Mgmt ERO - What would you accept?

[TravelAgent]

There have been several threads on BC that refer to Management Early Retirement Offers in the past that did not produce the results that were expected by upper mgmt, the analysts, HR, etc. In other words, very few mgmt personnel took the offer. My question is, if you are management, what would you accept (within reason please since we are in a recession) as an ERO? For example, some eligible mgmt might accept the following:
1. Offered to any that are 50+ years old
2. 10+ years service
3. Lifetime Pension based on current calculations starting month following acceptance of ERO
4. Insurance at employee rate till eligible for Medicare (paid out of pension) and including dental and eyecare also at employee rate
This is intended as an informal servey but perhaps upper mgmt might like to know what would be accepted by those who choose to respond. Thanks!

 

[MonavieLeaker]

42

 

[33in2togo]

Lower Age to 45 and increase length of service to 20 yrs to be eligible. 1.5 wks pay for each year of service. Immediate pension and keep current medical.

 

[tieguy]

no ero . company trying to save money at all costs. no pun intended. District consolidations have created a bench of managers and divison managers. Extra managers are being told they will be demoted if a spot does not open for them in a year. We are heading into one of the ugliest times I think I have ever seen.

 

[ETA]

tie how ugly do u think it will get?

 

[rocket man]

why should they give that to some one for ten years of service then it should be for every one.

 

[TravelAgent]

Tieguy - you make an excellent point on cost savings. However, do you think they might still offer an ERO so that the mgmt that wants to retire will thus leaving room for all the Mgrs and Sups that do not? Just a thought...

 

[tieguy]

tie how ugly do u think it will get?

Saddly I think Its going to get as ugly as it can get. Casey ran this company with honor and integrity. He would have offered an ERO to thin the flock. Current leadership appears to be headed to their own version of survivor. Managers and divison managers told they will be demoted if they have no slot within a year. Hopefully the game will be played with honor but I would not be surprised to see some backstabbing as managers fight to keep their jobs. Could turn real ugly as some overzealous district and divison managers constantly turn the screws by reminding their people that there are managers looking over their shoulder. Corporate will love it because we will come out of this recession leaner and meaner. so what if we have a few bodies floating in the river.

If there are any corporate visitors here I challenge you to play the game the way casey would have. Offer the ERO to thin the flock.

 

[mattwtrs]

Saddly I think Its going to get as ugly as it can get. Casey ran this company with honor and integrity. He would have offered an ERO to thin the flock. Current leadership appears to be headed to their own version of survivor. Managers and divison managers told they will be demoted if they have no slot within a year. Hopefully the game will be played with honor but I would not be surprised to see some backstabbing as managers fight to keep their jobs. Could turn real ugly as some overzealous district and divison managers constantly turn the screws by reminding their people that there are managers looking over their shoulder. Corporate will love it because we will come out of this recession leaner and meaner. so what if we have a few bodies floating in the river.

If there are any corporate visitors here I challenge you to play the game the way casey would have. Offer the ERO to thin the flock.

Tie, Thanks for your honest take on the state of our management team. I was just talking to a preload sup & the Center delivery volume is down 10% from last year. That equals 5 trips. How does this compare to your area?

 

[pretzel_man]

Saddly I think Its going to get as ugly as it can get. Casey ran this company with honor and integrity. He would have offered an ERO to thin the flock. Current leadership appears to be headed to their own version of survivor. Managers and divison managers told they will be demoted if they have no slot within a year. Hopefully the game will be played with honor but I would not be surprised to see some backstabbing as managers fight to keep their jobs. Could turn real ugly as some overzealous district and divison managers constantly turn the screws by reminding their people that there are managers looking over their shoulder. Corporate will love it because we will come out of this recession leaner and meaner. so what if we have a few bodies floating in the river.

If there are any corporate visitors here I challenge you to play the game the way casey would have. Offer the ERO to thin the flock.

Tie,

I think there is no more to this than what Kuehn and Davis have said. There are currently about 1500 management people without assignments. They are hoping that attrition will handle the excess.

Generally about 3200 management people leave each year.

I think you're right that they will demote those without assignments in a year if a comparable job level doesn't open up.

From what I see, those individuals would rather have the lower grade than a "forced" ERO.

There is no ERO coming like you said. They are hoping things turn around before they get much uglier.

Time will tell.

P-Man

 

[dannyboy]

Current leadership appears to be headed to their own version of survivor. Managers and division managers told they will be demoted if they have no slot within a year. Hopefully the game will be played with honor but I would not be surprised to see some backstabbing as managers fight to keep their jobs. Could turn real ugly as some overzealous district and division managers constantly turn the screws by reminding their people that there are managers looking over their shoulder. Corporate will love it because we will come out of this recession leaner and meaner

Nothing like taking the team concept out of UPS. Instead of a whole company team that can focus on the competition without distraction, instead, its an every man for himself attitude.

I believe our corp office has divorced itself from the core of what made it great, instead, they play the game like everybody else, soon to disappear as an also ran.

Its at times like this, these type of destructive ideas spawn countless new enterprises, many of which will take business away from us, and many of them owned by the very talent that got run off.

And UPS will be left with the back biters, schemers, or to put it to where everybody can understand, the snake in the trailer.

And its that snake that has the greatest propensity to misuse the telematic system to further their own agenda.

Very short sighted for a company that prides itself as a long term bet.

d

 

[rod]

Hopefully the game will be played with honor

If there are any corporate visitors here I challenge you to play the game the way casey would have.

Thats funny

 

[old brown shoe]

I say just lay them all off with no pay or benifits until there is work for them. Isn't that what they do to hourly employees. Saves a whole lot of money.

 

[trplnkl]

I say just lay them all off with no pay or benifits until there is work for them. Isn't that what they do to hourly employees. Saves a whole lot of money.

hmmmmm, that sounds fair to me.

 

[pretzel_man]

Before everyone jumps to conclusions, here is some information.

What UPS is doing today, and what Jim Casey did in the 30's are very similar.

Jim chose NOT to cut management or salaries of our people. He said that he knew that he could, based on what the competition did. He said that he could have probably cut salaries up to 50% and only lost 10% of the people.

Instead Jim chose to cut in other areas.

Not dissimilar from today. In the 30's, they didn't know how long the hard times would last or how much worse it would get. They cut everywhere they could but not salaries.

Jim kept focused on growth, feeling that we would emerge a stronger competitive company.

Today, the management committee is making tough choices too. None of us like the choices, but they are geared toward letting us survive this and emerge stronger.

Are we not better off with a full management team now (even if under utilized)? Right now, assignments are being created where these people can work on short term assignements. They are beginning to work on testing new systems, operating plans, replacing other special assignments, etc.

Remember, UPS didn't create this bad economy, we are trying to properly manage through it.

In the 30's, UPS made some investments for the long term. Davis said the exact thing today. Money is still being spent on areas where we can be positioned for growth (new china hub, Worldport expansion, etc.)

I saw a very educational presentation on this, and the information helped me see the bigger picture.

Of course, not all decisions will be perfect. Remember that UPS started air service in 1929. Loss of volume and hard economic times caused us to stop that service two years later. I'm sure that was a hard decision too and affected many people.

Davis said that in times like this, companies will end up in one of three positions:
- Extinct
- Damaged
- Leaner, stronger, and more focused

We are going through the pain of becoming leaner. While not fun, its better than the alternatives.

P-Man

 

[rocket man]

what do you considered unassigned managment ? on roads ?

 

[tieguy]

duplicate jobs from combined districts.

example two districts each have an HR manager. You combine the districts and now one has a job and one is looking for a job.

 

[dannyboy]

Pman

That was a nice post. But management that is focused on keeping/finding/keeping someone else from getting their job so they can keep the house and the lexus, instead of growing the business is not really good policy.

So instead of that type of move, why not thin the herd via retirement of some, not bringing people out of retirement to fill jobs that others that do not have jobs could fill.....the list goes on and on.

Maybe if Mr Davis would not just communicate with upper management, but the rank and file, then there would not be a huge hole of information as to what we intend to do?

d

 

[negrosangre]

Back to the original question, I know my position is not a long term one, but unfortunately, I need someone to "entice" me to leave. I know there is something else out there that would be more rewarding, and probably pay just as well or better, so all I would need is a couple of months income "cushion" to find that new position.

 

[pretzel_man]

Pman

That was a nice post. But management that is focused on keeping/finding/keeping someone else from getting their job so they can keep the house and the lexus, instead of growing the business is not really good policy.

So instead of that type of move, why not thin the herd via retirement of some, not bringing people out of retirement to fill jobs that others that do not have jobs could fill.....the list goes on and on.

Maybe if Mr Davis would not just communicate with upper management, but the rank and file, then there would not be a huge hole of information as to what we intend to do?

d

Danny,

Maybe I'm missing something but I'm not aware of scratching and clawing going on with management right now. Of course, I think everyone is concerned. We should be.

I heard that Davis is planning on going to each region personally and communicating his position. He did that at the corporate office and the information was passed to me third hand. His plan to communicate with everyone was part of what was passed to me.

He said that no ERO was coming now. The last one had a low take rate and not too long ago. He wanted to keep a strong management team.

He said that he would be looking to purchase undervalued assets. This could be a company, equipment, facilities, etc.

He also said that although our service is the best in history right now, we are not converting as much of the DHL volume to UPS as they hoped. We are getting about 50%.

He said that we need to agressively go after volume and look for creative ways to reduce cost and offer new services.

I thought the message was good. He was focused on being ready when the economy recovers.

I really don't think we need an ERO. I think we need to utilize our extra people to do things to help reduce cost.

Just my opinion.

P-Man