Questions for Mike.

[Sammie]

One of my friends who works in the office told me that their group gets called in one by one and asked if there are any concerns, to please voice them to the manager face to face instead of putting it on the ERI. Isn't that kind of fudging the numbers?

After the ERI, they have a big meeting and go over the results with them, and then ask (in front of the whole group) "Anyone answered negatively to this question?" Upon which the whole group sits there and no one says a word. Must be very uncomfortable.

Yepper....

It's oh so insulting to be told how to fill this survey out and I wonder if anyone up there (hello!!!!!!!!!) realizes that this tactic leads to the worst possible scores a person could give when his or her turn comes around.



Then when the survey results come back, mgmt fills up a big chalk board with all the results and goes over them one by one, demanding to know who and why all the low scores!!!???!!!
1


Can you just see them pulling these stunts with a driver or a part timer???


Me thinks the ERI needs to go back to where it came from...

 

[Anonymous Contributor]

Totally agree having been an operator myself.
Unfortunately, Mikey's background is in IE and IE it is nowadays.
Now Jim Kelly was an operator and let operators run their operations.
It is a sad state of affairs, the mirco managing going on nowadays. My guess is mega egos up top.

Jim Kelly is the guy that sold us out and took the stock public.

 

[had_enough]

Some good questions here but a week before the meeting and I'm still looking for some more good questions for Mike.

 

[ihadit]

Do you think he or for that matter anyone on the board would actually listen? The stock value is a disgrace, Wall Street appears disgusted, morale at the company is at an all time low; and yet business seems to go on as usual in Atlanta! I have finally sold my investment in UPS for lack of confidence in our so called 'leadership'.........

 

[toonertoo]

I would ask him if we really need to hire so many people from the outside with their "free agent I'm here to save the company" attitudes.

I would ask him if perhaps we shouldn't go back to making the partnership something special again instead of hiring all these outside inbreds who supposedly have a friend"resh perspective" to offer us but never learn to capture the essence of what makes us great.

Ultimately I would ask him what he thinks Jim Casey would think of todays UPS. How would jim sell PAS and micro management to our people.

I totally agree.
Back when we had a snowstorm and everyone was thanked for giving it our best, and we threw the numbers in the trash, coz we got it done.

Or when we had a fire and everyone came in to help 1 week into peak, and we got it done. No one worried about who was doing what, we just did all we could to get it done. No one bitc*ed or filed grievances, we were all in this boat together, and we were in a major storm, and we got through it. No one cared if they were working 12 hrs, we had comraderie. Everyone cared. We kept the outside hires answering phones or cleaning the building, we didnt let them tell us how to fix it, we knew how to do it. We were allowed to use our brains and our brawn , to get it done. No outsiders interfered.

Lost power for days one time, we got it done, no outsiders came in to do it, we did it. We pushed pkgs down the conveyor. Those who do no more than push a pencil stayed away.
We still have in place the mechanism to fix the wayward listing ship. Let those who made the grade to promotion, do what they were promoted to do, supervise. Let those in control deal with the problems, since they came from the inside, they know how. They did it long before we did. I miss the way UPS used to be. Yes I still make great money, and their was always pressure, but it was realistic. Now very few care, the way they used to, and that I think is what made us great.

 

[over9five]

"...I'm still looking for some more good questions for Mike."


Mike, is that your real hair?

 

[Channahon]

"...I'm still looking for some more good questions for Mike."


Mike, is that your real hair?

Maybe " The Donald" look?

 

[upsgrunt]

I totally agree.
Back when we had a snowstorm and everyone was thanked for giving it our best, and we threw the numbers in the trash, coz we got it done.

Or when we had a fire and everyone came in to help 1 week into peak, and we got it done. No one worried about who was doing what, we just did all we could to get it done. No one bitc*ed or filed grievances, we were all in this boat together, and we were in a major storm, and we got through it. No one cared if they were working 12 hrs, we had comraderie. Everyone cared. We kept the outside hires answering phones or cleaning the building, we didnt let them tell us how to fix it, we knew how to do it. We were allowed to use our brains and our brawn , to get it done. No outsiders interfered.

Lost power for days one time, we got it done, no outsiders came in to do it, we did it. We pushed pkgs down the conveyor. Those who do no more than push a pencil stayed away.
We still have in place the mechanism to fix the wayward listing ship. Let those who made the grade to promotion, do what they were promoted to do, supervise. Let those in control deal with the problems, since they came from the inside, they know how. They did it long before we did. I miss the way UPS used to be. Yes I still make great money, and their was always pressure, but it was realistic. Now very few care, the way they used to, and that I think is what made us great.

WOW!!!!
Great choice of words and ideas-This completely sums up the way I feel about UPS also. Mike really needs to see Tooner's post as it strikes the nail firmly on the head.

 

[upsgrunt]

Sorry to go offthread, but I'm taking the family to Sandusky, Ohio next month on vacation. Tooner- what is 1 or 2 things that we really should do while there? (Besides Cedar Point)

 

[The-UK-Guy]

I had the pleasure of eating your brother IKE , delicious ....

 

[upsgrunt]

I had the pleasure of eating your brother IKE , delicious ....

Sorry man, I don't get it.

 

[Cole]

Mr Casey always wanted his customers and his people taken care of. WTF in Gods name happened?

Amen brother! What happened was they basically gave him the keys to a rolls royce, and thanked him for his service. LOL He had the idea of moving pkgs by plane pre-depression, and the others weren't interested from my understanding.

He was a people person, and they went away from that.

 

[toonertoo]

Sorry to go offthread, but I'm taking the family to Sandusky, Ohio next month on vacation. Tooner- what is 1 or 2 things that we really should do while there? (Besides Cedar Point)

IMHO You should take a trip to Put In Bay, I think the ferry is 12 for adults and 6 bucks for kids. Or Kellys Island. Its my favorite trip to "put in" and I dont do it nearly enough. There is stuff for everyone. You can take your car, but you can ferry back as late as 10 pm I think, and you can walk it all. there are many historical monuments, and the residential area is like going back in time. Make sure the kids take a few loaves of bread, as the seagulls follow it and they are always thrilled with that the whole ride.
Get some cheapo zebco fishing reels and get some minnows and go out on a wall, (go into Vermillion also if time allows"), after a day at the point you will need to relax. They are guaranteed to catch some perch, if not walleye off of the walls. It is the walleye capital of the WORLD> !!!!!!

I envy you, have a good trip!!

 

[Griff]

Yeah, I have a question for Mike. When are you gonna retire?

Hopefully that will mark the end of the IE goon era. Maybe we'll get back to what this company is about, you know, providing a quality service to paying customers.

 

[upsgrunt]

IMHO You should take a trip to Put In Bay, I think the ferry is 12 for adults and 6 bucks for kids. Or Kellys Island. Its my favorite trip to "put in" and I dont do it nearly enough. There is stuff for everyone. You can take your car, but you can ferry back as late as 10 pm I think, and you can walk it all. there are many historical monuments, and the residential area is like going back in time. Make sure the kids take a few loaves of bread, as the seagulls follow it and they are always thrilled with that the whole ride.
Get some cheapo zebco fishing reels and get some minnows and go out on a wall, (go into Vermillion also if time allows"), after a day at the point you will need to relax. They are guaranteed to catch some perch, if not walleye off of the walls. It is the walleye capital of the WORLD> !!!!!!

I envy you, have a good trip!!

Thanks a bunch!!!!!!!!!

 

[The-UK-Guy]

Mike n Ikes are a fruit flavoured candy in the same family as Lem n Mels and hot tamalies ...

 

[upsgrunt]

Mike n Ikes are a fruit flavoured candy in the same family as Lem n Mels and hot tamalies ...

Thanks! I get it now; I'm just a little slow tonight I guess- You know how Thursday gets here and you are at the end of your tank.

 

[badpas]

I would like to know how, and when Mike could fix the workers compensation crisis and why when it happens that UPS's first move is to deny and then pay later. Why aggrevate the situation with more problems and less solution. OK thats enough for now.

 

[tieguy]

One of my friends who works in the office told me that their group gets called in one by one and asked if there are any concerns, to please voice them to the manager face to face instead of putting it on the ERI. Isn't that kind of fudging the numbers?

Not quite like telling you to what to put down. The suspicion is some people go in and automatically answer every question negatively without honestly thinking it through. Suspicion that some people will answer the question negatively for something that happened twenty years ago. Management should have the opportunity to tell you what they did to address specific questions on the ERI they should not tell you what to put down.

After the ERI, they have a big meeting and go over the results with them, and then ask (in front of the whole group) "Anyone answered negatively to this question?" Upon which the whole group sits there and no one says a word. Must be very uncomfortable.

Bad wording to use. We are expected to have sit downs and ask why you feel the way you do but should not ask if you answered negatively. Use the third party response " Well I didn't answer the question negatively but what I think some of the drivers may be saying here is........"

Its sometimes hard to guess the meaning of some eri results if you don't have the sit downs and talk about it.

I agree with the ERI being administered by a third party, but I doubt it will ever happen because like someone else said, we do not want to know the truth.

I don't think the third party issue is relevant. We have certain questions we want to ask each time to measure our progress. You don't need a third party administering the ERI to accomplish that task. If you don't have questions consistently asked a certain way then you can't measure your improvement or tell if things got worse.

A third party might actually sway the results higher. You are interviewed by the third party. You respond negatively. Third party then says Ok I understand what you're saying now here is what management said. Did they do these things this year. You respond oh you're right they did do those things this year and I guess I have to admit those things did make a difference. People tend to forget what you did for them 9 months ago but they remember you losing your temper and going off on them forever. Thats why you have the sit downs. Some management may use the sit down to try to sell a score they don't deserve, many want the chance to remind you of the things they did do in the past year to try to make things better.

 

[rapidrandall]

I would like to ask Mike when he is going to reorganize the sales department. My suggestion would be to put your sales reps back in the centers so they can have cantact with the people who give them the leads and then they can be accountalbe directly to the person giving the lead as to why it sold or didn't. Get rid of the sales centers thousands of miles from where they are trying to sell and don't know squat about the businesses they are talking to. I'm tired of losing business and not selling new leads because someone didn't follow up on a lead.