Let me share a story about this whole "on road supervisor" fantasy.
Five years ago, a very good friend of mine just completed his 19th year as a package car driver. His body, tattered from the workloads, was starting to give him trouble. He asked to talk with me about becoming an on road supe in order to finish his career at UPS. His thoughts were that with all his experience as a driver, he could share that knowledge with his drivers under his care and have productive employees. He felt that he could bring some harmony to a crew of drivers since he had a clear understanding of the job at hand. He knew he wouldnt be able to make it to 30 years, but he was motivated to help others to get there.
I responded by explaining the hardships of UPS management and the never ending parade of mental breakdowns that plague them. I showed him how many supervisors go out or are out on stress leaves. I showed him how the current on road supes were IN experienced and were mainly YES MEN and without any input into the operation.
He agreed, but thought he could make a difference. He was NEVER in trouble or had anyone speak a bad word about him in his career.
He made his decision and was promoted to an on road supervisor. He spent the first half a year in our building before being transferred out to a location 50 miles away. There, he met his drivers, he rode with all of them. He made recomendations that helped them and he took care of them by respecting each and everyone of them. They grew to know that he was there to HELP and not to hurt them.
As the months passed, and UPS implemented the new GPS, EDD, PAS, PDS and whatever other intials they can throw in there, the company sat him down and instructed him to cut some routes and increase the workday. Seeing that he knew all the routes (since he rode on all of them) he knew that would bring trouble to the guys (21 of them) and the workday extended to late hours.
He tried to counter the company with alternatives, but he was instructed to follow his directions. He did, the days got longer and the spohr lower. Production was horrible and the "numbers" just werent working out for the company. He was sat down again and told to increase the productivity by enforcing strick discipline including discharge if he couldnt get more production out of his drivers. He resisted that approach and gathered his drivers to explain the circumstances.
The drivers responded by trying to pick up the pace a bit, but it never got anywhere near the ridiculous number UPS wanted. He was sat down again and he was disciplined by his DM for not making his numbers and was told to get results.
Upset with the company, and unwilling to discipline the drivers for conditions he knew they could never achieve, he made a decision that came back to haunt him. He did not want to be disciplined himself because he was trying to finish his career at UPS, but facing the threat of being disciplined further he then realized he made the biggest mistake of his life becoming a supervisor. He knew then that the pain of his aching body was nothing compared to the pain of having to discipline innocent drivers and he should have stayed a driver.
What he decided to do was to "cheat" the system. By that, he knew the number people wanted to see an average of 1/2 hour in the hole for all drivers, so he went into the computer and "adjusted" the time allottment for each delivery area in every drivers DOL. He thought no one would notice a half minute increase or in some cases, a minute increase in delivery stop time. This "adjustment" worked out perfectly as his numbers came within the "determined" hole time.
It was working like a charm for about 2 months, but then, some IE Person reviewing the numbers picked up that something didnt make sense. How could the drivers be more productive if there were no substantial changes to the DOL or work areas? If all things remained the same, how could they achieve the production that was showing. IE knew that it had everyones route cut back (in production numbers) and it would be virtually impossible to be scratch or close to scratch, but all of a sudden, everyone was within a half an hour or at scratch in his group.
Sure enough, they investigated and found the changes. They sat him down and he admitted doing it. He explained how he knew the drivers would not be able to make the ridiculous numbers that the company was asking for and admitted changing the allowances.
The company FIRED HIM.
He lost his career by defending his men and women. His conscience wouldnt let him go with the program and he surely didnt want to discipline drivers for something they had no control over. As a veteran driver, he knew the men did not deserve to be upset daily with writeups, pinks, suspensions and possible terminations.
At the end of the day, when he made the call to me, he was in tears. His career over. he believed in the unbelievable, that he could "manage" a center.
Today, he works for half the money and no benefits.
I hope this helps anyone considering the job. His name was Andy. You all would have liked him.
Peace.