UPS -" We are no longer a family, just a business"

[QUPS]

John P. was quoted making the statement "We are no longer a family, just a business" recently in a meeting. Ironically enough the company continues to speak of Jim Casey as if they are still following in his footsteps and his vision. Personally, I think Jim Casey would turn over in his grave if he knew how his company was operating today.

We continue to find news about layoffs and merging of groups as well as outsourcing through word of mouth rather than from a formal announcement from HR. There have also been people let go or moved to another department without even an email to inform us. The latest example would be for the data center manager position in Atlanta. There was an internal job posting yet no announcement that the current data center manager was leaving. He originally agreed to take the job and relocate down to Atlanta from New Jersey but after ten months of the company paying for his travel expenses such as flights, hotel and rental car (aprx. $50k - $60k total within ten months) he decided not to take the job after all supposedly for "personal reasons". 1. What a waste of money for UPS (those travel expenses exceed the majority of our salaries per year). 2. What a waste of time. He should have never agreed to take the position in the first place if he couldn't commit.

The Business Plan is a joke. Business plans and strategies are suppose to be an ongoing process. Obviously someone dropped the ball a long time ago because we would not be in the position we are today if people were doing what they were suppose to be doing from the beginning. What we are currently left with is lack of leadership and lack of vision. Conference calls and powerpoint presentations with generic mission statements are not going be a magic wand that will make all of our problems go away. Actions speak louder than words.

Personally, I am not concerned about raises right now. I know the economy sucks and we are lucky to have our jobs, HOWEVER, things need to change. The morale within the company has tanked like the Titanic. Negativity lingers in several departments and is not leaving anytime soon. There are some new job postings that have come out recently as I have mentioned before. I have noticed that it may seem that the people getting these jobs appear as if it is a promotion but usually it's just a lateral move with a different and more fancy title.

Career development, also a joke. A CBT doesn't prove that anyone can do anything other than take the same test over and over until it is passed and then what? It gets tucked away in a folder and forgotten about. They should be focusing on employees who are interested in making a career change within the company and help mold them to take a position in that department when one becomes available. It is slowenough right now in the majority of departments so it is the perfect time for job shadowing, etc. We could also be doing some cross training so that we can learn these skills hands on. Instead we sit and wait, wondering when the next round of layoffs will take place and when somebody in India named Peggy will be taking over our spot. We will be left with children to feed and empty bank accounts while we help increase the unemployment rate. Soon enough we will be waiting for UPS to support OUR unemployed asses in the United Way program...

 

[cosmictrucker]

I long for the Jim Casey days of past.

John P was quoted making the statement "We are no longer a family, just a business" recently in a meeting. Ironically enough the company continues to speak of Jim Casey as if they are still following in his footsteps and his vision. Personally, I think Jim Casey would turn over in his grave if he knew how his company was operating today.

We continue to find news about layoffs and merging of groups as well as outsourcing through word of mouth rather than from a formal announcement from HR. There have also been people let go or moved to another department without even an email to inform us. The latest example would be for the data center manager position in Atlanta. There was an internal job posting yet no announcement that the current data center manager was leaving. He originally agreed to take the job and relocate down to Atlanta from New Jersey but after ten months of the company paying for his travel expenses such as flights, hotel and rental car (aprx. $50k - $60k total within ten months) he decided not to take the job after all supposedly for "personal reasons". 1. What a waste of money for UPS (those travel expenses exceed the majority of our salaries per year). 2. What a waste of time. He should have never agreed to take the position in the first place if he couldn't commit.

The Business Plan is a joke. Business plans and strategies are suppose to be an ongoing process. Obviously someone dropped the ball a long time ago because we would not be in the position we are today if people were doing what they were suppose to be doing from the beginning. What we are currently left with is lack of leadership and lack of vision. Conference calls and powerpoint presentations with generic mission statements are not going be a magic wand that will make all of our problems go away. Actions speak louder than words.

Personally, I am not concerned about raises right now. I know the economy sucks and we are lucky to have our jobs, HOWEVER, things need to change. The morale within the company has tanked like the Titanic. Negativity lingers in several departments and is not leaving anytime soon. There are some new job postings that have come out recently as I have mentioned before. I have noticed that it may seem that the people getting these jobs appear as if it is a promotion but usually it's just a lateral move with a different and more fancy title.

Career development, also a joke. A CBT doesn't prove that anyone can do anything other than take the same test over and over until it is passed and then what? It gets tucked away in a folder and forgotten about. They should be focusing on employees who are interested in making a career change within the company and help mold them to take a position in that department when one becomes available. It is slowenough right now in the majority of departments so it is the perfect time for job shadowing, etc. We could also be doing some cross training so that we can learn these skills hands on. Instead we sit and wait, wondering when the next round of layoffs will take place and when somebody in India named Peggy will be taking over our spot. We will be left with children to feed and empty bank accounts while we help increase the unemployment rate. Soon enough we will be waiting for UPS to support OUR unemployed asses in the United Way program...

 

[an anonymous guest]

And so the question...what are you doing to effect change in your area to make things better, or are you taking the 'Who is John Galt?' approach.

Best wishes to all the folks at Roadnet.

Go UPS!
P71

 

[QUPS]

And so the answer is...there is not a lot that we can do as a low man on the totem pole to make anything better right now. Focus groups were suppose to have been created to come up with better and easier ways to improve operations in several departments and we have not seen any of it. I have ideas as well as others but no one will listen. Crunching numbers is the only main concern for this company right now. Save a quick buck. Go ahead and buy cheap solutions again and see where we end up...the same spot struggling to make things more efficient and history will continue to repeat itself over and over while we stay behind the curve. Fed Ex is way ahead of us with their innovation and ideas and will continue to be at the rate we are going. Perhaps it is because the people who work there are invited to actually share their ideas and brainstorm on ways to help make it better. And better yet, the higher level management actually does something about it rather than take notes on a little notepad that ends up in a tiny crumbled ball in a trash can.

I'm not taking the "Who is John Galt" approach. I am taking the "realistic approach" which is to bring attention to the issues at hand publicly in hopes that someone who has the power to approve these ideas and make final decisions turn the words into actions and start making changes now...not in three years from now.

 

[Local804guy4life]

I can't talk for you management folks but from what I observe it's a business and I can't recall when it was ever run as a family. In my building the Nassau Hub it's as bad as it has ever been I'll say that. It was never run like this. Between the full timers that quit and the ones out on stress leave I can't keep track of what's what anymore. I'm only a part time union employee but I see the abuse my bosses take. The full time supervisors are openly yelled at like little children and openly embarrassed by the manager via cell phone, loud speaker and in person. I'm not a fan of management but these full timers work hard and to see them abused is upsetting no matter what side of the fence you are on. At the end of the day we are all human beings. I think any outsider would be shocked and stunned to see how UPS treats their people. Bottom line is they treat them like dogs. That's why I am so thankful I have a union to protect me. Yes I know the unions have their problems too and it's a shame when they have to protect a bad employee that doesn't care. But in my case what's to stop UPS from treating me like they do their full time supervisors other then the fact that I have a union? That's why I am thankful I made the choice I did.

I could go on and on about the horror stories I've heard about the full-timers in my building. It's simply to much to type. I wonder does this behavior take place in all hubs or just in mine? And I wonder how a fortune 500 company gets away with such behavior? One call to a news station or a you tube video would exploit the behavior to the world. Shocking it has not happened yet.

At the end of the day I do no want to sound like an anti management /anti ups employee. I'm thankful for the extra cash and the excellent benefits the company gives me. However that does not give them the excuse to operate the way they do. They treat their people so bad they actually have me a union employee feeling bad for these supervisors, especially the full time ones. The part time supervisors seem to be treated fairly but the full time ones are attacked and abused all night long. At least that's what I see during the four hours I am there. I can only imagine what happens before and after the actual operation. I heard stories but won't repeat them because I have not witnessed them in person so it would not be fair. I'm at the point I feel guilty when I hand in a grievance because I don't want to add to the stress of my boss who looks like he's ready to pass out. Hopefully things will change.

 

[QUPS]

Yes, I agree with you, I see a lot of that going on. Total disrespect. I see the supervisors getting disrespected as well as hourly employees. I even witnessed someone who totally blasted someone else in a group verbally so loud the whole department could hear. They dropped the friend bomb directly at this person all because he can't control his temper and is totally oblivious on how people should be treated with respect yet he believes that he should be treated with respect. Double standards. I see them every day.

It also makes me sick that the suits and their fancy cars have their meetings about their generic Business Plan and how they will be moving forward (so far I see them stuck in neutral and they can't quite figure how to put it in drive). Some of them are extremely arrogant (obviously I cannot mention names) and they do not care about anyone but themselves and their paychecks. They keep relating to Jim Casey's vision yet they are too small minded to come up with their OWN vision and strategy. It is as if they are using Google to check the moves that other companies currently have in place and they are using the old "copy and paste" to make up some document that makes it look as if they created it themselves and make believe they are heading in the right direction. This then gets distributed to us via email and we are not encouraged to provide much of any feedback. The majority of these meetings are via conference call for those who want to listen but do not have the opportunity to speak on the call and ask questions or make comments. The only consistent changes I keep seeing so far are the employees getting the shaft while we stay in limbo while someone crunches labor cost numbers and decides who goes next.

I took the EOS this year and there were questions pertaining to sales which has nothing to do with I.T. and it seemed once again poorly put together. At the end of the survey there was room for comments but had a limit of 800 characters. That is simply not enough room for people who want to take the chance on providing any substantial feedback for our company. Others are concerned that they will be found out if they do add something that may come back on them hence losing their job. Let's face it, nothing is truly confidential and there are a lot of politics going on everywhere. Like I said before, we have families to feed, we have mortgage payments, we have bills to pay. This makes it difficult to communicate with any of these guys who don't bother to ask what we think or encourage us to share our ideas to make it better. I am beginning to think it is because they fear that we may have new and better ideas to offer and they don't want to be known that they didn't come up with them first.

 

[an anonymous guest]

You make the company sound like its on the verge of collapse, are you sure your view isn't a bit narrow? Do you have a red stapler?

Go UPS!
P71

 

[TheDick]

You make the company sound like its on the verge of collapse, are you sure your view isn't a bit narrow? Do you have a red stapler?

Go UPS!
P71

Alot of the people in my center feel the same way. The spying and progressive discipline for nit picky crap is gonna send somebody off the edge. I figure its already happened but is covered up. What happened to the ERI?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Alot of the people in my center feel the same way. The spying and progressive discipline for nit picky crap is gonna send somebody off the edge. I figure its already happened but is covered up. What happened to the ERI?

The ERI is given to randomly selected employees only in an effort to save money.

 

[QUPS]

You make the company sound like its on the verge of collapse, are you sure your view isn't a bit narrow? Do you have a red stapler?

Go UPS!
P71

Oh yes, I am sure that my view is NOT a bit narrow. There are several people who feel the same way but are afraid to speak up because they are afraid of losing their jobs.

And the answer is yes, I have a red stapler and I just sent it to India via Fed Ex to be with Peggy.

If you have anything substantial to say let me know...

 

[jimmythetech]

What is interesting about the data center manager position is that when it was originally fillled by that person almost 10 months ago, many others that were much more qualified were shocked that he was picked. The issue was one of diversity and the need to balance the predominately white male management staff, so he was selected.
One of the items you have to "declare" annually, in management, is that you will either relocate for the organization or you will not. If you will not, then you are not considered to be promotable. This person stated he was able to relocate but 10 months later said he family would not support his move and he wants to come back to NJ.
I know this happens from time to time and it is a difficult decision, but I have NEVER seen anyone keep their current pay grade after they surrender their position. I find it interesting that this person keeps his pay grade. (known due to his current position on the organization chart which is open for anyone to see)
I am sure this will be spun like everything else in Shared Services, since you will be fired or demoted if you disagree with the person at the top, but that is an entirely different discussion on how horrible of a manager he really is.

 

[QUPS]

What is interesting about the data center manager position is that when it was originally fillled by that person almost 10 months ago, many others that were much more qualified were shocked that he was picked. The issue was one of diversity and the need to balance the predominately white male management staff, so he was selected.
One of the items you have to "declare" annually, in management, is that you will either relocate for the organization or you will not. If you will not, then you are not considered to be promotable. This person stated he was able to relocate but 10 months later said he family would not support his move and he wants to come back to NJ.
I know this happens from time to time and it is a difficult decision, but I have NEVER seen anyone keep their current pay grade after they surrender their position. I find it interesting that this person keeps his pay grade. (known due to his current position on the organization chart which is open for anyone to see)
I am sure this will be spun like everything else in Shared Services, since you will be fired or demoted if you disagree with the person at the top, but that is an entirely different discussion on how horrible of a manager he really is.

THANK YOU!!! I could not have explained it any better than you just did. The diversity thing is a bunch of BS because what it ends up creating is a disadvantage for those who are more qualified for the position, just like you said. It makes me sick to my stomach that he will most likely continue to move up or to stay within the same pay grade. He should be lucky he gets to stay with the company period. He should have been let go. Must be nice to have friends in high places. If things don't start to change soon I am out. It is not the same company that I started working for years ago. It is a shame and I am disgusted.

 

[Lineandinitial]

Why jump to the "Foul" perspective?

I am not saying that this practice it is fair, but I know people tht said they were "willing to relocate" at People Meeting time and then six months later, things happen that changed their flexibility.

I personally think it's unfair to eliminate people from promotional opportunities for a YES or NO in a box. Everyone's story is different.
Once I take over for Scott Davis, this will change, but until then, we have to work with it.

I always tell my people to indicate YES, but recently that has resulted in demotions.

What if you were asked to relo to Bermuda?

 

[QUPS]

Why jump to the "Foul" perspective?

I am not saying that this practice it is fair, but I know people tht said they were "willing to relocate" at People Meeting time and then six months later, things happen that changed their flexibility.

I personally think it's unfair to eliminate people from promotional opportunities for a YES or NO in a box. Everyone's story is different.
Once I take over for Scott Davis, this will change, but until then, we have to work with it.

I always tell my people to indicate YES, but recently that has resulted in demotions.

What if you were asked to relo to Bermuda?

If I knew that my spouse would not be willing to relo as well as my children then I would NEVER agree to relo in the first place. He made a commitment to relo, wasted ten months when someone else could have been in the position and the company lost out on a pretty hefty amount of money for flights, rental cars and hotels. That is money that could have been put towards more important things that we need right now in order to improve and get out of the mess the company has created for itself.

So if I were asked to relo to Bermuda or anywhere else for that matter, the answer would be NO because my family is more important to me than my career. I would never commit to something that I knew I could not or would not be able to follow through with.

You should never tell people to indicate YES, let them make their own decisions. That just proves that there are more followers than leaders in this company...

 

[an anonymous guest]

Checked out that Data Center Management position on the portal. I always wanted to work in Northern NJ. Is it still open?

Go UPS!
P71

 

[packageguy]

did someone say eri? At one point they were judged one way.
now it's building production make the numbers or else,
under/over pickups sales leads they don't care about eri. If you
remember they paid us to take it, before our start time or before you punch out.
those were the days.....................................................

 

[QUPS]

Checked out that Data Center Management position on the portal. I always wanted to work in Northern NJ. Is it still open?

Go UPS!
P71

Unless you're trying to make a witty joke that if you get the position the company will fly you at your leisure TO Northern NJ for weekends to see your friends and family FROM Georgia then you should read the posting again. It's located at the Windward Datacenter. I would like to think that they would not make the same mistake twice. The people who already live and work in Georgia applying for the position should be given the opportunity. There are people who are perfectly capable of taking over the position that don't live in NJ...

 

[QUPS]

did someone say eri? At one point they were judged one way.
now it's building production make the numbers or else,
under/over pickups sales leads they don't care about eri. If you
remember they paid us to take it, before our start time or before you punch out.
those were the days.....................................................

Hi there. The ERI = EOS = POS. The EOS (Employee Opinion Survey) is now being used instead of the ERI (Employee Relations Index) because the scores were too low. Therefore the EOS = POS because EOS groups were structured by Shared Services Data Center Managers to protect themselves. Included were supervisors from different departments as well supervisors and their manager in the same groups! And how can the managers really voice their concerns? They would appear to be blasting themselves. Not to mention that it is so generic that you have to specify who you are talking about at the end of the survey from an hourly employee perspective (using up part of your 800 character limit for concerns and comments) because there has been so much movement there is no way for them to know who you are really even talking about in the first place. It's hard to believe that they are actually matching up the answers of the total amount of surveys taken TO the comments posted afterward and if not, then what is the point? Ultimately they end up with what they REALLY want which is answers on whether you are pushing sales leads and if you are looking outside the company for another job so that they can plug in some numbers of possible labor cost cuts if the employee were to actually leave. In the past they said they have listened to the comments suggested about the requests for such things like dry cleaning services and new microwaves or coffee that doesn't taste like crap. We don't need that stuff, we need someone to step up to the plate and LISTEN to the employees that you should care about (as our CEO claims to do) and turn this ship around and start making it a family again and work TOGETHER on ALL levels to make it a better place to work. The goal should be to come up with an original vision and strategy and keep the Jim Casey values at the same time.

 

[hubrat]

The ERI is given to randomly selected employees only in an effort to save money.

In my building it's given to selectively selected employees.

 

[UPSLennyBriscoe]

"We are no longer a family, just a business " ... Sorry, there was never a family (only greedy SOB's). When I started as an "outsider" in '86 "they" said there goes the partnership. (The fact that John P. said it is supposed to mean what?)