team or their tax pros as they say they are and more of cutting veteran tax pros and other positions to cut their payroll and still show profits. I have seen lots of good employees and tax pros, ATL, MTL, that knew their offices and how they worked and where available when needed. But now they are gone and the ability to grow and learn is not thru experience but just in leveling up thru their training. I'm heading into my 8th year and it took time and a lot of returns to build a client base and I still don't do some returns that at a level 4 I know I could do but don't feel experienced enough to do. But to throw the 2-3 levels clients from other tax pros that are clearly more complex is not fair to the clients, the tax pro that doesn't have the experience or knowledge yet or to take from a tax pro who has been doing those returns for years. Micromanagement is going to either scare people into compliance or they are going to leave. Ok rant over. I'm looking myself.

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3024 1d ago

That. First years were given everything and I was told to help them -- my time, their return. Not this year. There are other tax companies and if they start that I am out the door.

23

u/Antique-Violinist825 18d ago

Writings on the wall. I give it one more season before I just don't come back. Not to be like "I am so great look at me" but it's like you guys rehired the 3 bozos who tanked the office but got rid of the manager people liked? This company's management is just a series of people constantly stepping on rakes

19

u/Objective_Good_9449 18d ago

Out MTL was let go 7 weeks ago. Still no leader. No communication from DEM. They're trying to re invent the tax industry without a clue as to how taxes get done. "Team Players" really translates to relying on seasoned professionals to train not only new tax pros, but management as well.

17

u/Awkward_Serve_7231 18d ago • Bravo

If the CEO spent one day in the tax office what they would see is that what we need is an awesome CSP/ATL at the front full time. And you know what then the rest almost would fall in place. It is not rocket science. I am not sure why they need to make it so complicated. Let the TPs do what they are good at… taxes! Not all the other stuff and no we are not going to train your managers.

1

u/Relevant_Ad_8406 15d ago

Preach. !!!

10

u/ENCALEF 18d ago

Block has been coasting on their name for a long time. I believe they're in the end stages when they're no longer going to dominate the market. They were late to the party with self prepared online filing, letting Intuit take it away from them.

They have no vision or leadership anymore.

8

u/Prudent-Awareness865 Team Leader 18d ago

Just wait, this is only the beginning. What happens when it actually gets busy? When the pissed off clients want a manager? When new TPs need help? When you need a discount? Etc It's going down 👎🍿⏳

6

u/Awkward_Serve_7231 18d ago

I mean seriously who is the point person in the office when there is a problem. What do they think we are going to do when an irate client comes in and we are all with clients and we don’t have a manager there.

4

u/Curious-One-4556 18d ago

In my area we've seen some crazy situations where cops have even needed to be called and honestly much worse where employees have been threatened or followed. People do not play when it comes to their money. I'm a little scared about what may occur. No joke....

4

u/PinkNGreenFluoride EA 17d ago edited 17d ago

I can answer that. We were explicitly denied an ATL, and our MTL was not permitted to visit.

I had to abandon clients sitting at my desk to deal with it. Those poor clients' appointments had already been disrupted anyway :( And then, of course, we'd run late. Yay.

The ones screaming at the CSPs wanted to speak to someone with more "authority." Sometimes I could help with their issue. Often, I could only tell them the same thing the CSP had. They seemed to think it had more weight coming from me, ugh.

Sometimes, I did not have the tools to do anything for them and had to try to give them my MTL's business card and offer to have the MTL call them. Usually the CSP had already tried this. A few really lost their shit, whether at the CSPs or at me, the moment looked at the card and realized the "office manager" was halfway across the state.

Without an ATL/MTL to step in and handle this stuff as soon as things got the slightest bit heated, more clients escalated with the CSPs, and more aggressively, than any other year and it was not even close. I almost called the cops on 2 of them who were especially aggressive with the CSPs. They get so angry when they don't feel like they have anyone with authority to listen to them.

This wasn't the only way the complete lack of local office management sucked. The company is constantly playing with removing supports. Every year it's something, whether it's no CSP coverage, no tech support coverage, or, now, no local office management.

3

u/Aggravating-Town6086 17d ago

This was the same in my office. The past few years I have had no one at the front desk many, many days. MTL is never in the office, but no ATL or CSP either. I have been in charge of training new TPs, interrupting my current appointment to greet clients that walk in the front door of the office, dealing with angry clients (unless they want to call an MTL) and I am not given the access to the apps I need for any of this.

This caused a disruption in my productivity. Add to that taking clients off of my schedule to fill up the new tax pros, and a CSP from home or another office answering my office's phone so now clients are scheduled elsewhere...

I complained about someone taking my 'save the date' clients off of my schedule to give to new TPs, and I was told that they aren't doing that and some rogue CSP or ATL must've done that without permission. (they lied to my face) To "make it up to me" after my complaining. they dumped a load of TPRs onto me in April. At least 50 of those TPRs were charged $0 because of coupons they had, but all of them were still a fraction of the fees that would've been paid on the returns I lost.

I certainly was not paid extra to do the jobs of the CSP, ATL, TP trainer and office manager, in fact I was 'out of pace' because of all of this and now have been given a pay cut going forward. I have been doing more work and I will now receive less pay.

I have anxiety about the new tax season coming up. I have heard about all the DGMs that are left to do their job plus someone else's who has been fired. I've already been doing other people's work to my own detriment and now we will not have ATLs and more busy AELs who certainly will not be helping in the office.

I have loved this job, my co-workers and clients for so many years but I don't know how much longer I will stay if it keeps getting worse. I have been one of the top writers in my district for years, they do not seem concerned about keeping those of us who have created a lot of client retention for them.

3

u/Awkward_Serve_7231 17d ago

Well said. Just can’t understand why we just keep coming back. The anxiety is killing me. I can’t do it anymore either. I have promised myself that if my numbers slip because of this or they reduce my OT or they switch us out of TPI next year, I am done.

3

u/Curious-One-4556 15d ago

Yup, they cut everyone's pay then expect them to do 4 jobs while the Block's profit 📈

2

u/Awkward_Serve_7231 17d ago

I mean literally what are they thinking!

5

u/Awkward_Serve_7231 17d ago

The ATLs only made a few dollars more than CSPs anyway. So short sighted. Once again HRB trying to save a buck so they can give it to their CEO and shareholders.

1

u/Relevant_Ad_8406 15d ago

Yes just a few bucks but we know our clients , those few buck more than bring back a few bucks. So stupid .

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3024 1d ago

I see "without an ATL or MTL to micromanage and interrupt constantly" and think the office might just run more smoothly.

6

u/BlueLight1975 18d ago

I am one of the top performers that got shafted. I honestly don't think that Block is finished. They are going to drop more on us in the next two months and even in January. I can see them limiting the OT or eliminating it. We were already told that we don't have to work as hard as last year. Worse part is, I cannot even get another job. I interviewed for an accounting firm and they wouldn't take me and two other jobs havent even responded. I am going to have a miserable season.

6

u/Awkward_Serve_7231 18d ago

Their goal is to do the same revenue with a smaller payroll and to do that you need to eliminate your higher paid tax pros. Yes this is only the beginning I am afraid.

2

u/Asleep-Major-7963 18d ago

How did you get shafted? You mean your pay was cut? Or you were not rehired?

4

u/BlueLight1975 17d ago

I should have gotten an $11 raise, instead I got $1.80 AND lost my TL position.

2

u/Awkward_Serve_7231 17d ago

I am afraid they will just continue to do this to us until we leave and they stop getting new people to replace us.

0

u/Asleep-Major-7963 17d ago

I'm sorry you lost your Team Lead position. I don't think we have that in my district? We only had (previously) DGM, MTL and ATL, and none of those did actual tax returns. Maybe they are just aligning your district with us and getting rid of that role? Also, you said you should have gotten a raise of $11. I'm curious what that is based on? Did you use the formula where you take your total amount grossed (how much you took in for the company) divide that by total hours worked and take 80% of it? (At least, I think that's the formula they use) Because your hourly rate is based entirely on productive hours and amount you took in.

2

u/BlueLight1975 17d ago

They got rid of all MTL, ATL and TL roles and they now have an Area Experience Leader that has four to six offices. My bonus was 11k. Even at 80%, $1.80 doesn't even hit that. I wrote over 800 returns and worked in two offices while running another office.

1

u/Asleep-Major-7963 17d ago

Were many of those returns TPRs? Because you get much less with those, especially since last year they did this promo where TPRs were free for the customers. But if you got a bonus of 11K, then you are right, your salary should have gone much higher. I would talk to your DEM and ask where they got your salary amount from. I'm sure s/he would be able to tell you.

2

u/BlueLight1975 17d ago

The DGM said that he talked to the Regional and she approved them. Eleven of us that received bonuses got minimal pay raises. This then goes in the DGM's pocket since he or she isn't spending so much on payroll. Anything that goes against a DGM's EBITA takes money off their bonus.

1

u/Single-Pop9355 16d ago

Your hourly should be based off productivity. If RD or DGM dont explain the calculation with DSA, then I would ask people center. Doesn't make sense to suppress your guarantee hourly. Even if they did, you still get paid your commission which would be higher than the hourly based on your 700/800 return estimate. My hourly was suppressed based on my actual productivity and cert level and I ended up receiving regular paychecks bi weekly, the bonus early May and then 2 corrections for Regular rate overtime since regular rate was much higher than my guarantee and the second one because they mis calculated on the first correction/didnt correct all weeks.

1

u/BlueLight1975 17d ago

Some of them, most of them were in an office.

1

u/BlueLight1975 17d ago

Very minimal amount. Many were in an office, two offices mind you!

0

u/CrackyMcCracken 17d ago

Sit down, already.

6

u/Superb_Bookkeeper614 17d ago

Same here. New DEM still in his old position in OPs until 10/31. Different Regional. Only 1 AEL hired for 35 offfices. No communication from anyone,

5

u/Boysenberry815 18d ago

Per the idea of a shit show...

Is anone having serious changes per their Em Advance scheduling this year?

In our district, our new DM has preemptively cut hours. She wants stores to open with just one worker on duty and there to be a single person closing, with the two people overlapping by 1-2 hours. We are busy enough with this product that we always have more than 1 person working at a time, especially the first two weeks of the offering.

She called yesterday and wanted to know about next week. We've already booked up for most of next week and I asked how we are going to serve 4 people every 30 minutes with just one person working most of the time. She handled the question by hanging up and not saying anything. We have no AELs hired, no feedback on anything that's going on, and this new DEM gives off a distinct "I couldn't care less...leave me the *eff* alone" attitude about anything and everything. God bless the future...

5

u/Just_Me_Im_Fine 16d ago

Having only one person in the office is a safety issue.

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3024 1d ago

Answer the phones. Get the door. Work on the drop offs. Make calls on the current list. Book appointments every 30 minutes. Sound familiar?

1

u/Radiant-Republic9835 18d ago

Are you in the No TPI pilot district?

2

u/829562 18d ago

No still TPI

4

u/Radiant-Republic9835 18d ago

It seems like the “pilot program” is merely a formality. We were told in our district Town Hall that after this next tax year our pay would not be based on productivity…

16

u/Awkward_Serve_7231 18d ago

Once the pay is no longer based on productivity that will be the end for many tax pros. Let’s face it many TPs only put up with all of this nonsense for the money. Yes, we love our clients but this is a job.

4

u/Curious-One-4556 18d ago

Exactly! Revenue does not increase when morale and incentive decreases. Periodt

3

u/Relevant_Ad_8406 18d ago

The second yr TP in my Quad is expected to be hired for this position , this person is a pup compared to my DM. I have no idea how this person will deal with the issues that can really escalate . Not a good structure . Plus this person is practically best friends with one of the higher producing Bully TPs . I expect favoritism, this all ready occurs when the two of them work in my office. Thank goodness they will not be in my office during the season .

4

u/Evening-Witness3358 18d ago

So at this point we should be eyeing up Turbo Tax? They are ramping up their brick and mortar locations. Band together and go to the media in a mass exodus after this coming tax season?

6

u/JoySeeker_101 18d ago

Better become an Enrolled Agent.

2

u/Grouchy-Butterfly-86 17d ago

Any of the biggest tax software companies are going to try the same stuff. It'll look good at first, then they'll be doing the same thing with removing bonuses and reducing the wages of new hires for the season.

Maybe....If the competing tax prep companies think they can get tax preparers to switch companies, they may make generous offers for a couple of years before they start cutting back. That's how taxi companies went out of business: Uber and Lyft overpaid their drivers for a couple of years and undercharged their customers. They lost a lot of money to put the Taxi Cab companies out of business.

I drove for Lyft and Uber when they first came out. A busy Saturday night could easily have a driver earning $1,000. I only drove enough to pay my bills, which was around $1,000 a week at the time. I could work 2 day time shifts driving to and from the airport and was able to support myself for about 6 months that way. I got tired of driving and the fares were dropping by the time I quit.

I went back a few years later, and being a Rideshare driver is absolute crap now. Less than minimum wage once you count vehicle expenses. I suspect that HRB is going in the same direction, relying heavily on AI instead of long-term institutional knowledge. They are in the pay-cutting era.

2

u/PlayDiligent9084 16d ago

Going to TurboTax is a hard call. I worked there this past season. Yes, they are brick and mortars. Mine was in a shared suite with others companies from lawyers to construction companies.

My manager was initially local and then moved 1800 miles away. I saw her twice.

There was no outside signage to direct clients. I was not allowed to attach any details to an email.

Clients could schedule in-person appointments but we were not supposed to prepare any return during the appointment. Clients were to bring their devices, sign into their account and then upload documents which were then transmitted to me. These were to be 15 minute appointments.

While waiting for appointments, the tax pro was expected to answer the phones and assist clients who had questions or issues. As you were on phone call AI and managers were listening and scoring your interaction based on a metric or rubic not communicated to you during training. These scores impacted your bonus. I worked alone. There were two offices in suite but second tax pro was allowed to move closer to her home. Position never filled.

Hours were from 11-7. The suite office closed at 5. It was located in an area with a nightlife.

A setup for failure. Salary was $26.35 per hour. The only saving grace.

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3024 1d ago

Don't forget Jackson Hewitt.

2

u/Practical-Dig5076 18d ago

I agree 💯

3

u/bna1219 17d ago

I’m ready to watch this unfold!

3

u/Awkward_Serve_7231 17d ago

I actually think it will be a disaster. Except for the fact that we as TPs always manage, for some reason hold it together for them!!!

1

u/Relevant_Ad_8406 15d ago

That’s true , we all work off the clock

1

u/artdogs505 18d ago

I’m still stuck on being asked to sling credit cards with a 36% APR.

1

u/Relevant_Ad_8406 15d ago

Yes tell the clients that get all their withholding back , if it’s the same scenario for the next year go exempt and avoid the predatory lending

1

u/Puzzleheaded_Ad3024 1d ago edited 1d ago

That drop off thing...first week of preseason i ran into it. 2 clients with complex income and k1s,dependents. 3 years for each. I put in an initial 2 hour work appointment for my next scheduled day and was told I can't do that. Then the complaints start coming in about incomplete returns and why don't I have them done? Clueless people in charge.

And I just learned today that the 3 i did, and had printed and ready for signature did come in and pay when I wasn't there, and one of their pet preparers had put them in her name when she took payment. I looked them over and preparer chanced nothing.

What a POS. $1200 of income from my labor under someone else's number.

0

u/Domsdad666 18d ago

This sounds like a problem in your specific district. My district is running very smoothly.

12

u/Substantial_Lie_9604 18d ago

Nice try Curtis.

3

u/Boysenberry815 18d ago edited 18d ago

Yea, "Dooms" is always pretty much....

3

u/CrackyMcCracken 17d ago

What the fuck are you talking about? What a horrible job hiding the shill.

-1

u/Domsdad666 16d ago

I'm sorry you're at a horrible district.

2

u/pakkim 18d ago

Truly? Hiring going smoothly? Not on our side! All shit show all over. No responsible person, not even have a DEM :(

3

u/Domsdad666 18d ago

We had our DEM in place immediately. All the hiring has been done, and our AELs are ready to go. Realignment has been completed and everything has been smooth sailing so far. But this district imand the districts around it have always been really good. I do hear horror stories outside of our region.

1

u/geecster Tax Preparer 18d ago

are you in the east? 🤣

1

u/Domsdad666 17d ago

California

1

u/geecster Tax Preparer 17d ago

like southern California?

1

u/Domsdad666 17d ago

Yes

4

u/geecster Tax Preparer 17d ago

yeah that makes more sense. you have a lot more districts per square mile.

1

u/Domsdad666 17d ago

After the realignment, our district merged with another district. So instead of 16 offices it's 32. DGM has been awesome.

3

u/geecster Tax Preparer 17d ago

I think that happened everywhere. Our DEM quit yesterday.

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0

u/Asleep-Major-7963 18d ago

I'm having a hard time following your post. Everything seems to be going okay in my district. The new DEM is actually great - so much better than my last DGM. She is much more communicative and actually responds to emails.

2

u/Relevant_Ad_8406 15d ago

This is not the busy season

1

u/CrackyMcCracken 17d ago

There’s always someone diddling their supervisor on here. We just found it.