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Hello all and thanks for checking in again with warehouse and operations as a career, I’m Marty, and here at WAOC we can get a little passionate, maybe overly passionate, about all of the warehouse and transportation positions out there. All that being said, as employees we’re kind of in uncharted waters. Not just locally or nationally but globally, some of our lives have been turned upside down and sideways with the Covid -19 virus. I had some oral surgery planned last week and it was put on hold due to dentist being closed so I hope my words sound ok for you today, if not maybe you can forgive me? We’ve all recently learned the preventive measures and precautions we need to be taking, things like social distancing and self-quarantining, washing our hands frequently and using hand sanitizer to protect our elders. I won’t get into all the political positioning or scientific reasoning, and I’m even going to try and refrain for preaching my opinions here today. One fact we can’t ignore though is the corona virus, or the precautions being taken has interrupted our supply chains on a national and global scale! Here in the united states we’re experiencing delayed imports coming in due to outbound docks in other country’s being closed or working at much lower capacity. As we’ve learned, one burp in the global logistics world will filter down to us, the freight and material handlers of the world! So, I thought today we’d talk about how we can better position ourselves and maybe make the best of any situation we find ourselves in.
Here in the states, restaurants were asked to close, and all social gatherings was canceled. As you can imagine many different industries were immediately affected. Foodservice distribution centers cases dropped way off, restaurant owners didn’t need product so our employer may not have had enough work for all us order selectors and forklift drivers. The convention industry slowed with conventions and meetings being cancelled so they may not have a need for the larger staffs. And even manufacturing and assembly or production facilities could have been affected, shoot, many facilities may have shut down for a couple of weeks just to help slow the exposure to their employees. With all this going on we could find ourselves being laid off for a week, two weeks or even longer so we’re right back to our personal and professional goals and plans. See how I threw our planning in there? We’re always talking about the importance of learning, at least knowing a little bit about every position that touches ours, I mean the more we know the more we’re worth right? I know this week when employers were making those hard decisions and looking at names, they we’re also assessing skills. Oh, here’s a good story. I received a phone call last Tuesday asking if I could get a guy PIT trained that afternoon. The customer, I was dealing with a supervisor in a packing department that wanted one of his packers to be equipment certified immediately. Now, I knew I had just hired him a forklift operator and I was quite puzzled about the request but hey, that’s what we do, so I scrambled and made it happen. That afternoon we went over to do the on-site observation, the employee actually had a lot of experience operating the forklift, so we got him certified and went on our way. The following morning, I was told they had laid off 5 packers. The supervisor wanted to be able to call this gentleman a fork driver so he could keep him!
I drifted a little bit, where’s my notes, oh yeah, so we were talking about planning. Now when something like this happens in the world, and by no means is this the first time something big has disrupted our supply chains, yes, it’s been many many years since we’ve experienced a global occurrence but we’ve all seen tornados, hurricanes, and fires that have disrupted our lives over the years and if we had a plan we’ve fared much better than those that didn’t!
What we’re seeing now has been rough on most of us. We’ve always been told to have at least a month worth of expenses in savings for things like our mortgage or rent, and to have our pantries stocked with at least a weeks’ worth of groceries and toiletries. Things like having a diverse portfolio if we participate in a 401k plan and maybe to keep a little cash on hand. That’s all planning, and it is planning to reach our goals. As we’ve learned there’s nothing wrong with adjusting our goals, we’ll need to, if we don’t, we’re not going to accomplish them anyway, life is going to get in our way occasionally.
Ok, back to today’s topic! I’ve been hearing from several young men and women that’s recently been laid off for a few weeks, some hearing indefinitely and a few that have been released from their position. A lot of people in the restaurant or service industry are seeking or researching other industries as well. I think our industry, or the light industrial industry could very well be the most secure industry of them all. Take a look around you, everything you’re looking at has been on a truck and went thru a warehouse at one time or another, unless it’s a picture painted for us by our kids or grandma. I guess even then the paper and crayon were on a truck right.
So, you may be asking how can I plan or be prepared for something like this or even just a regular staff reduction layoff. We always need to be prepared. Remember how I’m always talking about being THAT employee and getting noticed in the right way? Productive, engaged employees, those that are always on time and can follow directions are valuable assets to our company. Of course, its hard being that person all the time but it always pays. Last Friday I was talking to a manager about layoffs. His business had dropped by 50%, they were having problems getting their raw materials, so he had to meet with his supervisors to ask who they were able to do without. He told them to not only consider one’s productivity but their attendance, attitude and willingness or ability to be flexible with work schedules and assignments. He explained how being crossed trained with a few different tasks should be considered a plus. His receiving supervisor had a gentleman that could perform 3 different positions and was his most productive person. The manager had already chosen this gentleman as one to be laid off and the supervisor didn’t understand why. The receiver had already received 2 written warnings regarding attendance and 1 for being disruptive with other employees. The manager was looking at the big picture and the supervisor was looking at just getting the doors closed of course. The gentleman was laid off. He was surprised it’d been him. The employee stated that he could fix his attendance problem and that he would follow direction and quit being so opiniated, but it came too little too late. It’s so important that we as employees remember our job is just a job, we’re working and being paid by someone else and their way is the right way. Now of course if we’re being asked to do something wrong or being treated bad, in a way that is not legal or within our rights we should certainly speak up and take action, but if we’re just passing along opinions or brings our attitude to work with us, well, this could very well be the end result.
So being that employee is a great plan for keeping our job in times like these. Oh, here’s an example of what I mean. We talked a little earlier about the employee whose supervisor got him PIT certified to keep him and this one is kind of like that. This lady was working through a temp agency for a distribution facility as warehouse sanitation. She was part of a team of 4. She’d been there about 2 months, doing a great job and the company planned to move her to their payroll when she completed her contractual hours with the agency. Well, with all the prevention planning that the corona virus brought it became necessary for the department to decrease head count by two. Her supervisor made it abundantly clear to his HR department that he was not willing to give her up. She was on time every day and was willing to perform every task, every time asked. The company ended up buying out her contract so she would be their employee and laying off two others. This is being that person! Planning – is just knowing how we’re going to handle ourselves and why! We have a goal!
Ok, but whither we had a plan and was that employee or not now we find ourselves laid off, where do we go from here?
First, I hope we went home and immediately started out paperwork and filed for our unemployment insurance. In normal times we probably can go out and find another job making what we were or at least close to it. These may not be normal times though and depending what industry you’re in there may not be anyone hiring right now for our skills. So that’s what were going to do, change our skills!
There are a host of occupational training opportunities within our communities. Churches, Community colleges, trade schools, your states workforce commissions, our friend and family can probably turn us onto all kinds of ideas. Here in the Dallas, Tx area our workforce commission has recently partnered with Impact Institute and Belmar Integrated Logistics, a sourcing company to offer a Warehouse Logistics Program through the Distribution Training Center, yes, two companies I work with, but these programs are free, there state funded and cost us as employees or applicants absolutely nothing. There’s all kind of funded programs out there that will train us to new skills. But I’ll be honest now, replying to Facebook groups with the word interested or info and scrolling through Instagram looking at the pictures staffing agencies post are not going to get us a new job and that’s not really seeking employment. On the other hand. If we follow the directions in those ads, call them and go on-line and fill out the applications as directed and follow up with phone calls, another words do our part, we will be successful ladies and gentlemen. We did an episode back in February, Our First Step, where we discussed what recruiters are looking for, you may find that episode helpful too if you’re looking for work.
The bottom line is or what I’d like to get across today is that we’re all going to be fine. These are tough times for everyone. Our industry is going to bounce back first. The national supply chain is already figuring out how to safely move our freight again. As I’ve said more than many times, this is the greatest industry of all.
We here at WAOC would like to help anyway we can. Send us an email to host@warehouseandoperationsasacareer.com, explain how we may be able to help and we’ll try and put you in touch with an agency or program in your area that may have some opportunity for you. And stop in on twitter and Facebook using that @whseandops and ask questions through the warehouse equipment operators’ community on Facebook too. We’re all in this together and we’re all going to come out of it together!
Until next week, stay positive, be motivated and of course as always be Safe!