To all the young people out there...Stay In School Jerry Aragon humordoctormd email; humordoctor@aol.com Main Street Humor Clinic/Writing Section |
Experience in life and in the work place is learning the ropes...THE HARD WAY! |
Attendance Plastech Corp: This company (now closed), didn't have much to offer its employees. But, the one thing they did have, was an excellent program to deal with employee attendance problems. Too detailed to go into here, it was a "points program" in which everybody was given a certain amount of points when they were hired. Each employee earned a certain amount of points each month for perfect attendence, and points were deducted every time an employee came in late; called in sick; or didn't call in at all, etc. This was a very good program, and it separated those employees who wanted to work...from those who didn't. If an employee lost his or her points, he or she was fired immediately...no questions asked...clean out your locker...you're gone! Very high marks on this one. Gift Certificate; This idea came from a temporary staffing company, which was staffing the company where I was working. I was also a temp working there. This idea was probably one of the most successful I've seen. It worked this way. If a of the temporary employee had perfect attendance for the month, he or she would get a $15.00 gift certificate, which they could use any place at Coronado Center. (This was back in 1995) When I first heard of this, I thought it would be a waste of time. We're talking about a lot of temps working here...they come and go as they please, but I was wrong! The first month...2-3 certificates were given out...then followed by 7-8 certificates the following month...and, as the months went by...12-13 each month...and then over 20 were given to employees for perfect attendance! It was like, "You don't think I can get one of those certificates, do you...I'll show you!" We're talking about temps here...I was amazed! (Monkey See; Monkey Do) Creative Supervisor/Manager The most creative manager, goes to a woman who managed the Accounts Payable Department while I was there, working as a temporary employee. I had never seen anything quite like this, but she was very successful at how she manages her department. Everyday, she would conduct a 10 minute mini-meeting with her staff of about 12 employees, usually about ten in the morning. If she couldn't do it, one of her lead people would sit in for her. During these meetings, problems were solved; planning was done; work was shared; employees were informed on the latest company news; decisions were made; employees exchanged ideas, etc. If there was not much going on in the department, and everything was running smoothly, she would turn the mmeting into a fun session, and a variety of things might be discussed...the Academy Awards; the Super Bowl, current events, and so forth. She was also known for her ice cream parties, which she held once a month, to show appreciation to her employees and her temps. She was close to her employees, and they liked her. HIGH MARKS ON THIS ONE |
Experience In The Workplace (The Good; Bad; and the Ugly) |
Fun Idea: At a large electronics company, there were six teams on the production floor, and they all had names such as the Stallons; Warriors, and so forth. The packaging team was named "The Boxers" (get it?). And, their slogan was, "Fighting for Quality." (Cute, eh?) Note: Fun ideas are important, because they help to generate more ideas in the workplace...ideas which could prove to solve important problems to save time and money, and to become more efficient, etc. |
I've had many years of experience in the workplace, both as a permanent employee, and as a temporary employee, and I'll share with you several items which may be of interest to you. |
Falling On Deaf Ears: I don't know if there is anything that upsets me more than coming up with a good, usable idea, to same time and to be more efficient, and it falls on deaf ears! Case in point: I was working, as a temporary employee, at a large plastics manufacturing company. Plastic parts for everything imaginable. On one press, they were making smoke alarms, which all of us are familiar with. When one of these parts is made, there is a little left-over piece on the part which has to be removed. In this case, it was usually cut off with ordinary cutters or with the thumb, by flipping it back and forth a couple of times to break it off. Either way, this was tedious work, and would take it toll in employee discomfort. So, much so, that there were workers who could not do this for a twelve hour shift...it was too hard on the hands and forearms. There were even people who walked off the job (temps) because it was so difficult) When you see someone doing this, it looks easy enough, until you sit there and do it for 10 to 12 hours. The idea to solve this problem was simple. Switch two people for six hours at a time, and then the one person didn't have to take such a beating all the time for a 12 hour shift. So, what happened with this idea? The idea fell on deaf ears, and the company people kept everything the same! This caused temps to leave and morale to go down in the work place. |
Fun Ideas: Another fun idea at Express Scripts (Pharmacy), and I worked there for about three months as a temporary employee. When the process of filling prescriptions begins, it all starts out with the scanning of two documents into the computer...and the two documents are joined in matrimony! This area where the process all begins is call "The Marriage Center" (Isn't that cute?) The two documents are then placed in little baskets (totes), to begin their journey on the conveyer belt, where orders will be filled. (Fun ideas help to inspire and motivate people to get other ideas) |
Best Idea Program: I've seen a few idea programs in my travels, and I was working at Motorola, as a temporary employee for a few months.Their program is called; "I Recommend" and it pays their employees between $25.00 and $250.00 for ideas used by the company, depanding on the value to the company. If an idea is accepted, an appreciation certificate is placed in the employee's file, and when evaluation comes along, it can play an important part in raises and/or promotions, etc. The company also gives a small appreciation gift to the employees who submitted ideas, but were not accepted, but tried anyway..(High mark on this one!) |
Best Filing System: As a temporary employee, I've worked at companies, which have huge filing systems such as Blue Cross; Lovelace, and Wells Fargo, etc. The best filing system I've seen goes to DataCom, which does work for the B.I.A. and the monster Interior Department. I've always believed the the Kiss Principle (Keep It Simple Stupid), and at Data Com it was.. Amazingly, they start out their filing system with the number "1" and it goes into the hundreds of thousands. Very easy to find information here. |
The Negative Side of the Workplace can affect morale and is the road to nowhere and a dead-end! I don't think there's enough disk space or paper in the world to list all the negatives in the work place.. Over the years, and as a temporry employee, I think I've seen it all; 2-3 knock down fist-fights; gun play in a bank parking lot; pushing and shoving match; a stabbing; defiance; and the list goes on and on! Workplace politics; the hateful; jealousy; resentment; gossip racism bigotry favoritism;; jerks; mis-fits; liars defiance; lazy; people with their little "agendas"; ill-mannered; attitude; inconsiderate; cheaters; the untrustworthy; screwballs; gossip; thieves; people of put-down; cliques- I worked around a dreadful clique for ten years), Why people would want to retire from all this is beyond me!. Solving problems concerning tangible items or issues such as hardware problems; payroll; floor lay-out are tough enough. But, it's the intangible problems that are the toughies. Attitude; defiance; employee morale; negativism; put-down; gossip, and so forth. In my consulting practice, I will try to use any of my experience and/or knowledge to help solve problems in these difficult areas in the workplace |
The Deaf |
Gossip/put-down |
Violence! |
liars |
Newsletter: One of the best ideas I've seen, was a newsletter, which was published quarterly at Blue Cross, when I was working there as a Temp. The newsletter was called "Spotlight," and would showcase their employees accomplishments, not only in the workplace, but in their personal lives as well. For example, an employee might be completing a degree; working on getting computing skills; received an award; doing volunteer work and so forth. I believe something like this lifts the morale of employees, and adds to a positive workplace. |
Control Numbers: Aren't some control numbers awful? Some are mxed with numbers and letters. The best and easiest control numbers I've seen were at Honeywell. What makes this control so unique and different, is the fact that the scan date as part of the control number. For example, if a document was scanned on March 14, 2003...the document number would read 031403-(and the rest of the number). You wouldn't have to go looking for a date on the document...it was already there. |
Ethics: I worked for a large Fortune 500 engineering company for over ten years. We would do quite a bit of work for the federal government. And during a good portion of that time, we were told to write the job numbers we worked on during the week, on a "dummy sheet" or a blank sheet of paper. At the end of the week, my supervisor would take the job numbers to the department manager, where the numbers were changed, and then I would then fill out my time sheet with the new numbers. During all that time, I knew this was wrong and unethical, but I never said anything, because I needed the job like most people need their jobs. This is a perfect example of unethical behavior in a company. |
Best Idea Company: Rose's Southwest Papers would get this one. It takes work, time and money to implement ideas, and this company would do whatever it had to, to make things in the work place more organized and efficient to save time and money. Whether is was welding a shelf together; putting a post in the floor for safety purposes; marking equipment; placing a chalkboard in the production area, they did what they had to do to make things more efficient. And, all of this takes work; time and money, but all of it would pay for itself in due time.. |
To all the young people out there...Stay In School Jerry Aragon humordoctormd email; humordoctor@aol.com Main Street Humor Clinic/Writing Section |
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