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When did corp. lose touch?
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<blockquote data-quote="wkmac" data-source="post: 128387" data-attributes="member: 2189"><p>Not true in all conditions. First off, the "earn and learn" is not available across the board. I work in a major metro facility and the only employees that qualify for the college reimbursement are the PT supervisors. Nothing is available for the PT hourly ranks. As for loyality, this isn't true either as not only are seasoned folks moving on but also many of the PT sups. who came up via "earn and learn" got a rude awakening when they got their degree but told they must come up via the FT specialist route first and then to insult further they see management trainees and interns get the first slots when they do open. In many cases the trainee and intern have little if any knowledge of how the system works and cause chaos and problems until they either catch on or become the latest "hot potatoe" being passed from one function to another hoping someone can make them successful while saving face for the manager that hired and then went out on the limb to get them on permanent because they played the political "yes" game good.</p><p> </p><p>Our function had 2 recent longtime employees who had their degrees but were getting nowhere and they finally left. One ended up working in an engineering capacity with a corp. jet manufacturer and his starting salary was $115k per year, 5 days a week and an 8 hour day that was so relaxed compared to UPS the guy almost feels like he's on vacation. To make it even better he lives 15 minutes from the beach! The other just left and is going to work for a gov't DOT also in an engineering capacity but the pay and benefits are about the same as UPS but the longterm benefits and other potentials are very good and in the environment of UPS today, not only did this person make the right move but back in the spring as the graduation date approached I highly encouraged this employee to look and move beyond UPS. </p><p> </p><p>Buying loyality? Maybe where you are but I'm not seeing that.</p><p> </p><p></p><p> </p><p>In some respects I happen to agree but in other cases I do not. IMO many mid-level management are at best papermen and data gathering leemings for the high ups as they need these folks to micro manage. The management teams at the point of business are stripped of the ability to run the business but that is really a whole other thread in itself. First off, I'm a big believer in technology and a huge believer in automation but I'll be the first to admit that automation would be a huge boom for me and my function but I'm also not a believer that automation eliminates jobs. If that were the case UPS would be neck deep in it and even in our sorting operation, automation at best might eliminate 20% of the total workforce and that's on a good day. That also doesn't include what you would have to hire to maintain the technology. The cost is still prohibited until you reach a certain scale of operation like Worldport for example. Worldport is extremely automated but they still employee 1000's of sort employees. There is no technology out there that works, is cost effective and a reality that would/could eliminate all inside employees and nothing is in the foreseeable future either. </p><p> </p><p>Now with that said, let's talk about dumping the dinosaurs in exchange for the more evolved species. You are right that the new crop is very technology driven and has no fear but they lack one very important factor. You say we are a technology company but I say wrong! When you boil it down to it's core basics, what do we really do? We take merchandise from one person and deliever it to another. Now have we incorporated technology into that process? Absolutely. However that part is not the core mission and although these wiz-kids are very good in the technological realm, they lack the seasoned experience of taking that package from one and getting it to another and all the processes that goes through. I've seen many a wiz-kid come through who was wicked with a laptop but take em out into the hub into my world of the conveyor systems and especially on the electrical side of things and they are totally lost. Give me a kid who is a gearhead at home restoring his old car, has been a sorter and driver but going to school getting his engineering degree and in short order he can function very well right there in my world. To make things even better, he brings things to the table from his side that I learn and I bring 30 plus years hands-on from my side and man what we could get done. He's the one on the beach and building jets now!</p><p> </p><p>You've gotta have the right mix of good quality experince but also folks with the latest tools and gadgets to get things done. In the mid-90's this company bought out a lot of management folks almost in the same vein of thinking as you've expressed but a lot of very smart people will also tell you now that in some respects it was a mistake because we also lost a lot of smart and talented people in the process. The one thing I've never understood about this company is we promote folks into management and in many cases throw them to the wolves but at the same time UPS has a huge resource pool of knowledge out there in retired managers so why not utilize this resource as mentors and have them come into the local operations on an occassional basis to work one one one with these new sups and help them over those first hard bumps they are bound to hit. I think in the longrun their years of experience, especially inside the sorting operations would produced excellent payback over the longhaul. Not every retiree should come back in this capacity and not all will want to either but I do believe they have a lot they could contribute in just training these newbies on just many of the basics that the FT sort management staff doesn't have the time to do. </p><p> </p><p>Before you decide to cast aside all dinosaurs just for one reason only, you'd better take the time to "Get the Big Picture" as what you replace them with will likely not have the skills yet to handle "the Big Picture!"</p><p> </p><p>JMO.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="wkmac, post: 128387, member: 2189"] Not true in all conditions. First off, the "earn and learn" is not available across the board. I work in a major metro facility and the only employees that qualify for the college reimbursement are the PT supervisors. Nothing is available for the PT hourly ranks. As for loyality, this isn't true either as not only are seasoned folks moving on but also many of the PT sups. who came up via "earn and learn" got a rude awakening when they got their degree but told they must come up via the FT specialist route first and then to insult further they see management trainees and interns get the first slots when they do open. In many cases the trainee and intern have little if any knowledge of how the system works and cause chaos and problems until they either catch on or become the latest "hot potatoe" being passed from one function to another hoping someone can make them successful while saving face for the manager that hired and then went out on the limb to get them on permanent because they played the political "yes" game good. Our function had 2 recent longtime employees who had their degrees but were getting nowhere and they finally left. One ended up working in an engineering capacity with a corp. jet manufacturer and his starting salary was $115k per year, 5 days a week and an 8 hour day that was so relaxed compared to UPS the guy almost feels like he's on vacation. To make it even better he lives 15 minutes from the beach! The other just left and is going to work for a gov't DOT also in an engineering capacity but the pay and benefits are about the same as UPS but the longterm benefits and other potentials are very good and in the environment of UPS today, not only did this person make the right move but back in the spring as the graduation date approached I highly encouraged this employee to look and move beyond UPS. Buying loyality? Maybe where you are but I'm not seeing that. In some respects I happen to agree but in other cases I do not. IMO many mid-level management are at best papermen and data gathering leemings for the high ups as they need these folks to micro manage. The management teams at the point of business are stripped of the ability to run the business but that is really a whole other thread in itself. First off, I'm a big believer in technology and a huge believer in automation but I'll be the first to admit that automation would be a huge boom for me and my function but I'm also not a believer that automation eliminates jobs. If that were the case UPS would be neck deep in it and even in our sorting operation, automation at best might eliminate 20% of the total workforce and that's on a good day. That also doesn't include what you would have to hire to maintain the technology. The cost is still prohibited until you reach a certain scale of operation like Worldport for example. Worldport is extremely automated but they still employee 1000's of sort employees. There is no technology out there that works, is cost effective and a reality that would/could eliminate all inside employees and nothing is in the foreseeable future either. Now with that said, let's talk about dumping the dinosaurs in exchange for the more evolved species. You are right that the new crop is very technology driven and has no fear but they lack one very important factor. You say we are a technology company but I say wrong! When you boil it down to it's core basics, what do we really do? We take merchandise from one person and deliever it to another. Now have we incorporated technology into that process? Absolutely. However that part is not the core mission and although these wiz-kids are very good in the technological realm, they lack the seasoned experience of taking that package from one and getting it to another and all the processes that goes through. I've seen many a wiz-kid come through who was wicked with a laptop but take em out into the hub into my world of the conveyor systems and especially on the electrical side of things and they are totally lost. Give me a kid who is a gearhead at home restoring his old car, has been a sorter and driver but going to school getting his engineering degree and in short order he can function very well right there in my world. To make things even better, he brings things to the table from his side that I learn and I bring 30 plus years hands-on from my side and man what we could get done. He's the one on the beach and building jets now! You've gotta have the right mix of good quality experince but also folks with the latest tools and gadgets to get things done. In the mid-90's this company bought out a lot of management folks almost in the same vein of thinking as you've expressed but a lot of very smart people will also tell you now that in some respects it was a mistake because we also lost a lot of smart and talented people in the process. The one thing I've never understood about this company is we promote folks into management and in many cases throw them to the wolves but at the same time UPS has a huge resource pool of knowledge out there in retired managers so why not utilize this resource as mentors and have them come into the local operations on an occassional basis to work one one one with these new sups and help them over those first hard bumps they are bound to hit. I think in the longrun their years of experience, especially inside the sorting operations would produced excellent payback over the longhaul. Not every retiree should come back in this capacity and not all will want to either but I do believe they have a lot they could contribute in just training these newbies on just many of the basics that the FT sort management staff doesn't have the time to do. Before you decide to cast aside all dinosaurs just for one reason only, you'd better take the time to "Get the Big Picture" as what you replace them with will likely not have the skills yet to handle "the Big Picture!" JMO. [/QUOTE]
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