I had an outside-of-work conversation with a full time sup. We got to talking about UPS, and the topic of sups touching packages came up. He told me that they are highly discouraged (by... upper management?) from moving packages. He said that he helps around because he sees loaders (preload) struggling and feels bad for them, or something along those lines. I don't remember the exact words, but that's the feeling I got from it. He said they are told not to touch packages because they want to "hold the loaders accountable". In the sense that... they want to know who is actually trying and following the methods, and who is purposely being slow (not his wording).
This kind of confuses me. Based on everything I've read here, I assumed that sups were encouraged to work, to get everyone off the clock as soon as possible.
What am I missing here?
Is my center really weird?
In the context of why supervisors work, the reasons vary: some genuinely do feel bad for
friends who are loaders, and are getting rocked; so, maybe they get help. Now, the obvious counterpoint is that they will continue to work safely, no matter the speed since production is none of their concern. In practice, though, even the people who swear they don't give a crap get incredibly stressed out when there are too many packages for them to load - and will not grieve if you just ask them: "Would you like me to help you?" If they say no, and it is really bad, a supervisor can always pull the "egress" card, but that is a murky pond of meetings, grey area, and perspective. Maybe not in all areas, but at least where I am employed.
Another context is the obvious one: make "the numbers." This is kind of an omnipresent pressure that, I imagine, varies from center to center. In the center where I am employed, the general tactic is to start early on Monday (when all the loads are sitting on the doors or are in the yard), and blow the building apart from the unload. Then, on Tuesday, our heaviest day, the volume is so high relative to the hours of the shift, we smoke the numbers. In the fantasy land of numbers, this puts us up for the week by at least 10, maybe 15 or 20 PPH. Thus, we can relax a little bit for the rest of the week and let everyone breathe a little. I don't imagine that tactic works in every center, but where I am employed it makes the "number game" a little easier.
Another area of contention is that part-time soups are often told to work by their bosses - do this, do that. And, really, since the grievance that may result is not a personal debt, but rather incurred on the part of the company - sure, tell me to work and I will; but, "they" will foot the bill for their decision, and if I go to panel, I damn sure won't lie for anyone.
On a practical level, though, I think most part-time hourlies take the following perspective: the work is hard, and I'll take a little help here and there to make it a little easier. What that translates to in actual monetary or employment terms, I don't know - maybe a lot, maybe a little, maybe it breaks even.
Last, I'd say that, at times, I am required to work because of absenteeism, volume spikes, or other extreme circumstances - whenever I do, I push myself very hard because, in my own opinion, it is a physical job and it goes a long way for those I supervise to know that I can do any job I ask them to do, and maybe even do it better. Not because I need to stroke my ego, but because I think it is an issue of respect - yes, I supervise them, but on some level, there is an understanding.
Maybe that is fanciful or wishful thinking on my part, but it's worked OK for me so far.
edit: I wouldn't say that your center is weird, probably average. Despite all the blathering above that I did, it's mostly a personal decision for a supervisor to work or not - we can't really be fired for missing the numbers, we would just be moved to another area where we can fail less. So, with that aside, it's a personal decision that largely depends on any given circumstance.
