One of the measures that I pay the most attention to each year is our Survey/Feedback/Action ratings. Our FY14 SFA results were tabulated late last week and we have spent a few days already this week analyzing them in order to develop this communication. After six consecutive years of record-breaking or record-tying results, our SFA indices dipped in FY14 in the U.S., APAC, Canada and LAC. Our overall SFA results in EMEA did improve in FY14, and I congratulate that team for managing through the challenges of an aggressive expansion effort in their region.
These results tell us that the high volume of changes and the impact of cost reduction actions over the past year have had an unsettling effect on a significant percentage of our people. (YOU THINK?)I can tell you that work has already begun to understand root causes and develop action plans at the company level. (GET READY TO REALLY BE SCREWED)The main purpose of this communication is to assure you, and every one of your team members, that we remain( REMAIN? WHEN DID THEY EVER LISTEN TO US IN THE FIRST PLACE) committed to listening to your concerns, learning from your feedback, and acting upon the issues you raise(THIS I KNOW PERSONALLY UNLESS YOU CONTACT A VICE PRESIDENT OR HIGHER AND DON'T GET IN TROUBLE FOR GOING OVER HEADS). Today begins that process for the entire FedEx Express management team.CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THIS!
Shortly, you will receive an email from the SFA Team with instructions on how to access SFA results for your workgroup from the new SFA system. In its first year of use, the new SFA system has performed well. In particular, adding an importance rating to the survey will give us more information with which to conduct our feedback sessions and develop our action plans. The reports and tools in the new system will help you analyze your results more thoroughly and write more effective action plans than ever before with your teams. This year, those plans are more important than ever.
As we’ve said throughout the year, FY14 was a period of tremendous change for FedEx Express. It was the first full year of a multi-year effort to transform our company in response to fundamental shifts in the air cargo business. By any measure, it has been a very challenging year. Whether it was voluntary buyout departures and reorganizations in our U.S. staff groups, facility closings, budget cuts and widespread schedule changes in our U.S. operation, unprecedented winter weather in North America and Europe, or complicated acquisition integrations in LAC, I am well aware of the challenges faced by our worldwide team over the past year.
While these SFA results point to a number of areas where we can and will improve our work environment, I want to make it clear that I’m extremely proud of our frontline managers for working with great dedication and effort through a difficult year.(PUPPETS BECAUSE THEY CAN NOT MAKE ANY DECISIONS WITHOUT 20 OK'S) Our Leadership Index ratings, which measure the direct relationship between managers and their teams, are still the strongest area of our SFA results(CAN YOU SAY NUMBER FIXING). I am asking every manager in the company to use the strong relationship you have built with your team to develop an action plan that effectively addresses the issues that are within your control.
I recognize that a number of our employees’ issues – and the SFA categories where our results need the most improvement -- are not within the direct control of frontline managers(NO
!)Issues like pay, benefits, allocation of resources, rules and procedures and the overall pace of change in our company must be worked on by the senior leadership of the company for improvements to be realized. You have my commitment that work will be done.
In the year ahead, I don’t expect the air cargo market realities that are necessitating our transformation efforts to subside, and those transformation efforts must continue if we are to compete effectively in a changing market into the future. I do expect us, as a company and as a leadership team, to get better at managing the impact of this transformation on our people. That starts with your feedback sessions and SFA action plans in the next few weeks. Please join me in making the commitment to actively work for improvement on these issues for our employees throughout FY15.
David J. Bronczek
President & Chief Executive Officer
FedEx Express
These results tell us that the high volume of changes and the impact of cost reduction actions over the past year have had an unsettling effect on a significant percentage of our people. (YOU THINK?)I can tell you that work has already begun to understand root causes and develop action plans at the company level. (GET READY TO REALLY BE SCREWED)The main purpose of this communication is to assure you, and every one of your team members, that we remain( REMAIN? WHEN DID THEY EVER LISTEN TO US IN THE FIRST PLACE) committed to listening to your concerns, learning from your feedback, and acting upon the issues you raise(THIS I KNOW PERSONALLY UNLESS YOU CONTACT A VICE PRESIDENT OR HIGHER AND DON'T GET IN TROUBLE FOR GOING OVER HEADS). Today begins that process for the entire FedEx Express management team.CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THIS!
Shortly, you will receive an email from the SFA Team with instructions on how to access SFA results for your workgroup from the new SFA system. In its first year of use, the new SFA system has performed well. In particular, adding an importance rating to the survey will give us more information with which to conduct our feedback sessions and develop our action plans. The reports and tools in the new system will help you analyze your results more thoroughly and write more effective action plans than ever before with your teams. This year, those plans are more important than ever.
As we’ve said throughout the year, FY14 was a period of tremendous change for FedEx Express. It was the first full year of a multi-year effort to transform our company in response to fundamental shifts in the air cargo business. By any measure, it has been a very challenging year. Whether it was voluntary buyout departures and reorganizations in our U.S. staff groups, facility closings, budget cuts and widespread schedule changes in our U.S. operation, unprecedented winter weather in North America and Europe, or complicated acquisition integrations in LAC, I am well aware of the challenges faced by our worldwide team over the past year.
While these SFA results point to a number of areas where we can and will improve our work environment, I want to make it clear that I’m extremely proud of our frontline managers for working with great dedication and effort through a difficult year.(PUPPETS BECAUSE THEY CAN NOT MAKE ANY DECISIONS WITHOUT 20 OK'S) Our Leadership Index ratings, which measure the direct relationship between managers and their teams, are still the strongest area of our SFA results(CAN YOU SAY NUMBER FIXING). I am asking every manager in the company to use the strong relationship you have built with your team to develop an action plan that effectively addresses the issues that are within your control.
I recognize that a number of our employees’ issues – and the SFA categories where our results need the most improvement -- are not within the direct control of frontline managers(NO
!)Issues like pay, benefits, allocation of resources, rules and procedures and the overall pace of change in our company must be worked on by the senior leadership of the company for improvements to be realized. You have my commitment that work will be done.In the year ahead, I don’t expect the air cargo market realities that are necessitating our transformation efforts to subside, and those transformation efforts must continue if we are to compete effectively in a changing market into the future. I do expect us, as a company and as a leadership team, to get better at managing the impact of this transformation on our people. That starts with your feedback sessions and SFA action plans in the next few weeks. Please join me in making the commitment to actively work for improvement on these issues for our employees throughout FY15.
David J. Bronczek
President & Chief Executive Officer
FedEx Express
