UPS looking for a few good drivers
April 9, 2010 · Tagged with Career and Work
UPS isn’t the only company using new training tools. Food service company Sodexo Inc. has recruited chefs through “Second Life” virtual job fairs and Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) has taught programming techniques through videogames. FedEx Corp. says it, too, has moved toward more hands-on learning in the past five years, although it adds the change wasn’t prompted by a high failure rate among trainees.
On a recent day, UPS students at Integrad moved through “kinetic learning” modules. In one corner, they practiced loading and unloading packages from a UPS truck with clear sides, timed by instructors.
UPS allows 15.5 seconds to park a truck and retrieve one package from the cargo, which is arranged in order of delivery.
Over at the “slip and fall” machine, an instructor greased a tiled runway in preparation for a regular drill: Students must carry a 10-pound box down the surface — while wearing shoes with no real tread. Luckily they wear a safety harness, as most flail around like drunken ice skaters until they are taught to stand straight and take slow baby steps. (This is the one time UPS relents on its rule that drivers walk at a “brisk pace,” or 2.5 paces per second.)
In another corner, Rich Gossman, at 37 the oldest in the group, was slumped at a videogame that tests recruits’ ability to find sales leads for UPS, something today’s drivers are expected to do. The game puts his avatar in rooms where he has to identify competitors’ packages.
Mr. Gossman, a married father, works overnight at a UPS warehouse, unloading packages for $12.50 an hour. Being a UPS driver appeals to him because of the pay and job security.
“This has been the most stressful week of my life,” he said. But as he played the game Mr. Gossman got a pat on the back from UPS supervisor, Peggy Emmart. “I saw you identify that competitor package,” she said.
“I saw that FedEx package and went, click, let’s get ‘em,” said Mr. Gossman.
Trainees must pay attention to detail and appearance and work as a team. Students whose brown uniforms aren’t ironed properly — hanger creases are forbidden — lose points for their teams, as does any trainee caught without his keys. UPS requires drivers to wear keys on their ring fingers to avoid wasting time searching for them.
“Raise your hands,” Mr. Breslin ordered one group. Five jingling pairs of hands went up. “Good job,” he said, clapping. “See how easy it is to bond with your keys?”