"Undercover Boss"

Anybody else see this show that aired after the Super Bowl?

It was Tivo'd along with the Super Bowl and it had the CEO of WasteManagement go undercover and pose as an entry level employee at many of his firm's plants.

It was an eye-opener for him because he saw first-hand how policies and decisions he made caused difficulties for his employees. He had problems sleeping at times because of this.

I think more CEOs or managers should spend a day or a week in their subordinates' shoes. It might make them rethink their attitude.

POST A COMMENTeconobiker(02/09/2010)
What you have to understand that this CEO didn't do low level work just to be a "nice guy" but to find out how to make his company run more efficiently by having better employees and employee contributions. At so many companies the best efficiency ideas are often at the lowest level so that these ideas never get filtered back to the penthouse corner CEO office. Or that lame policies put into effect from above don't get recognized for killing employee moral and happiness and thereby killing productivity and efficiency. What worker will bust tail or give productivity suggestions when he/she gets hit with lame time policies etc.

In the one case of the female office worker working three positions worth, I imagine that her manager was happy and getting good grades that he was keeping hourly payroll costs down by not having two more people on payroll. That the worker could keep up with the three roles' demands demonstrated how good she was and, only since the CEO recognized her performance, did she get relief to be made an account sales representative. The end story said that two people were hired to do her former responsiblities which were still probably doing 1 and 1/2 times what they should have been doing. I have no doubt that that woman still would have been in the same position today had the CEO not been on site to see her performance. And no doubt that her supervisor would have been still getting "Atta boy!s" for keeping hourly payroll costs down.

BonusOnus(02/10/2010)
More CEOs should go undercover to see what's going on among their employees.

There's a business management book I read last year (forget the title) but it had a pretty good point. Most companies abide by the rule of trying to "maximize shareholder value". That is, they try to increase revenue, decrease cost, and the profits go to the shareholder's equity. That kind of thinking makes management think of employees as some asset, or tools.

These companies usually don't do well in employee satisfaction, retention, or productivity.

Instead, the book advises to take care of the employee. The shareholder value will follow. Customers usually don't interact with the high level managers at a company (not unless it's a big account or something). Customers usually interact with a company's employees. If a company's employees are motivated, happy, and go the extra mile, wouldn't that be more beneficial to the bottom line than if the employees are unmotivated, unhappy, and willing to surreptitiously sabotage the company?

bookwoman(02/10/2010)
BonusOnus, you hit the nail on the head when you wrote "management think of employees as some asset, or tools." That is absolutely correct. I was told once that the term evolved from "Personnel" to "Human Resources" because of that very aspect.

I watched the show also and found it very interesting. A couple thoughts on the set-up of it - obviously the employees who the CEO interacted with were chosen ahead of time. None of them were particularly vociferous in their criticism of the company - at any company I have ever worked at there has always been at least one person who did nothing but loudly complain. Another thought was that while I applauded the CEO's efforts to help out the female office worker, she was one person in a company of thousands. I'm certain there are countless others in that company who deserved the same "help" he gave her. I would've liked to have seen him institute a company-wide effort to recognize and reward the same efforts by all who deserved it.

A very interesting show. I'm looking forward to watching the upcoming episode that features Hooters, from the previews showing the one restaurant manager making his waitresses lick plates in order to get out early. Can't wait to see what that CEO does about that...just watching the previews made me want to hunt down that manager and slap him silly.




Wage Slave(02/15/2010)
Waste Management is as terrible and dishonest company. Only fools would have been taken in by that show.

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JobSchmobber Community Comments

chubby girl (02/09/2010) This guy should have trouble sleeping. Waste Management is a very shady company. I have had 2 run ins with them. When I was in my 20's their dumpster lid tipped over during a wind storm and poked a hole through the hood of my PARKED car. I worked for a law firm at the time. Luckily 1 of the attorneys had a polaroid camera and photographed the damage. Waste Management denied any liability then called another attorney from our firm (a lowlife) and told him we were going to give you guys our business but this girl is making too much trouble, tell her to drop this and let her insurance cover it. My employers put pressure on me to drop this. I was already working 2 jobs to pay rent at the time so that extra bill for my deductible and rental car was just what I needed. The second incident happened 3 years ago when one of their trucks made a RIGHT hand turn from the LEFT hand lane crushing the left side of my car. I was thrown into the curb with such force my tire popped and went flat. I was frightened and thought I would die that day. Our heroes at Waste Management again denied liability. I found a witness so this time they settled with my insurance company. They never sent me what I paid for my deductible or rental so I personally called them and said, Who's your Statutory Agent because I'm filing a small claims court claim for my deductible and rental car charges? They sent me a check for my damages within 2 weeks. Nice to know they can do the right thing when they are caught red handed. At the time lot of people told me I was crazy for being this aggressive with them and that I could face retribution. I was a pissed off middle aged woman and didn't care. I know this comment is really long but if this is how they treated me I can only imagine what they do to their own workers when the cameras aren't running.