Part-Time Supe juggling act

[TearsInRain]

so, as a part-time supe, i'm in charge of a preload belt with 8 employees loading 24 package cars with about 250 packages per car, (average)

i'm expected to do 2 safety observations, 20 green safety cards, and 1 depth of knowledge sheet per week

per day, i have to get 800 GSS scans, at least 150 from one truck (with 150 stops), with no duplicates

per day, we have around 7 misloads, 4 of which will be from the same two people, the other 3 being randomly spread around

i have from start-time to 8:30, mon-fri to:
get all of the above mentioned work done
go through trucks
train people
handle around 300 mis-sorted packages that belong on other belts
handle any add-cuts that get handed out (around 3 pages a day)

the problem i have is getting all of this done in the amount of time given to me. the scans, mis-sorts, and add-cuts eat up a good portion of my day, and by the time i've gone through the trucks, i really have little to no time to train people, yet i'm being heavily pressured on misloads

i would do progressive discipline on misload employees, but that leads absolutely nowhere since they won't be fired (or they'll be re-hired) and it just serves to piss them off since none of them are doing it on purpose

next, i would just move my misload problems to another area of the building, but my center manager insists that they be trained instead, and suggests that i'm simply unmotivated and unwilling to see my belt succeed (among other things he'll say to everyone else, on a daily basis, at ear-splitting levels)

so logically my next step would be to spend copious amounts of time training them, backed by threats of progressive discipline, but then something else in my schedule would have to go, at least until i was done with the training, but i am told this also is unacceptable

i am also told i cannot have another hourly to help, or another supe for backup

how the hell am i supposed to handle this?
the last 3 supes quit, but i need this job right now

 

[Anonymous 10]

Unfortunately you've got production standards in your contract. So you better go faster.

 

[TearsInRain]

Unfortunately you've got production standards in your contract. So you better go faster.

tell me about it, i should have just become a shop steward when they offered it to me, i'd be making as much money with all the grievances at this facility

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

tell me about it, i should have just become a shop steward when they offered it to me, i'd be making as much money with all the grievances at this facility

Shop stewards don't make money on grievances filed by the members.

 

[brownmonster]

There is not one job at UPS that anyone has the time to do properly yet somehow it always gets done.

 

[Re-Raise]

Rather than whine about about how you have too much to do , have you formulated any type of training plan that might help cut down on the misloads?

Were you a pre-loader? What type of things did you find worked for you? Are most of the misloads for certain bulk stops?

My guess from the things you find difficult ( observations, DOK sheets, going through cars) that you were never an hourly employee actually doing the work for any period of time.

 

[TearsInRain]

Shop stewards don't make money on grievances filed by the members.

out of 80 employees, maybe 3 are willing to file grievances, 1 of whom is the shop steward, can you dig it?

 

[TearsInRain]

Rather than whine about about how you have too much to do , have you formulated any type of training plan that might help cut down on the misloads?

Were you a pre-loader? What type of things did you find worked for you? Are most of the misloads for certain bulk stops?

My guess from the things you find difficult ( observations, DOK sheets, going through cars) that you were never an hourly employee actually doing the work for any period of time.

i'm not whining about all i have to do, i was just laying it out to give some background and hopefully prevent the quick-fix answers of "lol just do ur job"

yes, i was a pre-loader for 2 years in this facility, and i struggled with misloads myself, and really the only method that helped me was circling the PAS-label, but even that would only cut them by 50% or so

i've gotten people to start circling labels, but this doesn't seem to be enough with my problem employees, to which my center manager now wants me to train them to circle the label, write the car number next to the label, and say the truck number out loud, for every single package.

maybe that'll work, but good christ how do i enforce that on someone all day long? sure maybe i can get them to do it one day, but i can't just stand down there every day and watch them say it out loud, not to mention the whole process will really slow them down

my fellow supes think the problem with misloads at our building are due to the design of the building itself, i agree, and even drivers who stopped by from another building made the same judgement within 90 seconds of being in the building

 

[Re-Raise]

i'm not whining about all i have to do, i was just laying it out to give some background and hopefully prevent the quick-fix answers of "lol just do ur job"

yes, i was a pre-loader for 2 years in this facility, and i struggled with misloads myself, and really the only method that helped me was circling the PAS-label, but even that would only cut them by 50% or so

i've gotten people to start circling labels, but this doesn't seem to be enough with my problem employees, to which my center manager now wants me to train them to circle the label, write the car number next to the label, and say the truck number out loud, for every single package.

maybe that'll work, but good christ how do i enforce that on someone all day long? sure maybe i can get them to do it one day, but i can't just stand down there every day and watch them say it out loud, not to mention the whole process will really slow them down

my fellow supes think the problem with misloads at our building are due to the design of the building itself, i agree, and even drivers who stopped by from another building made the same judgement within 90 seconds of being in the building

When you say " how do I enforce that on someone all day long " you seem to be implying that they don't want to improve on the misloads themselves.

Surely they want to eliminate them as well. As a leader you should try to find what their strengths and weaknesses may be and develop an individual plan from there.

You and your workers should be working together toward the same goal.

 

[TearsInRain]

When you say " how do I enforce that on someone all day long " you seem to be implying that they don't want to improve on the misloads themselves.

Surely they want to eliminate them as well. As a leader you should try to find what their strengths and weaknesses may be and develop an individual plan from there.

You and your workers should be working together toward the same goal.

well everyone has their limits of effort, especially at 10.50 an hour, and saying it out loud has seemed to be that limit with everyone i've talked to

i'm thinking what i'll do is just go around and ask the other full-times in driving and DMS what exactly they need from me on a daily basis, do that and my paperwork, then just completely ignore my pre-load bosses and do what i think best every day

i'll probably catch a lot of , but oh well

 

[BooBooBrown]

I just tell my emps. to look out for the most common misloads. But the rest of that stuff I do maybe once a week, the other days I fake it. 5.5 is not enough time to get all that stuff done. On top of all the unpredictables that happen on any given night. After a decade in the game I'm on cruise control.

 

[PTSUP0438]

I can feel your pain dude, trust me on that one. What really worked for me on cutting down misloads was to actually work with the preloaders. Don't make them your enemy by constantly taking them to the steward and doing that song and dance, we all know nothing ever comes from it and it will make the hourlies hate you. I try to have a semi-personal relationship with all the hourlies it makes life/work a hell of a lot easier. Try to get them to slow down a little and concentrate at the work they are doing. I know that sounds anti-brown but it works and you don't really loose that much time.

2. Make sure you review every day what misloads were reported and try to build a pattern like you described with the "2 people" you mentioned. What cars were they misloaded on. Were they on a specific shelf/section/bulk stop.

3. Don't set your employees up for failure, make sure they ARE INDEED getting to work with a few minutes to spare and making sure their work area is ready. Do they have all the necessary tools to help them succeed? (crayons, markers, etc.)

4. Get hang-able things with Velcro on them to put a green and red truck bay number on them and put them outside the car. (green and red paper with black font, really big.) hang these at the beginning of the shift and use the green ones for misload free loaders and red ones for the misload cars, not every car in the pull, identify problem cars.

5. I think circling the label is useless, wtf problem does that solve? that you actually looked at the label first? why don't you write the truck number on the box close to the PAS label (ex. truck 101 would have a 1 on it, and 102 would have a 2 on it, if your building does drivers initials use an initial or something, be creative).

6. Make sure the load quality is good, not misloads but actual load quality, addressing that usually solves a lot of problems.

On another note, don't let your Manager push you around I refuse to be someones b**ch and you should stand up for yourself. If you are a half decent employee yourself and tell them your doing the best you can then stand your ground and hold it, don't roll or you'll be shi^^ing brown your whole career.

In terms of scan checks, you have to do 800. Dude I have to do 1600+. Get yourself some sticky labels and print the scan check barcodes onto these and put them under a shelf so your not searching for the correct label at every truck. The trucks that you don't have to do a commit on figure out how many trucks you have divided by how many remaining scan checks you have to do and get like a 40-50 package sample out of each car to get your total, that way you aren't digging through shelfs. Get your loaders to put the labels facing out when possible to further the efficiency. At the tail end of the shift airs run so try to scan as many airs as you can they are easy!

Tell them to take the DOK home with them if at all possible or create acronyms for 8 keys 5 keys etc, it's all about efficiency.

Green cards are simple, pre-fill them out on your own time and put peoples names on them when you identify safe behaviors.

DON'T PUSH THE EMPLOYEES THEY ARE HUMANS TOO NOT YOUR ENEMY, WORK TOGETHER YOUR ALL ON THE SAME FLOATING BROWN TURD TAKE TURNS ROWING!

pm me if you wanna talk bud

 

[TearsInRain]

1. i used to do, until my FT and center manager crawled up my ass literally every day about it

2. i do that, but in my experience there is no discernable pattern to our misloads, EXCEPT most of them are smalls, and most of them are at the end of the day
a. my conclusion from that is people being rushed and carrying multiple trucks' packages at the same time
b. the problem with stopping that is the end of the day is my busiest time, with that last 150 scans (i have to do them in the last half hour since that's the only time there will actually be 150 packages on the car), with add-cuts, and then with bum rushing everyone out the door

3. good to go there

4. good to go there

5. it works because it makes you look at the PAS label at least once more, but writing the truck number would work just as well

6. ironically those guys have the best load quality on the belt, if not the building, though i know the types you're thinking of there

but thanks for the encouragement

 

[PTSUP0438]

Time to start searching for a new job, like me. UPS sucks doesn't it...

 

[Integrity]

so, as a part-time supe, i'm in charge of a preload belt with 8 employees loading 24 package cars with about 250 packages per car, (average)

i'm expected to do 2 safety observations, 20 green safety cards, and 1 depth of knowledge sheet per week

per day, i have to get 800 GSS scans, at least 150 from one truck (with 150 stops), with no duplicates

per day, we have around 7 misloads, 4 of which will be from the same two people, the other 3 being randomly spread around

i have from start-time to 8:30, mon-fri to:
get all of the above mentioned work done
go through trucks
train people
handle around 300 mis-sorted packages that belong on other belts
handle any add-cuts that get handed out (around 3 pages a day)

the problem i have is getting all of this done in the amount of time given to me. the scans, mis-sorts, and add-cuts eat up a good portion of my day, and by the time i've gone through the trucks, i really have little to no time to train people, yet i'm being heavily pressured on misloads

i would do progressive discipline on misload employees, but that leads absolutely nowhere since they won't be fired (or they'll be re-hired) and it just serves to piss them off since none of them are doing it on purpose

next, i would just move my misload problems to another area of the building, but my center manager insists that they be trained instead, and suggests that i'm simply unmotivated and unwilling to see my belt succeed (among other things he'll say to everyone else, on a daily basis, at ear-splitting levels)

so logically my next step would be to spend copious amounts of time training them, backed by threats of progressive discipline, but then something else in my schedule would have to go, at least until i was done with the training, but i am told this also is unacceptable

i am also told i cannot have another hourly to help, or another supe for backup

how the hell am i supposed to handle this?
the last 3 supes quit, but i need this job right now

TearsInRain,

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but the root cause of your problem is that you hold a job that is absolutely the worst job to have in UPS.

You are not in a no win situation, however you are in a very tough spot.

You will have to put yourself at grave risk of retaliation and harassment if you want to improve your position.

You seem to be getting your share of intimidation and harassment already.

The most troubling thing about what you posted was the part about the behavior of your center manager.

Could you please elaborate, in a general way, about what is said and who is present(no names, just job titles) at these daily "ear-splitting" meetings?

Sincerely,
I

 

[pretzel_man]

i'm not whining about all i have to do, i was just laying it out to give some background and hopefully prevent the quick-fix answers of "lol just do ur job"

yes, i was a pre-loader for 2 years in this facility, and i struggled with misloads myself, and really the only method that helped me was circling the PAS-label, but even that would only cut them by 50% or so

i've gotten people to start circling labels, but this doesn't seem to be enough with my problem employees, to which my center manager now wants me to train them to circle the label, write the car number next to the label, and say the truck number out loud, for every single package.

maybe that'll work, but good christ how do i enforce that on someone all day long? sure maybe i can get them to do it one day, but i can't just stand down there every day and watch them say it out loud, not to mention the whole process will really slow them down

my fellow supes think the problem with misloads at our building are due to the design of the building itself, i agree, and even drivers who stopped by from another building made the same judgement within 90 seconds of being in the building

A supervisor's job is much different than an hourly employee. It requires planning, prioritization, accountability, and follow up.

Lets start with a simple calculation.... (I used your numbers)

The misload rate of your two poor performers is 4 times that of the remaining employees. This is truly the 80/20 concept. You are going to have to step up that problem. Again, based on your numbers, if you cut their misloads in 1/2, the misload frequence of your entire operation will improve by 50%. Start there.

Yes, something else in your schedule will have to go as you fix this root cause problem. Fix this and you will have more time.....

 

[pretzel_man]

TearsInRain,

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but the root cause of your problem is that you hold a job that is absolutely the worst job to have in UPS.

You are not in a no win situation, however you are in a very tough spot.

You will have to put yourself at grave risk of retaliation and harassment if you want to improve your position.

You seem to be getting your share of intimidation and harassment already.

The most troubling thing about what you posted was the part about the behavior of your center manager.

Could you please elaborate, in a general way, about what is said and who is present(no names, just job titles) at these daily "ear-splitting" meetings?

Sincerely,
I

Yes, a part time supervisor has a tough job. I was one for quite a while and worked many hours for little pay. It is the most under appreciated job in UPS.

But, is that the root cause? If two employees have a misload rate 4X that of others, why is that not the root cause?

What did you see that says the center manager is the most disturbing part. Because he / she also highlighted misloads as the root cause? Because he "suggested" having them read the HIN out loud? I have not heard that one before, but will it work? Because he / she wants performance and quality?

 

[Integrity]

, but my center manager insists that they be trained instead, and suggests that i'm simply unmotivated and unwilling to see my belt succeed (among other things he'll say to everyone else, on a daily basis, at ear-splitting levels)

Yes, a part time supervisor has a tough job. I was one for quite a while and worked many hours for little pay. It is the most under appreciated job in UPS.

But, is that the root cause? If two employees have a misload rate 4X that of others, why is that not the root cause?

What did you see that says the center manager is the most disturbing part. Because he / she also highlighted misloads as the root cause? Because he "suggested" having them read the HIN out loud? I have not heard that one before, but will it work? Because he / she wants performance and quality?

pretzel_man,

I have asked TearsInRain to elaborate, but it appears that the center manager is screaming at his employees. There is no place for this type of behavior. It must not be tolerated.

His job choice is his root cause of his troubles, not the misloads.

Sincerely,
I

 

[pretzel_man]

pretzel_man,

I have asked TearsInRain to elaborate, but it appears that the center manager is screaming at his employees. There is no place for this type of behavior. It must not be tolerated.

His job choice is his root cause of his troubles, not the misloads.

Sincerely,
I

I missed the "ear splitting" comment. Verbal abuse is wrong so I agree with you on that.

On the second point, I reacted to this:

"but the root cause of your problem is that you hold a job that is absolutely the worst job to have in UPS."

As I said, I was a PT sup for years. Its a tough job. Its not the job, its not a fit for many. If that is the definition of job choice, I agree.

 

[UPSGUY72]

Time to start searching for a new job, like me. UPS sucks doesn't it...

Only if your a PT SUP. As a PT SUP your manager will string you along with the promise of a promotion in the future making you take on more responsibilities and work harder thinking that it will get you that promotion. But in reality you have little if any chance of being promoted in most buildings.