You really do work with a garden-variety of people but I think the reason I've never fit into any of the cliques at work is I operate under a kind of inverse principle from everyone else: sometimes I'll dislike other people whom others like and conversely I'll like others who are disliked. Sets me at odds right off the bat. The majority of people I've worked with over the years seem OK but when I didn't like someone sometimes it was on a visceral, even existential level (Saty chalks this up to karmic crap in past lifetimes and it's an interesting theory). More likely of the ones I didn't like despite their popularity I saw them as somehow being phony and conniving or some other group of strong negatives. I judge character with other criteria besides popularity and it's like sometimes they know it, they can sense it and there's a vibe in the air and they know that you know you're on to them and whatever bullshit game they're playing. On the other hand back in the day we once had this district manager who was strongly and I mean strongly disliked and there was practically a consensus about him. Prick was one of the nicer terms used and yet I liked him and said to a co-worker once that you may disagree with him at times but what I like about him is he shows passion for his job, his position, takes it seriously and has a good knowledge of his district and what needs to be done. Most DM's I've encountered over the years come across as simply bland titleholders who are more interested in teeing off on a nice day than learning the ropes but this DM was different and had a kind of youthful enthusiasm for the job. Now my lady boss at the time when everyone learned he was being reassigned to our region was clearly perturbed, said he's a pain in the ass and other choice words and yet I felt like saying to her some of us feel about you the way you feel about him. The best workers I"ve worked with tend to fall into the ethnic categories of Latinos and Asians. I don't even care if the Latinos aren't full citizens as they say but they work their asses off and the phrase work like a Mexican came into widespread use for a reason. Asians are quiet and take orders without bitching and churn out the work product too and this goes back to their strict upbringings and the installation of values like appreciating being here in America, working and studying hard and it shows and they're moral too btw, don't go throwing other people under the bus. Getting back to the DM I think the reason why he grated so much is he just wanted people to do a little work is all and do the right thing and yet I had a manager once, an inveterate asshole who gave me a hard time but clearly won in the popularity sweepstakes. Tomorrow I have to say something about Port-o-Sans:)
For the past 20 years I've been telling my husband that we needed to move to Tokyo because he has positively Japanese work ethics and pretty much that kind of thing isn't appreciated by American companies.
ReplyDeleteWell, lo and behold he is now working for a Japanese company (AW)and really all the upper management come straight from Japan, a lot of their management concepts actually have Japanese names that they use and even though the company is here it's run according to their ethics. (They even have the Dojo, which is where assembly training goes on. I just keep having visions of Chuck Norris showing up.)
Anyway he's totally thrilled: finally a company that thinks like he does.
The reason this all came up was your comment about Latinos and Asians. I totally concur on the Latinos.. watching the migrant workers getting into their short bus to go to the field at 530AM (and they make either minimum or sometimes less to work out there in the 110deg heat for 10 hour days) and seeing the conditions they live in and constantly traveling, and they're working harder than I probably have any day in my life.
The Asians, well all I really know besides some personal friends is the company my husband's working for: they have this unbelievable sense of loyalty and team, there is a phrase they use, 'gembutsu' (Americanized to 'get your boots on') which basically means for supervisors that they need to get up off their cozy asses and get out on the floor and actually see for themselves what's going on and happening. And this is what they do, they actually get out there rather than sitting in the ivory tower. They have NO seniority, everyone is considered on equal terms, the company makes it very clear that they want you to advance as far as you want to and they make every effort to help you do that. Every morning they do group exercises. The plant is 865,000 square feet.. it has a gym (available to all employees), a full cafeteria, and a health clinic where they will do a brief health checkup including checking your cholesterol and so forth (that ties in with your health focus lately Z). They have a ZERO waste policy: absolutely everything is recycled and the plant sits in the middle of property surrounded by trees and even a pond. The company is basically incredible, health insurance paid 100%, 10 holidays, sick time plus holiday time, two weeks' shutdown every year (and you get paid for 4 days of the shutdown), and a $1000 bonus for a year's perfect attendance. A few years ago they gave employees that had a year's perfect attendance Toyota Camrys. They were fleet vehicles that weren't brand new, but low mileage.. and shit, you know?
Anyway he is really happy with all of it but mostly because of the principles that's behind all of these things: the company makes it very clear that they are investing heavily in their employees and in return, the employees are invested in their jobs.
He's got 16 years of manufacturing in other plants (and all manufacturing is essentially the same no matter what you're building/making) and he has never seen a system like this; no American company would run their railroad this way. He's just continually amazed by it all. I keep asking if he can get a transfer to Japan :)
Oh, and when they have new startups and so on (one's coming in October) they have the whole Shinto ceremony and all. How totally damn cool is that?!
ReplyDeleteA couple other things I forgot to mention: if production numbers aren't up for whatever reason and you have to work overtime to meet the quotas, the supervisors come to you and APOLOGIZE that you have to work the overtime. I nearly had heart failure when I heard that one. If a shift has to run on a weekend they let you know by Thursday (their numbercrunching day) and if they don't let you know by Thursday, then the weekend work is on a strictly voluntary basis.
And if you do something exceptionally good that gets spotted and noticed there is a very good chance a Japanese man will come to you with folded hands and bow.
I was seriously trying to find an opening at this place to work as a nurse. They have nurses, but no surprise, no openings.
Here's the site; http://www.aw-nc.com/ you can see how pretty it is :)
One thing I will say, if American companies would be willing to look at other cultures' work ethics and management concepts I think it would vastly improve things both for employers and employees in this country. There ARE reasons that Asia has come from nowhere to the top in the past 50 years and it's not all because their moms were strict when they were kids. Unfortunately there's a lot of that 'American Exceptionalism' mentality where people believe that simply because we're America we're better and we refuse to look at other systems and other cultures and learn from what they do well. This was blatant after Katrina when the Dutch, who have lived successfully below sea level for centuries, offered to help teach technologies and things to help prevent future disasters. No, we didn't want their help. Once again, America thinks it can do better.
A lot of the downfall of American manufacturing is related to this idea. It's not unions, it's not politics: it's essentially the idea that 'we're American, so we're better'. On a political level it becomes a patriotic thing: 'buy American-even if it's a lower quality more expensive product'. Detroit collapsed because they thought that Americans were stupid enough to buy junker cars for more money when they could get top quality Asian cars with great warranties and reliability for less. Let's talk about the free market: Detroit is a perfect example. They got beat fair and square.
Anyway, I've talked too much.
Apologizing to you if you have to work OT. My boss'll change your day off into a workday and won't even consult you first (of course you'll get another day off but that's not the point, maybe you had plans). I have a 2005 Honda Civic btw, about 61,000 miles and no serious problems so far besides some asshole in the neighborhood putting a nail in my tire and another time someone breaking my side view mirror.
ReplyDeleteI actually agree with Saty that Americans have terrible work ethics anymore, but I disagree that unions are not to blame. Union workers think they should get paid a lot whether they do a good job or whether they make a good product. Having a union right off the bat sends a message that the company is not a team, it is us vs. them. If I am not mistaken, Japanese companies do not have unions because they have the mutual respect that Saty mentioned.
ReplyDeleteUnions came into being because the workers were being exploited and needed to stand up to management. Unions are the reason that we don't work sixteen hour days seven days a week for pennies. That's why so many companies outsource to other countries; they DO work sixteen hour days seven days a week for pennies.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, if American companies made the investment into their employees and treated their employees the way AW does, they'd have themselves a very pleasant surprise. But that's not the way we do things here, cause we're American and thus inherently better than the Japanese.
Working in a heavily unionized job at the moment would most workers say they have a better work environment because of the presence of their union? I for one would say no and management still gets away with stuff because they don't seem to fear the union and why should they? Oftentimes the union and management are in bed together.
ReplyDelete