Sixt Management

Investments
,
7

Sixt employee reviews point to a culture of fear, LinkedIn checks indicate senior management high turnover rate

I went through employee reviews at Kununu in the past five months and here is what stood out to me;

Negatives:

  • Culture of fear: Many employees mentioned a “hire and fire” culture. Employees are living in fear of being dismissed, often without valid reasons. The result is a high-employee turnover.
  • Too much work: A number of employees also highlighted that they are being overworked following the implementation of cost-cut measures as a result of a slump in prices of EVs. They pointed out that the company is more concerned with profits and not employee well-being.
  • The firm is stifling creation of a works council: Some employees highlighted that the management is against the creation of a works council, going as far as firing employees who come up with the idea.

Positives

  • No more tricking customers: One employee pointed out that the commission system has been tightened to prevent employees from tricking customers into paying more.

I tried to check the validity of these comments and most of them checked out;

  • I went through around 200 profiles of senior-level management (based in Germany) at LinkedIn and over 52 were appointed or promoted between January 2023 and September 2024. This implies that those they replaced likely left the company.

  • In 2017, a research by WELT AM SONNTAG established that Sixt employees were under sales pressure which leads to customers being tricked to pay more for products they don’t need. According to the newspaper, employees learned this tricks through sales training courses or during on-the-job training sessions.

  • Last year, Sixt fired three employees who attempted to set up a works council. The three worn a labor suit against Sixt but later accepted to terminate their contracts through mutual agreement .

  • Erich Sixt was considered authoritarian himself when he was the CEO, hence there is a chance that his sons are following in his footsteps. It’s also believed that he’s still wielding management power at Sixt despite having resigned as CEO.

  • During the recent annual general meeting (AGM), DWS Investment which has 5% voting right in the company pointed out that there is deficiency in the supervisory board.

    “Accordingly, we also see, as we did last year, clear deficiencies in the composition of the supervisory board. The requirements for independence are currently met by only one member,” Sabrina Reeh of DWS wrote in a letter to Sixt.

2 Likes