must ask permission to go to the restroom

[Dizzee]

im glad u put UPS and not UPSF

Hit "refresh" on your browser.

( Just pokin' fun at ya. I've let it fly out the back door of my truck more than once. Not when a restroom was available, mind you, but still. )

 

[KidUPS]

Apologies for not coming in or commenting sooner.....

For starters, is it really that clear that the supervisor is responding to being taken advantage of? I had the unfortunate dilemma of having to urinate after a PCM at the same time a former center manager had the same urge. Eight minutes later, the Steward came up to me to inform me that the center manager had told him that I had to "pee on my time, not the company's." This had nothing to do with fairness or courage, it had everything to do with power & disrespecting a worker. It might also be worth mentioning that this was the first time the center manager had spoken to the steward about my "performance" during his tenure. So perhaps he most certainly did wake up and feel the need to gig me at this opportunity.

Secondly, exactly what is considered "appropriate total duration" of time in the restroom? (Given my knowledge of anatomy and physiology, I have a real difficult time calling it a "privilege") And does this time take into account the individuals circumstances. I get up early in the morning and exercise to keep my body in shape to deal with supervisors like Tie who give competent, industrious employees more work. These workouts require that I drink plenty of water early in the morning. I also have a particular diet which forces me to urinate more frequently. PCMs frequently revolve around health and hydration; you can't have it both ways.

Thirdly, exactly what, when, and why does an employee need a doctor's note for bathroom use? Many factors come into play here, such as age, weather, diet, stress, and fitness. And if an employee came in with a doctor's note for a medical condition that caused frequent restroom usage, like say for an enlarged prostate, does that employee run the risk of being "put on the radar"?

Fourth, if there is a problem in this area with one or a small percentage of workers in the group, what on earth is wrong with addressing only them? I would find a PCM on the subject of basic human functions disrespectful and degrading, not to mention a waste of my time. Sorry, I don't share your opinion that the supervisor is the "heroic victim" trying to make a fair workplace here.

If you run a business of 15+ employees. Pay them good salary with tremendous benefits and give them their honest, fair days break paid for by you. And you have 3 of those employees taking restroom breaks everyday or every other day at 20 minutes a pop. At the minimum, 1 hour a day, 2 or 3 hours a week. At the maximum, 1 hour a day, 5 hours a week. So, using a average of full time and part time employee salaries of 15 dollars an hour, that is about 75 dollars a week of paid personal time. Chalk up the amount of time other employees take to use the restroom. Now add up the amount of time it takes away from handling volume in your operation requiring you to keep employee later......Its pretty clear to see that we are talking somewhat near $10,000 a year, if not way more. Now add up the other operations that have maybe 1 or maybe 5 employees taking advantage of their restroom break (or using vending machines, cell phones, etc)....it clearly adds up...clearly.

A reasonable amount of time is a reasonable amount of time. Hell, if you take longer, sometimes it happens, of course. But how can everyone here find it so absurd that the company is asking it's employees to let their supervisors know that they are taking a restroom break. What it does it make both supervisors and employees aware that:

a) The supervisor knows where his employee is in case of an emergency.
b) The employee knows he can't be walking around the hub eating a Kit Kat bar and returning saying, "Oh, I was just away for 3 minutes. Didn't you see me walk out of the operation?".

Its business, its principle. The majority of time, it is the employees who are urging their supervisors about other employees taking extended restroom breaks on a daily basis..

 

[Brownnblue]

If you run a business of 15+ employees. Pay them good salary with tremendous benefits and give them their honest, fair days break paid for by you. And you have 3 of those employees taking restroom breaks everyday or every other day at 20 minutes a pop. At the minimum, 1 hour a day, 2 or 3 hours a week. At the maximum, 1 hour a day, 5 hours a week. So, using a average of full time and part time employee salaries of 15 dollars an hour, that is about 75 dollars a week of paid personal time. Chalk up the amount of time other employees take to use the restroom. Now add up the amount of time it takes away from handling volume in your operation requiring you to keep employee later......Its pretty clear to see that we are talking somewhat near $10,000 a year, if not way more. Now add up the other operations that have maybe 1 or maybe 5 employees taking advantage of their restroom break (or using vending machines, cell phones, etc)....it clearly adds up...clearly.

A reasonable amount of time is a reasonable amount of time. Hell, if you take longer, sometimes it happens, of course. But how can everyone here find it so absurd that the company is asking it's employees to let their supervisors know that they are taking a restroom break. What it does it make both supervisors and employees aware that:

a) The supervisor knows where his employee is in case of an emergency.
b) The employee knows he can't be walking around the hub eating a Kit Kat bar and returning saying, "Oh, I was just away for 3 minutes. Didn't you see me walk out of the operation?".

Its business, its principle. The majority of time, it is the employees who are urging their supervisors about other employees taking extended restroom breaks on a daily basis..

I just couldn't resist...I saw this screen up on the computer and had to respond. I am BROWNNBLUE's wife. I have been a health care professional for decades. I had to laugh at the original post. Permission to pee... this is absurd. (Who in their right mind would put a 19 year old, obviously inexperienced, in a management position!) Maybe we need to send UPS management through a Human Anatomy and Physiology class. I have also been in management positions throughout the years and very well understand the costs involved when employees abuse company time however I think it highly inappropriate to require an adult to ask permission to urinate or defecate. I have consulted with many firms in the business world, in comparison UPS desperately needs to learn lessons on respect, and obviously now on boundaries.

As to cell phone use, texting, etc... on company time I agree with the comment above, that can become costly. I would however like to know how much time managers spend on the phone, texting, etc... for personal reasons on company time. I would also like to know how their superiors would feel about this. In closing, be assured that UPS drivers do not have a reputation of being slackers. A little respect goes a long way!

 

[Brownnblue]

If you run a business of 15+ employees. Pay them good salary with tremendous benefits and give them their honest, fair days break paid for by you. And you have 3 of those employees taking restroom breaks everyday or every other day at 20 minutes a pop. At the minimum, 1 hour a day, 2 or 3 hours a week. At the maximum, 1 hour a day, 5 hours a week. So, using a average of full time and part time employee salaries of 15 dollars an hour, that is about 75 dollars a week of paid personal time. Chalk up the amount of time other employees take to use the restroom. Now add up the amount of time it takes away from handling volume in your operation requiring you to keep employee later......Its pretty clear to see that we are talking somewhat near $10,000 a year, if not way more. Now add up the other operations that have maybe 1 or maybe 5 employees taking advantage of their restroom break (or using vending machines, cell phones, etc)....it clearly adds up...clearly.

A reasonable amount of time is a reasonable amount of time. Hell, if you take longer, sometimes it happens, of course. But how can everyone here find it so absurd that the company is asking it's employees to let their supervisors know that they are taking a restroom break. What it does it make both supervisors and employees aware that:

a) The supervisor knows where his employee is in case of an emergency.
b) The employee knows he can't be walking around the hub eating a Kit Kat bar and returning saying, "Oh, I was just away for 3 minutes. Didn't you see me walk out of the operation?".

Its business, its principle. The majority of time, it is the employees who are urging their supervisors about other employees taking extended restroom breaks on a daily basis..

Good gravy, I can not let my my wife one up me!!

Again, apologies for the delay in response.

Let's say you run a company of about 15+ employees. While you pay them a excellent wage, you also demand that they work extremely hard to achieve management's ambiguous and often unrealistic goals. You communicate this subject of "restroom abuse" rather sternly to the group, citing your financial statistics while giving no real answers to what constitutes "appropriate restroom duration". You make a very deep impression on a couple of your newer employees, they feel that in order to avoid being put on the radar they will try to avoid the restroom altogether by limiting their fluid intake. Lo and behold, on a hot summer's day these two employees experience severe dehydration problems. Ambulance run. Emergency room visit. Probably some time off. Probably an OSHA visit. Does this add up to the $10,000 that you were throwing around in your previous post? No, probably not. But could your numbers also be viewed as inflated? You bet.

I am not going to argue your point about making personal calls on company time. I am also not going to argue your point about going to the vending machine for orange cheezy doodles on company time. But that is not really what this post is about, now is it. I believe that the employee should already know that leaving the work area for the aforementioned activities on company time is not allowed. An emergency? Now that is a stretch. One could make the argument that an emergency is the reason the individual is in the restroom in the first place. Simply put, the respect and dignity that should be granted an individual to take care of a basic human function should outweigh the extremely remote possibility of any type of act of God emergency.

It's business. And clearly, this business is operated by human beings who need to be treated with dignity and respect, and who need to take care of basic human functions as the need arises.

If your complaining employees have not figured out that at UPS, a good hourly employee gets more work, I am sure they will come to that conclusion more sooner than later. I also have every confidence that if you really feel that an employee is stealing bathroom time, that you will find a way to get rid of that employee, one way or the other.

 

[Mike23]

Is anyone tried the argument that they drink water on company time and so therefore need to expend it on company time?

The next step will be not allowing people to drink water on company time which will = major lawsuit for dehydration.

 

[Brownnblue]

Is anyone tried the argument that they drink water on company time and so therefore need to expend it on company time?

The next step will be not allowing people to drink water on company time which will = major lawsuit for dehydration.

Yes, that was more or less one of my points in both of my posts in this thread. Thanks for the backup.

 

[Mike23]

Yes, that was more or less one of my points in both of my posts in this thread. Thanks for the backup.

No prob, kinda drunk so I should've seen those posts four times. Guess I should drink more until I can see it 6 times!