From the Chairman...

[Ricochet1a]

While spending my time this Saturday night doing "nefarious" things (at least by FedEx standards), I was sent a scan of the latest propaganda sent out from Fred by a friend that still works in Express. I was rather shocked with what was stated in the middle of the front page - "Our DNA: People-Service-Profit"

Quoting:

...The P-S-P philosophy, on which this company was founded, is more relevant than ever. Each element - People, Service, and Profit - is essential to the success of FedEx, and must be in balance with the others to remain an efficient business model. In fact, the order of the three segments is interchangable....


Boy, things have sure changed.... If memory serves me correctly, PSP was clearly stated that People (employees) were FIRST, Service naturally followed when the People were taken care of, then Profit would naturally ensue if the business was properly managed. That is why the PSP was ordered in terms of importance.

The joke was that PSP still existed, it is just the two "P's" were switched - it was Profit Service People. Well now, Fred has made it official, the order is interchangable (or as he put it, "circular"), so if Profit needs to come before People, so be it.

At least he's being honest - that's coming a long way. His Profit and the Service needs of the customers come before any considerations to the People (employees). After all, you exist primarily to serve the customers and generate profit, that should be more than enough motivation to make you work -you aren't concerned with any financial issues of your own are you???

 

[MrFedEx]

While spending my time this Saturday night doing "nefarious" things (at least by FedEx standards), I was sent a scan of the latest propaganda sent out from Fred by a friend that still works in Express. I was rather shocked with what was stated in the middle of the front page - "Our DNA: People-Service-Profit"

Quoting:

...The P-S-P philosophy, on which this company was founded, is more relevant than ever. Each element - People, Service, and Profit - is essential to the success of FedEx, and must be in balance with the others to remain an efficient business model. In fact, the order of the three segments is interchangable....


Boy, things have sure changed.... If memory serves me correctly, PSP was clearly stated that People (employees) were FIRST, Service naturally followed when the People were taken care of, then Profit would naturally ensue if the business was properly managed. That is why the PSP was ordered in terms of importance.

The joke was that PSP still existed, it is just the two "P's" were switched - it was Profit Service People. Well now, Fred has made it official, the order is interchangable (or as he put it, "circular"), so if Profit needs to come before People, so be it.

At least he's being honest - that's coming a long way. His Profit and the Service needs of the customers come before any considerations to the People (employees). After all, you exist primarily to serve the customers and generate profit, that should be more than enough motivation to make you work -you aren't concerned with any financial issues of your own are you???

Fred? <<<<<BS>>>>Honest? Those two words are like opposite magnetic fields. They repel each other even as written here. I've been saying that we are nothing but units of production for a long time, as in interchangable pieces of the Borg. Locutus managed to outwit them, and Fred isn't invincible...yet. If his lips are moving, he's lying, so even when it seems like he's telling the truth, Frederick Weasel Smith has an ulterior motive. Just think E-V-I-L, as in Dick Cheney kind of evil.

 

[Ricochet1a]

I didn't mean to imply that he's not engaging in any deception, merely that by officially abandoning the rank ordering of PSP, he is making an "attempt" at honesty.

Now he can state PSP is "circular", no one item has automatic first placement. I mean, if they kept to the old standard of People First, even the newhires would've started to doubt him within their first 6 months. This way Fred's got some wiggle room back when those really tough questions come flying at him during the scripted conferences...

One needs to read the entire first page of the letter, there is even more that shocks...

"A tradition: Quality Driven Management"

"QDM is also essential to designing systems for greater flexibility in the event of disasters, political unrest or isolated work disruptions. In this regard, hats off to EMEA and AOD teams that migrated, on short notice, many operations to our new Cologne (Germany) hub to mitigate the effects of a work stoppage at CDG (Charles de Gaulle - Paris France Hub)"

I'm assuming all union activity comes under the category of "political unrest".

So, if the People have an issue with Express, what does Fred do? Does he address their concerns, or does he move the work away to another location were he doesn't have any of those pesky "work disruptions"?

Letting the reader reach their own conclusion to the above....

Now, if Express were to have any potential "work disruptions" in the US, what would he do? Would he attempt to address the concerns which contributed to the work disruptions, or would he move the work to another operating segment - say, oh, just for kicks, Ground?

See how a pattern of behavior (and future behavior) an be determined by looking at past actions...

 

[vantexan]

Actually he made the same statement several years ago, saying that all three parts were equal, that it was never People before the other two. That was news to those of us at that station who read that. We, and every other place I've been, had always heard "and our people come first." It's something I had always heard no matter where I was at. He also said awhile back that FedEx didn't have a no layoff policy, but rather a "no layoff philosophy." Thought it was interesting that he clarified that.Mr. Smith, I don't know if you ever look at this forum, or are told about what is written here, but for many years now you have expected those of us in mid-range to sacrifice for you. When someone has done that for 10+ years with no hope of ever catching top pay, P-S-P means very little to us. You have a very demoralized workforce who now even appear to have their future threatened. If balancing P-S-P means more of the same then when the economy improves you will be losing many employees.

 

[MrFedEx]

I didn't mean to imply that he's not engaging in any deception, merely that by officially abandoning the rank ordering of PSP, he is making an "attempt" at honesty.

Now he can state PSP is "circular", no one item has automatic first placement. I mean, if they kept to the old standard of People First, even the newhires would've started to doubt him within their first 6 months. This way Fred's got some wiggle room back when those really tough questions come flying at him during the scripted conferences...

One needs to read the entire first page of the letter, there is even more that shocks...

"A tradition: Quality Driven Management"

"QDM is also essential to designing systems for greater flexibility in the event of disasters, political unrest or isolated work disruptions. In this regard, hats off to EMEA and AOD teams that migrated, on short notice, many operations to our new Cologne (Germany) hub to mitigate the effects of a work stoppage at CDG (Charles de Gaulle - Paris France Hub)"

I'm assuming all union activity comes under the category of "political unrest".

So, if the People have an issue with Express, what does Fred do? Does he address their concerns, or does he move the work away to another location were he doesn't have any of those pesky "work disruptions"?

Letting the reader reach their own conclusion to the above....

Now, if Express were to have any potential "work disruptions" in the US, what would he do? Would he attempt to address the concerns which contributed to the work disruptions, or would he move the work to another operating segment - say, oh, just for kicks, Ground?

See how a pattern of behavior (and future behavior) an be determined by looking at past actions...

QDM is aka Q-DUMB, or also Quaalude-Directed-Management. I'm wondering how the pro-labor French responded when Fred sent American employees to France to quell a French labor dispute?

 

[MrFedEx]

Actually he made the same statement several years ago, saying that all three parts were equal, that it was never People before the other two. That was news to those of us at that station who read that. We, and every other place I've been, had always heard "and our people come first." It's something I had always heard no matter where I was at. He also said awhile back that FedEx didn't have a no layoff policy, but rather a "no layoff philosophy." Thought it was interesting that he clarified that.Mr. Smith, I don't know if you ever look at this forum, or are told about what is written here, but for many years now you have expected those of us in mid-range to sacrifice for you. When someone has done that for 10+ years with no hope of ever catching top pay, P-S-P means very little to us. You have a very demoralized workforce who now even appear to have their future threatened. If balancing P-S-P means more of the same then when the economy improves you will be losing many employees.

Fred has his minions read BC for him and would never lower himself to respond to lowly employees directly. He's become kind of like Sarah Palin in that he only appears on FedEx-friendly shows like Kudlow or other completely conservative venues where his economic "expertise" is unquestioned. Before he turned into a real life version of Montgomery Burns, Fred used to tour stations like a celebrity. Now, he needs bodyguards, and would probably be greeted with a shower of rocks instead of applause. Pre-scripted questions and "answers" from someone who is more of a political criminal than a businessman.

 

[Ricochet1a]

QDM is aka Q-DUMB, or also Quaalude-Directed-Management. I'm wondering how the pro-labor French responded when Fred sent American employees to France to quell a French labor dispute?

I understood that he initially attempted to send Americans directly to CDG to get the work accomplished, but the French government nixed that plan. FedEx's plan B was to move the work to Cologne Germany. Since there wasn't a work stoppage in Cologne, he could move Americans in and merely re-route the flights to use Cologne as a hub. One of the few instances of the use of international labor to break a work stoppage. The Germans either couldn't, or wouldn't put a halt to the obvious end-run on the French stoppage.

 

[Ricochet1a]

Actually he made the same statement several years ago, saying that all three parts were equal, that it was never People before the other two. That was news to those of us at that station who read that. We, and every other place I've been, had always heard "and our people come first." It's something I had always heard no matter where I was at. He also said awhile back that FedEx didn't have a no layoff policy, but rather a "no layoff philosophy." Thought it was interesting that he clarified that.Mr. Smith, I don't know if you ever look at this forum, or are told about what is written here, but for many years now you have expected those of us in mid-range to sacrifice for you. When someone has done that for 10+ years with no hope of ever catching top pay, P-S-P means very little to us. You have a very demoralized workforce who now even appear to have their future threatened. If balancing P-S-P means more of the same then when the economy improves you will be losing many employees.

I know he made the same argument during an annual shareholder's meeting a few years ago, but I think this is the first time where FedEx has issued literature intended for the consumption of the wage workforce that explicitly states that People are no longer First, but merely part of a system, where the priorities can and will change at his whim.

The word play between "policy" and "philosophy" occurred around the same time. Of course no corporation is going to have a "Lay OFF philosophy", so why a No Lay Off philosophy? It was because there was indeed a stated corporate "No Lay Off Policy", that was getting very inconvenient for FedEx. So with a bit of verbal tap dancing, what was once a Policy, has magically become a philosophy, with enough wiggle room to fit an MD-11 through.

And you're right, when the economy improves, Express will be losing many employees (pulling the cord). But do you think this is unforeseen, unintended, or deliberate? This falls under the category of "attrition". Attrition can be retirement, voluntary departures, terminations and buyouts. How Express acheives that remains to be seen.

 

[vantexan]

Fred has his minions read BC for him and would never lower himself to respond to lowly employees directly. He's become kind of like Sarah Palin in that he only appears on FedEx-friendly shows like Kudlow or other completely conservative venues. Before he turned into a real life version of Mr. Burns, Fred used to tour stations like a celebrity. Now, he needs bodyguards, and would probably be greeted with a shower of rocks instead of applause. Pre-scripted questions and "answers" from someone who is more of a political criminal than a businessman.

Yeah, don't think it'll do any good to write that but might as well say it. When I was in the Hub back in '86 the company had a poster, may have been '87, that showed a bunch of WWI era fighter planes, each representing a different competitor plus our own plane, with the caption "We're in a Dogfight!" Back then we were proud of the growth in volume and felt like we were part of great company. And wanted to help it succeed. Now we have posted in my station that UPS beat us in a customer satisfaction survey. In all honesty what do they expect? We have a minimal pension, woo hoo!!! We get small raises, and may not even get one, yee haw!!! Our health insurance costs go up whether we get a tiny raise or not, praise glory!!! Come on everybody, let's win one for the Gipper!!! Seriously?

 

[whenIgetthere]

And don't forget those sales leads! Like MFE said in an earler thread, I went to my 12 customers who I knew wouldn't increase volume, and put them in as leads! All at once, all set for the FY. I do that every year, now.

 

[Cactus]

Quoting:

...The P-S-P philosophy, on which this company was founded, is more relevant than ever. Each element - People, Service, and Profit - is essential to the success of FedEx, and must be in balance with the others to remain an efficient business model. In fact, the order of the three segments is interchangable....

Fred still calls it Service?