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Marty here with you at Warehouse and Operations as a Career! Let’s see, what week are we in now, 42, wow…we have 10 weeks left to hit our goals! I have a quick topic I’d like to talk about today but first I wanted to share that it’s been a tough week this week. Sometimes we all just have to shake our heads, no manner how hard we try to understand something it seems to just not make sense. As you know I’m fortunate enough to get to work with individuals in 5 different states. Cultures are different, even within the state sometimes. We talk a lot about all the rules or procedures we have to live by or follow in our industry, and there’s a lot of them! We know them, shoot, we’ve signed off on most of them, right? This week I’ve heard about 7 people that lost their jobs, their incomes, and each of them would have to say that they actually had quit or terminated themselves. I think that’s what so hard for me to wrap my mind around. I’m being told that every one of them were shocked or upset about it. 1 individual had his 4th NCNS in a 13-week period and he’d been coached, on paper 3 times about the importance of being at work every day and how his shift counted on him. He’d even agreed that it was his responsibility to call the supervisor and he had committed to doing it! Yet, he was shocked and angry when his manager called him in and let him go? 3 people in 2 different states at 3 different facilities quit if you will, when they were caught wearing their ear buds in the warehouse. All three building have a no cell phone no earbuds policy but each of them do allow associates to go to a breakroom during breaks and lunches to check their phones. All three of these individuals had been cautioned at least twice before, one of them had signed 3 coaching sheets. They each lost their jobs over listening to music or talking on the phone at times they knew it was against policy. And I won’t even get into the safety and distraction aspect of it! 2 people quit their jobs, I just can’t bring myself to say they were terminated, anyway 2 people lost their jobs due to attendance issues, and I’m not talking about missing a scheduled day here and there. Both of these individuals had been counseled and signed that they understood the burden placed on the shift when they are not there at least 4 and 5 times each respectfully. And another person got real upset, to the point of being insubordinate with her immediate supervisor over being moved from the dry area to the cooler repack area. And it was only going to be for an hour, she’d been asked to cover lunch breaks for 2 people!
I guess the part I can’t wrap my arms around is that we were looking for work, we were excited when we found our jobs and agreed to all these rules and policies. We understood them until they didn’t fit our needs as individuals. All these employees had worked for their employers for under 6 months. I guess I wonder how we can get so comfortable with our jobs, you know, to think that the rules just don’t apply to us in only 6 months. I’ve been doing this several decades and I still take it seriously and stay as focused as possible every day!
Well, enough of all that, apologizes for my ranting. So back to the positives in our careers. I was asked about training and those occasional courses we all have to attend. Sometimes there going to be regulatory, things we need to know to safely perform our tasks and or to protect others, maybe our company’s customers or the end user of our products. And our companies can develop training topics that they feel can help us in business and many times in our personal lives! As we progress through the different positions in our industry or accept promotions, we’ll find there’s always something to learn. And that’s a good thing. Maybe a bit stressful for us, but a good thing all in all. A lot of people really struggle sitting in a classroom, watching videos, or having an instructor sharing new information with us. Ever seen someone really struggling to keep their eyes open. There not really sleeping, they just can’t keep their eyes open! There are tricks to get us through a long class on procedures, policies and instructional classroom work. First, its perfectly fine to stand up a minute. Walk over to the side of the room or maybe go to the back and stand for a while. A little blood movement can go along way. Of course, we all know its important to pay attention, but I find its easier to keep my focus to write things down. Taking notes helps me stay interested in the subject. We all know were there because its important, I assure you the company is not gathering us up and paying us for our time if they do not feel we need to know what there telling us! As we grow within the company there’s going to be so much we’ll need to know to better perform our duties. And Safety programs and policies are always going to change and improve. We’ll need to stay up to date, and I think its great were seeing more and more organizations sharing information with us. If were moving into a lead or supervisor position were going to be attending even more meetings like that.
A couple of weeks ago a gentleman reached out to us about some classes he’d need to take for a new position he’d been offered. Speaking with him I realized there’s really a lot of information relayed to us as associates, really at every department level! If were equipment operators we all know we’ll need our PIT or powered industrial truck training. We’ve all heard of the OSHA standard 29cfr1910.178. And there’s a whole list of things our management teams will be sharing with us:
Think about how much we’re taught about sanitation & keeping our equipment and aisles clean. Anyone ever heard not to step on a case, or never place a case on the floor, or how about to never stand a pallet on its edge. Anyone ever talk to you about running over shrink wrap? That’s all sanitation.
If you’re in the foodservice industry, you’ll be learning about HACCP or hazard analysis critical control points and the country of origin for some products. Wikipedia will tell us that HACCP is a systematic preventive approach to food safety from biological, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes that can cause the finished product to be unsafe and designs measures to reduce these risks to a safe level.
Blood borne pathogens, and our companies’ programs. We’ll all learn something about, and OSHA requires us to know that blood borne pathogens are infectious microorganisms in human blood that can cause disease in humans.
Oh, and we’ll probably attend a course on allergen control programs. The Allergen Control Plan is a written document outlining controls put in place regarding the storage, handling, and processing of allergens and the identification of places where cross-contact is likely to occur. https://www.foodallergy.org/sites/default/files/migrated-files/file/food-processor-plan.pdf
And we’ll all attend some Hazard communication training. HazCom is a U.S. regulation that governs the evaluation and communication of hazards associated with chemicals in the workplace. We as employees have a right to know what chemicals are in our facility. Here’s where we’ll learn about our SDS books. I suggest each of us know where these sheets are located and how to get to them.
There’s so much we learn, classes if you will, that we need to take seriously and absorb when offered the opportunity. Every day, even in our day to day duties, think about it, we’re learning every day.
I know we here at WAOC are always talking about learning and self-educating. I’d encourage you to take every class your company offers, and if your interested in something check it out online. Your goal is to be the best of the best & what better way than to be the most informed team member on your shift.
Well, that’ll do it for today, I guess. I got a little long winded, but I like talking about learning. If you have a suggestion or topic you’d like to know a little more about just shoot us an email to host@warehouseandoperationsasacareer.com and we’ll get an answer from someone! Until next week, lets all learn something new and something new about safety is a great place to start!