January 8, 2010

Not how to run a company

So my temporary work delivering packages is over. The job ran (pun intended) from the middle of November to Christmas Eve. I had worked for them last year, and enjoyed it enough to sign up again this season. I hope I don't need to return next year.

I had written an acidic screed to post here about all the things wrong with how they run their company and treat their employees. I enjoy analyzing companies and procedures to come up with ideas to improve production, satisfaction, efficiency, etc. They gave me plenty to work with - yelling at employees, mindless procedures in place of real effort, awful communication and more. But I decided you didn't need to hear me bitching about a company when I should be thankful for the work. I will pass along one thing that seemed to put a nice bow on the experience, though.

December 23rd ended up being the highest volume day. By coincidence, they had chosen to make that day "Driver Appreciation Day". There would be pizza and other treats when the drivers returned to base. While out on the road, the drivers do a good job of taking care of each other. When there were 60 packages left to deliver, two other drivers came to take 20 each so no one driver was stuck out on the road.

After the busiest day of the year, and after helping each other out of a bind, they returned to the base to have some pizza and commiserate. When they got there, the cupboard was bare. Management and HR had eaten all the pizza, showing how much they appreciate their drivers. Some drivers were understandably pissed, while others just shook their heads thinking 'typical'.

It wasn't all bad of course. My driver was great, I lost a little weight, and made a little cash. Just not a company I would want to work for if I could help it.

1 comment:

tami said...

They don't play very nice, do they? That really stinks. Maybe someone forgot to tell mgmt and hr that it was DRIVER appreciation day.