SFA question for fedex 2000

[FedEx2000]

You have never had an employee refuse to take it? You're station must be full of candy asses who are terrified of mgmt. At my station SFA is the favorite time of year. About 40% of us refuse to take it and we love watching the managers chase us everyday in the morning and when we get off the road in the afternoon begging us to take it. We just laugh,refuse and walk away.

I guess that's the difference between the entitlement mentality of the east coast vs. the work for a living mentality of the midwest. I really don't mean any personal offense by that, but the East/West Coasts do generally believe they are better than those in the middle of the country, just watch the evening news for proof of that.

I don't think any of my employees are terrified of mgmt, I always try to do what's right by them as much as possible and within reason. Of course you can't please them all everyday, but I control what I can and I think they are smart enough to know that a lot of what affects them is out of my hands locally. I do my best to treat them fairly, and they do the same.

 

[FedEx2000]

Maybe FedEx2000 can confirm or deny this for his district, but in my district the managers were getting written-up if everyone didn't take the SFA. They also chased everyone who didn't want to take it, and would frog-march each and every employee to their office to take it individually. This had many people thinking that management "knew" exactly who had given them either high or low scores. In every case like this, the manager stayed in the office while the employee took the SFA. Total BS. They also have "information" sessions where employees are coached on what questions pertain to who and why. More BS. You'd have to be a total maroon to not understand it, so this is just plain wrong. Oh, and there's always a Costco BBQ or some other event immediately preceeding the SFA so you'll be reminded how much management "cares".

To me, these are intimidation tactics that artificially inflated scores. The SFA is supposed to be anonymous, and taken by the employee at a convenient time of their choosing....not by appointment with your manager looking over your shoulder.

In my district that was definitely not the case, but we did not have a large number of people refuse either.

Actually, when you take the SFA should be scheduled just like everything else, this is to ensure you have adequate time to take it and aren't rushed. The mgr should absolutely not be in the room, that's ridiculous, and if true, entirely unacceptable.

 

[FedEx2000]

Read some of my posts from last year about how IMO they faked the numbers that were reported to us. Every year, no matter what, they always say something like "our overall score improved' or highlight several areas that weren't horrible and then omit the rest of the results.

I can just see it in MT3's office when they see the scores for upper management....utter shame, especially after their information campaign last year that "explained" to us why they do the same stupid crap over and over again. Then they have to figure out how to spin-it so they don't look like complete morons. Good effing luck on that.

Don't you have follow-up meetings to discuss the questions/areas that were scored the lowest?

 

[FedEx2000]

The SFA scores never seem to change anything. Every year we get a scrawny half an hours worth a time to discuss the results and our manager hogs all the time to himself and the theme is always "poor me" and he won't reveal his overall score. Like MrFedEx said they always manage to highlight the few good areas and many problems are never discussed let alone solved and there's never any follow up meetings. This same manager allegedly got some pretty low scores a few years in a row and instead of him making an effort to impove the Sr. manager just changed his work group. His new work group doesn't like him either. Can't wait to see this years results but nothing's gonna change.

I always print out the entire results, the breakdown for each question and overall rollup for my workgroup to hand out during the SFA followup meeting. I've got nothing to hide, they're the ones that scored it, pretty sure they have a good idea of what the results will be. It's not like they don't talk about it.

 

[FedEx2000]

Is it possible couriers don't know they have an option? I think you jump the gun calling people candy asses. While I won't refuse to take it, I will score it the way I see fit....be it good or bad.

The first thing I tell them is that it is optional and anonymous.

 

[MrFedEx]

Don't you have follow-up meetings to discuss the questions/areas that were scored the lowest?

Same old story. Lots of talk and excuses=zero meaningful change. I blame upper management in MEM directly for this because local management has to sing and dance to whatever tune MEM is playing. Unfortunately, they are tone-deaf.

 

[MrFedEx]

In my district that was definitely not the case, but we did not have a large number of people refuse either.

Actually, when you take the SFA should be scheduled just like everything else, this is to ensure you have adequate time to take it and aren't rushed. The mgr should absolutely not be in the room, that's ridiculous, and if true, entirely unacceptable.

This particular manager had a very low SFA, followed by an extremely high SFA. For the first, everyone took it the traditional way. For the second, after he'd been to remedial training in Redondo Beach, the "in the room" tactic was used, along with lots of meetings to remind everyone how hard he was trying. As soon as he got the high score, he returned to being an A-hole. Mission accomplished.

 

[Mr. 7]

I heard of a new Ops mgr. that got something like a 46 on their Pre-SFA. I'm surprised that person is still working as an Ops mgr. at that sta.

 

[FedEx courier]

I guess that's the difference between the entitlement mentality of the east coast vs. the work for a living mentality of the midwest. I really don't mean any personal offense by that, but the East/West Coasts do generally believe they are better than those in the middle of the country, just watch the evening news for proof of that.

I don't think any of my employees are terrified of mgmt, I always try to do what's right by them as much as possible and within reason. Of course you can't please them all everyday, but I control what I can and I think they are smart enough to know that a lot of what affects them is out of my hands locally. I do my best to treat them fairly, and they do the same.

It's strange to me how "FedEx2000" first started on the browncafe site demeaning employees and talking about how lazy they are. Now he or she paints a mental picture of this great station with all these happy employees that skip around hand in hand with management because they are willing and wanting to help one another so much.
The fact that this person can't explain where and who the SFA results go to in Memphis seems very strange.
The SFA is insulting to the employee in that it fools the employee into believing they actually have input on the working environment when in fact they don't.

 

[Cactus]

I heard of a new Ops mgr. that got something like a 46 on their Pre-SFA. I'm surprised that person is still working as an Ops mgr. at that sta.

It was rumoured (since he doesn't have the nads to tell us) that the manager I was talking about scored a 42 overall.

How he keeps his job is beyond my understanding.

 

[MrFedEx]

It was rumoured (since he doesn't have the nads to tell us) that the manager I was talking about scored a 42 overall.

How he keeps his job is beyond my understanding.

He gets a free trip to Redondo Beach if he got a 42. The "Losers Club".

 

[FedEx courier]

In my district that was definitely not the case, but we did not have a large number of people refuse either.

Actually, when you take the SFA should be scheduled just like everything else, this is to ensure you have adequate time to take it and aren't rushed. The mgr should absolutely not be in the room, that's ridiculous, and if true, entirely unacceptable.

If it were truly optional a person would be able to choose a time to take it themselves. If you choose not to take it what do you do on the scheduled time that you take it? Also if it was anonymous and optional why does a manager know when you haven't taken it? If it were truly optional it wouldn't matter whether you had taken it or not and you wouldn't be pressured to take it.

 

[FedEx courier]

It was rumoured (since he doesn't have the nads to tell us) that the manager I was talking about scored a 42 overall.

How he keeps his job is beyond my understanding.

How he keeps his job is simply. FedEx doesn't care about their frontline employees. The remedial management class is just more PR that can be touted to act like they taken action in such cases.

 

[Cactus]

How he keeps his job is simply. FedEx doesn't care about their frontline employees. The remedial management class is just more PR that can be touted to act like they taken action in such cases.

Hard to disagree with that.

 

[MrFedEx]

Hard to disagree with that.

I'll second that.

 

[quadro]

If it were truly optional a person would be able to choose a time to take it themselves. If you choose not to take it what do you do on the scheduled time that you take it? Also if it was anonymous and optional why does a manager know when you haven't taken it? If it were truly optional it wouldn't matter whether you had taken it or not and you wouldn't be pressured to take it.

If you are scheduled to take and don't want to, then you just tell your manager you don't want to and he or she will change the schedule. Managers only know if you've taken it or not. They don't know how you answered it. If your manager isn't good at what they do, then taking it and scoring them that way will affect them more than you not taking it.

 

[quadro]

He gets a free trip to Redondo Beach if he got a 42. The "Losers Club".

What's with the Redondo Beach references? Either you are from that area and know of a location that FedEx has there and uses for training or you've been misinformed. As far as I can tell, FedEx doesn't have any corporate offices in Redondo Beach.

 

[MrFedEx]

What's with the Redondo Beach references? Either you are from that area and know of a location that FedEx has there and uses for training or you've been misinformed. As far as I can tell, FedEx doesn't have any corporate offices in Redondo Beach.

The remedial class is held somewhere near LAX, and the offenders stay somewhere in Redondo Beach, which is quite close to LAX. That makes sense, doesn't it? I've known 3 managers who have gone, and all stayed there. You've probably already attended. I believe the district office in the LA area is in Irvine, which would be Orange County, so why don't you ask Maury why it's near LAX.

 

[quadro]

The remedial class is held somewhere near LAX, and the offenders stay somewhere in Redondo Beach, which is quite close to LAX. That makes sense, doesn't it? I've known 3 managers who have gone, and all stayed there. You've probably already attended. I believe the district office in the LA area is in Irvine, which would be Orange County, so why don't you ask Maury why it's near LAX.

Oh good one! You just cannot have a discussion without insulting people can you? Well at least you proved my theory that you are from the West, possibly in the LA area. Not that it matters to anyone. I don't care why it's near LAX and never said I did. I just was curious why you kept referring to Redondo Beach. The fact that you know 3 managers who have gone to the same regional training class indicates that you are from that region.

The bigger underlying point that you seem to miss is why wouldn't a company provide training for its underperforming employees? The fact that FedEx does is actually a good thing.

 

[MrFedEx]

Oh good one! You just cannot have a discussion without insulting people can you? Well at least you proved my theory that you are from the West, possibly in the LA area. Not that it matters to anyone. I don't care why it's near LAX and never said I did. I just was curious why you kept referring to Redondo Beach. The fact that you know 3 managers who have gone to the same regional training class indicates that you are from that region.

The bigger underlying point that you seem to miss is why wouldn't a company provide training for its underperforming employees? The fact that FedEx does is actually a good thing.

I've always stated that I live on the West Coast, so no big secret there. If you study my earlier post I said that the remedial training is a joke, because they come back just the same. What's the point? I know they stay in Redondo Beach, but the class may be in Manhattan Beach, which is also close to LAX. If you want to think I'm from LA, be my guest. Perhaps I am. The Getty Museum off the 405 is very good, and the exit off I-5 for Disneyland is Harbor Avenue. You're getting warmer.