The Solution - Productivity, Morale, Income

[Leftinbuilding]

LIB, are you sure this list is correct? I don't see length of service anywhere on the list.

Probably an oversight. LOL I am in my 36th year so I guess my work ethic is, by some definitions, very strong.

 

[Camping Nana]

People do far more than just 'punch a clock' for 34 for years.

They work their asses off during peaks, work through bad weather and deal with customers, dogs and management. They handle thousands upon thousands of packages.

A work ethic is Hard Work and Diligence.

That is what has been done. Denigrating those who make UPS profitable is foolish. I worked with fine people over the years. They all have worked hard and deserve respect and our thanks.

WOW - your center must have all perfect employees!

I agree that work ethic is hard work and diligence - but there are many that do deal with all you named above - but they do so in a manner that gives "just enough to get by" - and that, my friend, is NOT good work ethic. These type of people are in all walks of life - not just at UPS.

 

[helenofcalifornia]

And sometimes good employees are made "bad" by some inane, dumb management person who takes a good driver, PTer, etc., and messes with them. We have all seen a good UPSer turn sour with poor management skills.

 

[sortaisle]

Not wild at all. I did a 4x4 route on Friday with 60 stops, maybe 80 total packages handled, and 218 miles driven. We probably lose money on this route but you have to have these routes to cover every address.

In your senerio some poor shmuck would get stuck making next to nothing on this route.

Seriously, Alaska should have packages dropped from airplanes like they do in the middle east. Just my thoughts.

 

[Camping Nana]

And sometimes good employees are made "bad" by some inane, dumb management person who takes a good driver, PTer, etc., and messes with them. We have all seen a good UPSer turn sour with poor management skills.

Ain't that the truth!

 

[MC4YOU2]

Least best does have a point though. I've been here 20 years and I would say that in general, but obviously not always, the better your work ethic is the longer you tend to stay employed. I've seen poor work ethic weed out people. This is not an easy job, and if you aren't consistent you can't go the distance.

 

[trplnkl]

This defines a good work ethic. Taken from Retailrecruiters.com.

Work Ethic
Work ethic is a set of values based on the moral virtues of hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance character. Having a good work ethic can take you a long way in your career.
There are examples of work ethic traits that employers consider important:

• Attendance: Arrives on time and gives advance notice of absence.
• This one is true, but doesn't allow for emergency contingencies.
• Character: Displays loyalty, honesty, trustworthiness, dependability, reliability, initiative, self-discipline, and self-responsibility.
• Hypocritical at best, don't demand I have integrity while you are lying to me.
• Attitude: Demonstrates a positive attitude.
• I used to have a great attitude, now I have an alternative attitude from the company. There are many reasons for the change.
• Productivity: Good work habits result in a good work product.
• Most drivers give as good a work product as they are given good tools to do the job with.
• Teamwork: Respects others; is a team worker and is cooperative.
• LOL, All this means is an employee has to be willing to do their own job part of anyone's job that doesn't do their's.
• Organizational Skills: Manifests skill in personal management, time management, flexibility and the ability to deal with change.
• Oh, now this one is just funny, we are not allowed to manage our time. Any changes we make are claimed as stealing and dishonesty.
• Communication: Have appropriate verbal and nonverbal skills.
• It's my skill in verbal communications that gets me in trouble.
• Cooperation: Have leadership skills; maintains appropriate relationships with supervisors and peers.
• Another two way door that only swings one way.
• Respect: Treats everyone with respect.
• Be respectible and the respect naturally follows.
• Appearance: Displays appropriate dress, grooming, hygiene and etiquette
• We wear what they make us wear.
  

And you have never seen a driver who was lacking in any of these areas?
I have seen drivers that are lacking in some of these areas, I've seen management just as lacking.
The problem with this list is that it is designed to sell the services of Retailreruiters.com. The easiest way to get companies to buy their srevice is to promise them they will provide people that fill all the qualities on that list. To sum it up in one word the list is "propaganda". The list has very little to do with reality as it projects it'self as work ethics when in truth it discribes the "dream" employee.

 

[brownmonster]

This concept has been tried. The bonus system. Too many variables.

 

[Braveheart]

Give it to me - I'd take it in a second.

So you would take $50 bucks a day route instead of the $200-$250 we all get?

Older drivers deserve the easy routes as they did the 300-400 box routes in their early days.

Monster routes are underpaid and easy ones overpaid. You earn those with seniority.

 

[bubsdad]

I'll tell you a far easier way to increase morale, income etc.

Have supervision follow the contract and the UPS Policy Book.

Both say you must treat employees with respect and dignity. Haven't seen that so far.

Trust your employees with respect and trust them to do their jobs. Following them around, using sensors to watch every movement and second guessing their decisions slows them down and creates a negative environment.

It's hard to do the job well when you are treated like a diseased farm animal. My only crime is that I've aged.

AMEN!!

 

[brownIEman]

....clearly not enough of something....

My motive in starting the thread was just to provoke thought, that's all. No, it would never happen. No, I did not know FedEx did it this way.

I do know for a fact that giving employees some control makes for a happy (happier) employee. How can UPS do this?

It is also a fact that pay per production will always be more productive than pay by the hour.

Livin,
The funny thing is, many years ago, UPS tried this, after a fashion. On the advice of a highly respected and highly paid consulting firm, UPS started a process called "Self Directed Work Teams". The idea was to reduce the amount of micromanaging by management and allow employees to participate in the decision making process. Part of this deal was also a move away from always focusing on the production numbers. The idea being, put less pressure on your employees to always make production goals, treat them in a more kindly manner, and they will give you good performance, and any drop in production will be more than made up for in better service, ie, fewer service failures, fewer damages, going the extra mile for the customer, etc.

Also, UPS offered profit sharing bonuses to drivers in the 1997 contract negotiations. Which would give more money to the drivers and base it on company performance, but of course not being calculated in the hourly pay, would not effect union dues on cent. You can guess how well this was recieved on the other side of the negotiating table.

All of the above was an unmittigated disaster from a business stand point. The Teamsters went practically apesh**T over the self directed work teams, saying the only "Team" UPSers needed was the Teamsters and claiming this was just a way to get hourlies to do managements jobs. Also, when the production pressure was let up, predictably production went down, and after several months, UPS took a hard look for those gains in service less damages and such. Guess what? They weren't there. Not a blip, none, nadda, zilch. Drop in production, no gain in service. Not really a good combo. So UPS went back to the tried and true.

 

[brownmonster]

Went back to the tried and true with a vengence.

 

[brownIEman]

Went back to the tried and true with a vengence.

you will get no argument from me there...

 

[JimJimmyJames]

"Self Directed Work Teams". I remember during that period drivers would train drivers on routes. As a split driver at the time it was great learning routes from the driver who did them day in and day out.

It didn't last.

The union wanted UPS to compensate the driver who was teaching the route with extra pay on days said driver was teaching. Needless to say that was the end of that, we went back to supervisors teaching all routes (or we learned them blind).

The union might have had a point but they need to be reminded that everything is not always about money.