ABR Employment Services

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ABR's HR department lied to me, directly, on more than one occasion. They have a culture of dishonesty.

I worked on 3 assignments for ABR, the last of which was at their corporate office. One day a new printer ended up next to my desk which I was instructed not to use because I would be "wasting ink." I asked Sandy Beckwith, the leader of HR, if someone else was replacing me soon. She said, "not that I am aware. I haven't heard anything." The next day Sandy's right hand man, Rita Engfer, told me they were just moving around office furniture, and that's "all it was," obviously in reference to my question to Sandy the day before. A week or so later, I was laid off. What they do is they wait until you leave the building for the day, and then they call you to tell you not to come in anymore, using language right out of the movie Office Space. They told me that they were replacing me with a full-time employee (since I was a temp), and it wasn't because I was a poor worker. Therefore, they had been moving through weeks and weeks of the hiring process for a full-time employee, so it is apparent that they lied to me, twice, about whether or not I was being replaced.

By the way, I'm a graduate of UW-Madison, triple majored in math, philosophy, and economics, with a minor in business. I might not be a genius, but I'm definitely not stupid, and I'm a hard worker, which ABR would acknowledge if you asked them. That said, I really don't feel like I fit into the corporate office world, and thus I am fine with the fact that they laid me off. I was just a temporary employee anyway. However, the way they went about laying me off bothered me very much. They smiled, and they lied to me in a very cowardly way.

First off the only reason I went to ABR in Stevens point was to get an application in at two of the local paper mills. Since the paper mills hire only through them I had no other choice. Filled out my resume', their application and did the testing in the office. Since I was unemployed I was asked by them if I'd be willing to take on other assignments. Which I said yes to because working is better than nothing. First call about one job was left on my voice mail, which I called back promptly (20min later). To which I was told the position was just filled (I was told first come, first serve). Next offer for a assignment came a few days later. I was told I would be an excellent match because of my carpentry skills and knowledge of tooling usage. I would be redoing office furniture, counter tops, desks, etc. Showed to the location that morning 15 minutes early I was told to go start at. The gentleman looked at me and said "I don't need anyone at this location, there must be a mistake". He made a phone call and sure enough they needed me at another location. I got to the other location just in time to make start time and still apologized for not showing up early like I planned. So then I basiclly shown what was needed from me work wise. Nothing to due with carpentry. Sanding, repairing file cabinets and prepping them for repainting. The place super hot, dusty and dirty. Basic sweat shop cheap pay kind of job. Next morning I had blisters and rash all over my hands. I refused to continue to do that job, which they said it was ok and understandable. Funny thing is they never called me back for any other assignment what so ever. I would avoid these liars at all costs. Manpower or Kelly services do not opperate like this group.