OK call me Ignorant and Unlearned but what is WAD? Obviously staying with FedEx fashion it is some sort of acronym.
Express was (and still claims) it wants its employees to go 'above and beyond' (Purple Promise crap)....
The critical weakness within Express, it that up until recently - it NEEDED their employees to do just that - in order to keep the customers happy (in spite of the gross mismanagement of the system, trying to accomplish too much, with just a bit too few people, all in order to push profit margin just a few points higher).
The employees are beginning to catch on, that there is NO REWARD for going above and beyond written policy. To the contrary, going beyond policy usually results in the employee being subject to discipline for not meeting productivity requirements.
So employees are doing what in most companies is referred to was CYA - or in Express' case, Work as Directed (with ABSOLUTELY no initiative to go beyond the letter of written policy in the conduct and performance of work). Express is starting to get what it is paying for - and isn't liking it. Express has a long history of wanting to have and eat its cake at the same time - and the employees are beginning to say, "Not so fast".
By WAD, employees protect themselves from disciplinary action, BUT also deny Express the benefit of their taking the initiative, taking a bit of risk and doing something which provides SERVICE which CANNOT be measured on a productivity report.
Express is being managed by 'report', so in order for wage employees to survive this type of environment (in the face of stagnant wage progression and eroding benefits), they WAD and that's it.
Public school teachers complain about 'teaching the students to pass the test'. They state that their job has been reduced to that of test preparation - and NOT really challenging the minds of the children to go a bit beyond what can be put into a test and scored with objective means. Express has done a VERY similar thing to its employees. The employees can only work to pass the objective test (all the performance reports), but in so doing, they are left incapable of REALLY fulfilling the 'mission' of Express - which is supposedly to provide service.
Teachers instruct students solely to pass the test, Express employees work as directed. In both instances, mediocrity is the result. Express still has to ACCEPT the fact that with what they are offering their wage employees now, all they will get in return is mediocrity. They THINK they can still get that old fashioned service out of its employees - they are mistaken.
Just as the wage employees are learning that things are a changin' in Express -the executive management of Express is going to learn the true meaning of 'getting what one pays for'.
must they dump upon us before we DO something? I am speaking figuratively in the title of this post, but we're all dead men (and women) walking at this company at this point in time. Burn them however you can.
