tire technician

automotive technician

assistant store manager

apprentice automotive technician

counter sales representative

Kal Tire

I worked for Kal Tire for approximately 5 years. Over the course of the 5 years I saw management and the company as a whole take a nose dive.

The way the company treats its employees is probably the worst I have ever seen. 

Each month the store will have a staff meeting, mid-week, after the work day. These meetings generally last from 6:00PM to 7:30 or 8:00 PM and attending employees are not paid for the time. The "incentive" to go is the company purchasing cheap meals for the attendees. Additionally, if the meeting happens to fall on an employee's day off, the company still expects the employee to attend and once more, will not pay the employee. If the employee does not attend they will often be taken into the manager's office where the manager will "advise" the employee that a third of their profit share can be taken away and mention layoffs.

Additional unpaid meetings consisted of one 15 minute meeting per week, fortunately employees that had the day off were not required to attend.

The company has a 50/50 and profit sharing program where store profit will be split amongst the company, good program, but at the cost of one evening per month. The company also offers decent medical and dental coverage.

Higher management also decided they no longer wanted their employees to have any facial hair (including neatly trimmed). Store management then required all employees to shave any facial hair they may have initially been hired with.

The company has far too many managers and treats the employees that actually bring in money as if they are expendable. General employees or "team members" come and go frequently, as the company promises frequent raises, makes the employee jump through hoops for said raises and fails to deliver in the end. 

Often employees are required to do a job meant for two and often have to work 10 hours shifts (8 hours regual, 2 overtime) with no meal break. Also, the overtime is considered "mandatory" so it is best not to make plans after your scheduled work day, as management will only allow you to leave at their discretion.

In conclusion, Kal Tire is a "job", not a "career" and is only meant for temporary employment while moving on to bigger and better things.

As a Career Tracker I was on a $40k salary working 57-60 hours a week. It nearly costed me my relationship, I had no work/life balance and the worst part was- I had nothing to show for all my hard work. I was often used for cheap labour so the company wouldn't have to pay their employees overtime. I have a bachelors degree in business and 5 years prior management experience in the automotive industry but I was almost always put in the shop changing tires to save the company on labour. It felt like a giant scam towards the end.

Kal Tire is known for having a very high turn over rate and it is almost as though they like it that way- they don't have to give employees raises. To add to this, after the winter rush, almost all the employees get laid off for a few weeks or permanently.

The profit share is a joke. The company is continually expanding it's number of stores. Each store cuts into a nearby stores profit share.

They promise everyone that they will be in management one day making over $100,000 salary and some can do it in under a year. It's so far from the truth it's not even funny. Nearly everyone I went to Sales and Service training with one year ago has already quit because of the same reason I quit.

What really set me off was how my shifts did not start until 7:30am although I was required to be there every morning for the mandatory 7:00am sales meeting- this made it difficult to collect overtime. Besides this, I had to "volunteer" a half day of my own personal time UNPAID once a week. This is illegal.

Perhaps working for the Vernon office is better, but I DO NOT recommend working for this company. There are better companies out there that treat their employees much better, pay them better and with shorter hours. I worked service rigs and worked less hard than I did at Kal Tire. This is a last resort place to work when you literally can't find a decent job.

DON'T FALL FOR THE MANAGEMENT TRAINEE/CAREER TRACKER PITCH!!! 

You will never be rich working for Kal Tire, don't let their pushy high pressure interview tactics let you believe otherwise.

I have worked in 5 different Kaltire store locations in Edmonton. Great place to work during winter and spring season since they will hire a lot during these times to cope with the increased workload and you get your worth of 80 hours per pay but the overtime is another story I am not gonna get into. after the busy season they will pick the ones that stand out from the new hires and they will either keep them or send them to other stores that needs more people to keep each stores with adequate number of team members. Then you get to the off season some days are okay, you get decent amount of vehicles to work on and some days are not. During this time that's when they will give you lesser work days, to the point that having barely any hours, you're lucky to get 60 hours per paycheck. But what i personally think that can make or break a company depends on which store and the mentality of the management. Each and every store has their own plans some stores stick with said plans and some break it in couple days. most of the time they expect you to finish a truck the same time as to finish a small sedan. i think the hardest part of the job is if your job title at Kaltire is sales and service that no matter how much sweat or tears you give that has no value whatsoever "Do a million things right and people only see the one thing you did wrong". Best part of the job is having that team building experience with people that you work with. The friendly competitiveness of who can finish a job faster in certain times. or just simply singing along with the radio. in Summary GREAT place to work during winter and spring season but would not stay on off seasons unless you wanna get to their apprenticeship program, which again, depends how fast you get into one depending on the line up or which store you get to work in.

Have worked in multiple locations now. In all locations management has been very disrespectful via a lack of communication. Overtime was not paid on time, or in full. Permanent schedule changes with no notice, written or verbal. Little opportunity for advancement, if you are working on a service truck. The pay is okay, but there is no standby pay for when you are on call. Took 2 months after I was eligible for my medical benefits to actually receive them. Never received a work phone for working on-call.  
They were good for replacing tools and maintaining equipment so that when you were out on a job, tools worked. Training was decent, however I would have liked to have been able to go with other service truck operators and learn more in the field after having been sent for a week long course in a classroom. The classroom training is good, but I feel it would be better absorbed by people if they have the opportunity to shadow someone in the field for a period of time as well.
 Encountered medical issues which led me to try and transition away from being in a service truck. When asking about alternative positions within the company, I was informed they are all filled. Understandable, so I politely told them that I would also be looking for work elsewhere to accommodate myself and sufficient notice would be given if something was found. 
Less than a week later I was terminated without notice or cause. Simply told that "we have deemed you not a good organizational fit" and when asked for further clarification as to how or what doesn't fit, I am not given any definitive explanation. I simply told that the fit is bad. 

Honestly working here was really fun and I learned a lot and for the most part the staff was great or at least the techs were. The main employees that were supposed to train me didn't really do a great job I feel. The one was showing me how to do stuff very unsafely to take tires with rims off of the shelfs which also damaged the rims. I was forced to take up multiple roles I never received training in and I'd get yelled at by the boss there for not knowing how to do it and then he would later figure out oh wait I haven't been trained in that and changes his mind, and when he let me go he even mentioned I was only supposed to be doing the bare minimum and I went above and beyond.... honestly lots of angry customers all the time so if your not cool with that I prolly wouldn't work here along with its incredibly busy and stressful at times. You're basically forced to remember 2 weeks of your past work because of a potential mess-up which is just dumb. I had to constantly write down what I did in that day so when they asked I could prove I didn't mess it up  basically and get yelled at. Honestly the tech side was great. They are really friendly dudes and it seems they are put under a lot of pressure to get stuff done which sucks. The manager is great and helpful dude, I enjoyed my time there with him. The pay is good, or at least it was for me wish after doing that job though with how much I had to learn by myself it was a little bit more though. Its a decent job if you can handle the pressure of it all

The work here is hard, and they demand a lot from you for little pay.  
They constantly promise a wage increase if you complete in-house certifications or demonstrate that you understand the work. However, even if you do everything right, the goalpost keeps moving.  

Management at this particular store has ongoing issues with payroll, documentation, and layoffs. If you need something done in a timely manner, you’ll have to escalate it to HR or someone higher up—otherwise, you won’t be a priority.  

Another issue is scheduling. Employees were sometimes required to respond to early morning calls, work several extra hours overnight, and then still be expected to report in the morning without adequate rest—despite BC labour laws prohibiting this.  

Also, management shows clear favoritism, and you’ll likely be isolated and treated differently. Hard work and doing things right won’t change this—they will continue to undermine you. 

Working here in the winter is brutal due to the lack of proper work gear. For example, the jackets they provide are bulky and absorb water, which is far from ideal when you’re expected to lay on the wet ground underneath vehicles in freezing temperatures.  

I took pride in doing my job correctly and actually enjoyed the hard work, but management made it unnecessarily difficult for arbitrary reasons. Overall morale among coworkers was low, and my mental health was declining. Leaving was the only reasonable choice. 

During my time there, I watched several people come and go for similar issues and more.  

Unobtainable expectations for employees, outdated, beaten and broken equipment not fit to provide adequate completion of the needed task let alone the exceptions, including work trucks and facility functions such as heat. Management has complete blinders to any issues or concerns regarding equipment but don't dare get caught without ear plugs in the completely empty shop.... After having a concern with a work truck and phoning my manager he replied with "what do you want me to do about it?"... not confidence in stowing to the employee out of the yard with a possibly broke truck. Overall, after putting everything I had into trying to reach the expectations of the management team including family sacrifices and loss of work life-home balance, I was laid off after being told that i had cleared the lay off periods. I was paid marginally more then a road tech, and expected to act as a manager and give my entire life to a company to jump, stay late, and abandon my personal life whenever they saw fit yet somehow when it came to the other way there was zero flex My time with Kal tire was the most stressful employment I have ever had, and frankly am happy to be gone to better things. The company is only looking out for its best interests, and not in an acceptable way. They would simply prefer to constantly hire, train, and lay off employees. It is a constant revolving door.

A typical day at work consisted tire changeovers/balances, wheel alignments, visual mechanical inspections, various mechanical services (i'm a registered apprentice automotive technician), Kal Tire has a well designed training system that teaches you all of the knowledge that you need to succeed in your workplace and how to do so in a way that is safe for you and your teammates (Kal Tire always puts safety first. my knowledge base of tires and vehicle components advanced quite significantly while working at Kal Tire due to the importance they put on training, one con I would say is (at least in the nisku area) was that wages were not that competitive with other businesses however Kal Tire does have an excellent benefit system along with a profit share system and a RRSP the is set up for every team member after working there for 2 years plus one day. My team consisted of a group of great people who often got along great with each other which spending time with my team i would say was the most enjoyable part of my job along with the knowledge gained, however there is a high turnover rate when it comes to tire techs, the hardest part of the day I would say are when the tasks start to become VERY repetitive it tends to become hard to keep your mind stimulated that and long nonstop busy days during the winter rush however those days always go by fast.

Once a month they have a mandatory after work hours meeting that last 1-2 hours which is unpaid. Not sure how they still get away with that with the hourly paid employees seeing as its against alberta labour regulations. These guys are really good at bringing young people in and giving them the Kal Tire brain wash. Super hype you on being part of a team and potential earnings but it’s all to get more than 100% out of you daily. Coffee breaks are discouraged and they will accuse you of not being on the team the first time you don’t work ot. Management and long term employees are so focused on their profit share that they’ll step over $100 bills to pick up the $5s meaning shop tooling is missing, outdated or worn out and they’re too cheap to get new. Mechanical booking/parts department has zero ability to forward think and really properly plan and organize. But they will try every day to give you 10 hours of work to finish in an 8 hour day if they can. While I felt it was a realatively safe place to work once again they are so focused on not spending money to increase profits that they could be better. When I left Kal Tire  they still had an employee that had left the company 3 months prior on the designated first aided list on the wall in the office which I had pointed out to the head safety person 6 weeks prior to me leaving the company. His exact words were he was too busy to change it.

A typical day would be Greeting customers, providing thorough inspection of breaks rotors and wheel well's of vehicles reporting my findings on an inspection sheet, communicating with customer of possible work that needs to be done or considered, changing, rotating tires, or installing new tires. workplace safety  and training for advancement,
I learned a lot from this job. working in a fast paced team based environment, planning and co-ordination between team members, working with a deadline and a goal, keep safety a big priority, better customer service, and how to work under pressure, 
Management was great, personable, friendly, reassuring and rewarding. Made everyone feel like a team member and welcome to the team, very understanding.
My co-workers were all hard working friendly individuals who i enjoyed working with a lot, made every day easy and fun, there was a proper understanding that to much chit-chat makes your work ethic suffer, good productivity, provided an upbeat atmosphere that made working there very enjoyable.
There were many hard parts to this job, but none that were stressful or easy to overcome with proper training and time management. The only part that was difficult was working on big diesel trucks with dual axle's in the back.
This job was all around enjoyable

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Tire technician 64 salaries reported	$24.13 per hour
Automotive technician 73 salaries reported	$38.03 per hour
Assistant store manager 30 salaries reported	$62,270 per year
Apprentice automotive technician 14 salaries reported	$22.86 per hour
Counter sales representative 51 salaries reported	$20.54 per hour

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