Traetment of New Starter

CBUK

Well-Known Member
Dont know how rigourous the hiring system is across the globe is but where I am is seems to be a shambles.

Ten years ago I snuck in the back door and got myself into UPS by sub contracting for another firm and being in the right place at the right time when the Centre Manager was desperate for a driver. Thing is I knew how to do the job by then having self taught myself the DIAD. I only watched the HABITS training after about 6 months on the payroll and got my confirmation letter of employment 3 months after I started.

We have a training school in London now where all new starters go for a week to learn how to be a package car driver. I have no experience of it beacause I never went. I do have a lot of experience of working alongside new starters and they without exception turn up for work knowing absolutley nothing about what to do.

We went through a phase of giving people the chance of a job view. They could come in for a few days and ride with a driver, watch him work and decide if they want to take a chance at it. I thought this was a good way of dealing with people who may not realise exactly what they are letting themselves in for!

Obviously we dont do it anymore and we have the newbies arriving totally unaware of the lamb to the slaughter scenario they face. My prompt for this post is a guy who started a few weeks back. He came in on the Monday fresh from school, went out for two days with another driver and then after three days he went out under plan with half a run and totally bombed out. I had the task of rescuing him late afternoon and riding around for the afternoon/evening attempting to train the guy.

I've since discovered that he has been gradually loaded up with more and more work that he is incapable of doing due to lack of staff, sickness and holidays. I passed him on road on Thursday of last week flagged him down and ended up getting to see just how out of his depth he is. I dont see him in the mornings but apparently he has never been to a PCM. He didnt know he had to go. His lead driver loads him up with extra work and he doesn't like to say no for fear of getting told off. He doesn't scan any of his NDA's that he has because he doesn't know how to.

Of course he phoned in sick on the Friday and I had to take his run out which was a good 20-30 stops over allowed because of all the un declared returns. I have my doubts as to whether he will come back because he looked at the end of his tether when I saw him on Thursday.

It makes my blood boil that nobody is looking after this guy. Lead drivers get £200 a month extra to look after people like this. His figures for service fails must be flagging up somewhere. Who is watching and dealing with it? It doesn't help that we currently have no manager and the sup is on holiday for two weeks.

Despite all his poor performance, I beleive that had this driver been looked after and nutured and not exploited he had the makings of a hard working and dependable driver.

We have a high turnover of staff who take UPS on and then leave after a few weeks because they cant cope. I understand also that you do need to drill people early on that its a hard job and there is pressure and time commitments to meet but it must cost UPS a fortune to run a training school that is not actually training anyone.

I really hope he comes back to work but sadly I think he will just be another one of many that slip the net. Dont get me wrong, I've seen enough no hopers come and go and thats to be expected but there are too many competent people that we lose.

Is it like this everywhere esle? Rumour is that in the USA you've got waiting lists years long. We cant give jobs away in the UK.
 

brownrodster

Well-Known Member
Is it like this everywhere esle? Rumour is that in the USA you've got waiting lists years long. We cant give jobs away in the UK.

It's not that bad where I'm at. Yes, it takes years of inside hub work before you're considered for a driver job here. But after the week school they get a watered down route for the first couple weeks and a few rides with a supervisor. Then they add more volume to the truck. Most drivers struggle for a couple weeks then get better. They have 30 working days here to prove they're good enough for the job. If the center manager deems them not good enough they go back to hub work if they are good enough they are a driver for the next 30 years.

Most of our guys get on fine after a while. I've only seen a few wash out in recent years.
 

Raw

Raw Member
Dont know how rigourous the hiring system is across the globe is but where I am is seems to be a shambles.

Ten years ago I snuck in the back door and got myself into UPS by sub contracting for another firm and being in the right place at the right time when the Centre Manager was desperate for a driver. Thing is I knew how to do the job by then having self taught myself the DIAD. I only watched the HABITS training after about 6 months on the payroll and got my confirmation letter of employment 3 months after I started.

We have a training school in London now where all new starters go for a week to learn how to be a package car driver. I have no experience of it beacause I never went. I do have a lot of experience of working alongside new starters and they without exception turn up for work knowing absolutley nothing about what to do.

We went through a phase of giving people the chance of a job view. They could come in for a few days and ride with a driver, watch him work and decide if they want to take a chance at it. I thought this was a good way of dealing with people who may not realise exactly what they are letting themselves in for!

Obviously we dont do it anymore and we have the newbies arriving totally unaware of the lamb to the slaughter scenario they face. My prompt for this post is a guy who started a few weeks back. He came in on the Monday fresh from school, went out for two days with another driver and then after three days he went out under plan with half a run and totally bombed out. I had the task of rescuing him late afternoon and riding around for the afternoon/evening attempting to train the guy.

I've since discovered that he has been gradually loaded up with more and more work that he is incapable of doing due to lack of staff, sickness and holidays. I passed him on road on Thursday of last week flagged him down and ended up getting to see just how out of his depth he is. I dont see him in the mornings but apparently he has never been to a PCM. He didnt know he had to go. His lead driver loads him up with extra work and he doesn't like to say no for fear of getting told off. He doesn't scan any of his NDA's that he has because he doesn't know how to.

Of course he phoned in sick on the Friday and I had to take his run out which was a good 20-30 stops over allowed because of all the un declared returns. I have my doubts as to whether he will come back because he looked at the end of his tether when I saw him on Thursday.

It makes my blood boil that nobody is looking after this guy. Lead drivers get £200 a month extra to look after people like this. His figures for service fails must be flagging up somewhere. Who is watching and dealing with it? It doesn't help that we currently have no manager and the sup is on holiday for two weeks.

Despite all his poor performance, I beleive that had this driver been looked after and nutured and not exploited he had the makings of a hard working and dependable driver.

We have a high turnover of staff who take UPS on and then leave after a few weeks because they cant cope. I understand also that you do need to drill people early on that its a hard job and there is pressure and time commitments to meet but it must cost UPS a fortune to run a training school that is not actually training anyone.

I really hope he comes back to work but sadly I think he will just be another one of many that slip the net. Dont get me wrong, I've seen enough no hopers come and go and thats to be expected but there are too many competent people that we lose.

Is it like this everywhere esle? Rumour is that in the USA you've got waiting lists years long. We cant give jobs away in the UK.
Sorry, but your post was way too long for my short attention span but I did notice something, is that Olde English spelling you use ? :confused:1
 
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