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Latest Flavor of the Month: Send Agains
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<blockquote data-quote="RustyPMcG" data-source="post: 767776" data-attributes="member: 30339"><p>Let's clarify something: A short career at the UPS that exists in the form it does because of the collective bargaining efforts of the Teamsters.</p><p> </p><p>The UPS that would likely exist if it weren't for the Teamsters would be a very different place. And it wouldn't resemble the non-union workplaces you remember from the pre-manage-by-metric days of old.</p><p> </p><p>Large employers with lots of front line workers generate reports just like your UPS managers see every day. But while your UPS managers may depend on those numbers for their jobs, and they may make things uncomfortable for those who report to them because of those reports, in the non-union world, the flavor of the month is how you keep your job.</p><p> </p><p>Want to serve the customer? Put the customer first? The only reason you can do that is because you have the protection of the union. Without it, one flavor of the month number goes down, and yes, you could be out the door. Your good intentions, your work ethic would mean nothing. </p><p> </p><p>When I worked in the call center I saw people with better work ethics than yours walked out the door.</p><p> </p><p>The Teamsters may not be perfect. They may also have to protect some people who probably don't deserve it. But make no mistake, the concept of a long career as a UPS package car driver would be the exception, not the norm, without the union. And those who would be able to last wouldn't be the ones with the best work ethics, or the highest attention to customer service. They'd be the ones who would be able to manage their numbers no matter what the effect on the customers would be.</p><p> </p><p>That's the reality of the 21st Century workplace. And as someone who's 50, I can tell you that it realy <em>is</em> quite different than it was 20 years ago, and that your experiences from that era are essentially irrelevant in today's era of instant reports showing two dozen different metrics.</p><p> </p><p>Like it or not, the only reason your work ethic and good intentions allow you to stay employed even when one of your flavor of the month metrics isn't up to par is because you're in a union shop with grievence rights, and the right of appeal. </p><p> </p><p>Management doesn't want to have to defend managing-by-metrics in front of any panel of rational people, and in a non-union shop, they don't have to. Just fire the guy who's killing the curve, and bring in some new young guy. Doesn't matter what the customers think. Unless they were surveyed, and someone has a number that shows something different, and that number becomes the flavor of the month, the guy who doesn't hit his metrics could be the best thing for the company, but he's not the best thing for those numbers that someone is focused on this month.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RustyPMcG, post: 767776, member: 30339"] Let's clarify something: A short career at the UPS that exists in the form it does because of the collective bargaining efforts of the Teamsters. The UPS that would likely exist if it weren't for the Teamsters would be a very different place. And it wouldn't resemble the non-union workplaces you remember from the pre-manage-by-metric days of old. Large employers with lots of front line workers generate reports just like your UPS managers see every day. But while your UPS managers may depend on those numbers for their jobs, and they may make things uncomfortable for those who report to them because of those reports, in the non-union world, the flavor of the month is how you keep your job. Want to serve the customer? Put the customer first? The only reason you can do that is because you have the protection of the union. Without it, one flavor of the month number goes down, and yes, you could be out the door. Your good intentions, your work ethic would mean nothing. When I worked in the call center I saw people with better work ethics than yours walked out the door. The Teamsters may not be perfect. They may also have to protect some people who probably don't deserve it. But make no mistake, the concept of a long career as a UPS package car driver would be the exception, not the norm, without the union. And those who would be able to last wouldn't be the ones with the best work ethics, or the highest attention to customer service. They'd be the ones who would be able to manage their numbers no matter what the effect on the customers would be. That's the reality of the 21st Century workplace. And as someone who's 50, I can tell you that it realy [I]is[/I] quite different than it was 20 years ago, and that your experiences from that era are essentially irrelevant in today's era of instant reports showing two dozen different metrics. Like it or not, the only reason your work ethic and good intentions allow you to stay employed even when one of your flavor of the month metrics isn't up to par is because you're in a union shop with grievence rights, and the right of appeal. Management doesn't want to have to defend managing-by-metrics in front of any panel of rational people, and in a non-union shop, they don't have to. Just fire the guy who's killing the curve, and bring in some new young guy. Doesn't matter what the customers think. Unless they were surveyed, and someone has a number that shows something different, and that number becomes the flavor of the month, the guy who doesn't hit his metrics could be the best thing for the company, but he's not the best thing for those numbers that someone is focused on this month. [/QUOTE]
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