I am Thankful…

Warehouse and Operations as a Career

It is our Thanksgiving holiday here in the States. Some of us are working today and others are off. But I hope we all get to spend some time with friends and family. I was speaking with a few unloaders and order selectors this week and the conversation drifted to the upcoming Holiday, and I have to say I was quite impressed with their thoughts on thanksgiving this year. Last year this particular facility wasn’t running at full capacity, and they were all laid off for a while or worked with reduced hours.. Being deemed an essential facility, it is a distribution center, most were working just not full time. All 6 of them commented how thankful they were this year. Not one of them brought up our jobs though. Everyone mentioned they were thankful of their family’s health. Their children being back in school and socializing again was a big subject. And the grocery stores being open and pretty much stocked again, everyone liked that. There was no complaining about gas prices being so high, the long hours being worked due to being short staffed, or even anything about how their jobs had changed this year and how many different hats we all wear now at the job. This group of warehouse associates were thankful for others. Their health. And the health of their friends and family. So today I’m going to chime in and say that I wish nothing but the best to all I know and who knows me!

Let’s see, I have absolutely nothing planned to talk about today. I’ve made a lot of notes about things on my mind but I haven’t actually put anything together just yet! Oh, heres a bullet point that kind of fits the day!

We’ve been talking about ethics, morals, the duties of being a supervisor and such lately so I’ll ask your take on this situation.

A young manager has this employee that really does a good job. His attendance is pretty good, not 100%, but good, better than most of the team. This gentleman went to the manager and asked for more money. To make a long story short, the manager increased his pay and quite substantially I’ll add. Now it is the end of the year and he has been given his merit increase budget for his team and there won’t be an increase for this team member anywhere close to the one given only a few months ago. The young manager now believes he has done his employee a disservice by giving in to an increase earlier in the year. He realizes he may have over valued him. Maybe he over valued the position.

What I mean by all that is, he may be paying too much an hour for the job. Could this employee quit right now and go earn the same wage for the same job somewhere else? We’ve talked about how our wages are determined by the skills and responsibility, and maybe the education or experiences we possess as employees. When we as managers and supervisors start paying out increases because we like an individual or person vs solely considering the position or the job that’s getting done, well, I believe, that we’re doing an injustice to that friend or employee. And let’s say that person leaves or is promoted into another position. Will you hire the next person at that rate? And in the case of a promotion, are you now going to inflate that wage so he or she will take the job? I think it is so important that we stick to what we know is right. The wage for a particular position should be based on its task, skill needed to perform it and its level of responsibility.

Speaking of promotions! Does every title change require that a pay increase to go along with it? Well, I am admittedly the wrong person to ask this question. I believe the answer is no, of course not. I know I know, everyone is not going to agree with that but hear me out. Of course we all are working for the money. If we are an order selector, on activity based pay, and were asked to add an additional task to our daily schedule of course that additional time needs to be compensated. However, if we are an hourly associate and we’re asked to do a small additional task, well, its our job and we should happily perform it. Maybe I shouldn’t of said happily there! Its still work! What I mean is that we should be that person and employee that is willing to learn new tasks and able to follow directions. It always will pay off in the end. And by pay off I mean that by knowing more, having more skills, that we will increase our earning potential year over year. And none of that is my opinion, its fact!

Ok, let me find one more here that fits the season. Here’s a good one.

So, I received a call from a person that used to be employed at one of my facilities. Now this happens every few week’s so I wanted to throw it out there for discussion. If you have any experiences or something to add to the thought, please shoot us over an email to [e-mail].I’d love to get more insight to the thought process.

Anyway, so this individual called about getting his job back. I did some research and discovered his original reason for leaving was a sick family member and he needed to go to another state to help take care of them. Now almost 2 months later he was seeking employment again. Now, I have to say, everyone I spoke to liked the gentleman. However, they all commented on his attendance and tardies in the past. I was hearing that he would call off at least 3 times a month, usually on a Saturday or Monday shift, and would be tardy at least twice a week.

Oh, this story reminds me of another one I wanted to mention. So, at another location they occasionally work a Saturday shift, during the peak season or if there busy, they will work back-to-back Saturdays. So, I had this one associate that would just call in, stating that she had worked 5 days already. She had been dismissed after 3 coaching’s. About 6 months later she had reached out about coming back to work at the facility.

I am a very opinionated person. But I’d like to hope that I would never speak to my opinions to hurt or berate another person. If I do not want to do something I will find something I want to do, and no one will ever be the wiser.

Both of these individuals parted ways when they left by voicing their thoughts about the coaching’s they had received prior to their departure from the company. It feels good to get things off our chest, I get that, but there’s a cost associated with it.

Neither organization wanted to rehire their old employee back. We did an episode, let me see, it was on xxxxxxxxx where we talked about burning bridges, and how we never want to leave a place of employment on a bad note. If you stay within the same industry, you will run into ex bosses and peers you’ve worked with throughout you career. Our impressions on people do follow us for life.

I got sidetracked a bit. So, neither of these associates understood why they were not being greeted with open arms. This isent high school anymore. A not from a doctor is great, but the product still has to be shipped. Everyone understands that we have to help take care of our familys needs, but merchandise has to be produced. And we all get mad and want to vent our frustrations, but that’s all were doing, things still have to ship. You’ve probably heard me say that were in the bigs now. Retail and fast food are great jobs, warehousing positions are great careers. Be that person, that employee, that people want back, leave correctly, treat people right, and you will always have a position to come back to.

I’d like to close with saying how thankful I am for my health and getting to do something I’ve loved for 45 years, working in the operations fields. And of course, for each of you, those that listen to my experiences and hopefully learn a little something about our industry every now and then!

Be safe, hug your family and friends & be that employee, it’ll pay off!