Pros
You are mostly paid promptly.
Cons
De-Ice is, without a doubt, the worst company I have ever worked for. Everything below is my personal opinion formed from working there for just over one year. It is also a summary of why employment here should be avoided. The company is essentially a cold-calling operation that targets companies with the hopes of selling them winter gritting and snow clearance service contracts. The primary method of winning new business boils down to high pressure telemarketer tactics against businesses found on the internet. It fosters a predatory culture of borderline potential-client harrassment, fuelled by the company owner, where "no" is still seen as an opportunity. From what I have seen, the company manages to scrape by financially, making enough to support the Directors' lifestyles while offering zero growth or opportunities for employees. Techniques to boost sales are, to put it mildly, concerning. At points, a self-proclaimed psychiatrist-type was hired to evaluate the personalities and psychological traits of the sales team members. This was done to allegedly help them win more sales. During the sessions with this contractor, I was asked intensive questions about my past, my personality and made to jump through psychological hoops far beyond what is appropriate for a workplace environment. Over 20 years, De-Ice has barely lifted itself beyond the caliber of a poorly groomed startup venture. It is a miniscule operation working out of two tiny offices in an industrial estate in Maldon, Essex. Most indicators for this embarrasing company performance point towards the Managing Director's unacceptable approach towards his staff. In my brief time at the company, I have never seen two teams (Sales and Operations) filled with such talented, hard working and intelligent people, who were bullied, mistreated, demoralised and made to run in circles by an intentionally spiteful, ignorant and distrusting company owner. Unless you are happy to endure verbal abuse, gaslighting and being outright lied to by the MD, a man who will scream at you like a petulant child while you are on the phone, do not take a job offer from this company. It seems the owner aims to be loved and feared, but achieves neither, instead just instilling a low-level dread of what he will say next. I have witnessed him routinely throw what can only be described as temper tantrums when people do not instantly fix problems. In my opinion, his apparent narcissism and manipulative personality ranges from comical to downright offensive, twinned with social attitudes to modern topics mirroring those of an 80s stock broker. Landing a job here is not worth your time or sanity. Most employees barely make it to their first year.