Punching in: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee

I've always admired the work done by UPS drivers . . . in addition, I've always been impressed by how well employees at Starbucks go about getting coffee to the vast numbers of people who enter their stores each day. Other businesses come to mind, too, including Gap, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Apple stores . . . they're all covered in Alex Frankel's PUNCHING IN, an engaging and unauthorized look at what it's like to be a front-line employee at these various organizations in America. Frankel went undercover to get hired by each one, then spent time doing such tasks as folding endless T-shirts, selling iPods and completing a management training program . . . what really caught my attention was how he attempted to find out how these firms then tried to turn thousands of job applicants into new hires and eventually loyal--even fanatical--workers. For example, at UPS: * . . . we were given only a brief lesson in how to treat customers. It went something like this: If a customer is angry at you or upset that a package has not been delivered, tell them that you are sorry. Do not confront them or engage them. That was one extreme . . . at Gap, things were different: * On my first day, I had a gnawing sense of not really knowing what to do, but I received constant advice that I needed to be doing something. "A little secret," said one coworker. "Don't stand around, or management will say, 'Why isn't he doing anything?' " My first day was a blessedly abbreviated four-hour tour of duty; I wandered around aimlessly and tried to avoid both the eyes of my managers and the questions of customers before I was set free. I also liked the so-called advice that others gave Frankel, including this from a coworker at Enterprise: * Another guy shared his own method of selling insurance to unsuspecting customers and regaled us with stories of selling "trips": "Dude, I'd like, rattle off a bunch of stuff and, like, totally confuse them, and then I'd, like, say, 'So, you want full coverage?' And they're like 'Okay,' " said Allan. Lastly, all was not so perfect for the author . . . he interviewed for a job at Whole Foods, but did not get it . . . probably because he had difficulty with the online application: * The test consisted of statements and a choice of four answers--"strongly disagree," "disagree," "agree," or "strongly agree"--for each statement. Trying to guess which answer would get me invited in for an interview as quite difficult. Statements bobbed and weaved in unpredictable directions and included the basic and the absurd: You have confidence in yourself. Your stuff is often kind of messy. You like to have exciting fun. It is maddening when the court lets guilty criminals go free. There are some people you really can't stand. You are somewhat of a thrill-seeker. You are always cheerful. You like to stir up excitement when you are bored. It is easy for you to take advantage of others. You are not afraid to tell someone off.

Frankel sets out to experience first-hand the life of front-line workers in today's economy. UPS, The Gap, Starbucks, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Apple retail stores are included. Frankel first reports on his experience at UPS, working as a seasonal overload driver helper at $8.25/hour. We learn about their DIAD (Delivery Information Acquisition Device) terminals that immediately report deliveries, indicated the number of stops remaining, and lay out the prescribed route. Frankel, with his driver, make up to 200 stops/day, then call in to see if needed to help other drivers. (Interesting aside - many drivers delay reporting completion as a means of avoiding extra work; I'm surprised UPS' computer system doesn't catch this.) Few helpers last over four days, reports Frankel. Regardless, he takes pride in being part of "the team," and being complimented by regular workers, and lasts the entire season. Afterwards he is also given a tour of other UPS facilities and its premier Worldport facility in Louisville. Worldport utilizes 5,000 workers (75% college students), and processes 304,000 packages/hour using its 17,000 conveyor motors. The facility handles about 1/15th of UPS' daily 15 million packages/day. After two years most drivers make $24/hour, and average about $55,000 with overtime. Promotions come from within. Reading Frankel one clearly gets the impression that morale, and worker retention is high within UPS, though there are some dark undertones of management surveillance. Frankel finds the employee culture design at Starbucks at bit contrived (Who really cares about what's going on within the lives of multiple customers?), and the product overpriced. The best employees are those with a passion for coffee, and are motivated by little "signs" such as a pin for displaying the five wanted behaviors, and the right to wear a black apron after demonstrating mastery barista knowledge by passing a day-long written exam. Tips amount to about $2+/hour (about 1/5 employee income), and those working 20+ hours/week get health insurance. Again, like UPS, there is the dark undertone of quarterly service assessments by mysterious evaluators. Apple employees at its retail stores are hired primarily on the basis of, like Starbucks, a passion for Apple products. Uniforms consist of an Apple-issued shirt, and staff are particularly encouraged to sell extras - eg. maintenance contracts, extra storage service, etc. Enterprise Rent-A-Car clearly came out as the last favored employer - Frankel even tells us about www.Failing Enterprise.com, a site updated by disaffected employees. College graduation is a hiring requirement for a job that doesn't begin to utilize it. Employees are lured in with a $36,000 starting salary that includes about 20 hours OT/week. Reportedly, 96% remain on the job after 90 days - though this doesn't seem much to brag about. Regardless, Frankel tells us that the employees are generally quite young because there is l

About: Frankel takes jobs with several well-known companies and reports back from the front lines of customer interaction. The first job he tackles is as a holiday season driver helper at UPS (where he's told that most do not last longer than 4 days due to the grueling amount of stuff to be delivered during this time). Fun fact: UPS is the world's 8th largest airline.Then he heads to the suit-required halls of an Enterprise Rent-a-Car where they really want customers to buy their insurance and he is told to phone competitors, posing as customer, so if say they were out of SUVs, Enterprise could hike their SUV rental prices. After dealing with autos, it's off to the GAP where workers can only wear Gap clothing or clothing with no visible competitor markings and employees' bags searched by Loss Protection when they leave for the night. This job requires lots of folding, listening to the same music for 6-8 weeks at a time, and pressure to sell Gap credit cards to customers. Frankel heads from clothes to coffee as he is hired as a barista at Starbucks. While you must wear either a white or black shirt with black pants or khakis while slinging coffee, they do offer health insurance to employees. Note for your next visit: Coffee Masters (who have had special training) wear black aprons instead of the green standard. The final job takes him from black coffee to the glaring white of an Apple Store where the dress code is pretty much just the black Apple logo shirt he is given. At the Apple Store, he's encouraged to "be who you are" and the work force is only 10% female. Although employees do not work on commission, there is large emphasis on selling "extras" with each computer sale. Frankel also attempted to get positions at Container Store where didn't get past the group interview and Home Depot where he answered some questions "wrong" on the "these questions have no wrong answers" section of the application, so the computer locked his application as it deemed him not a good fit for the place. He was also not hired at Best Buy or Whole Foods. He provides a nice sum up at the end, stating that UPS had the most adventure, the Apple Store had a much "looser" feel than then more codified Gap, Enterprise and Starbucks, where he never felt quite at ease. Pros: Very enjoyable read. Writing is crisp, to the point and exudes honesty. Nice balance of analysis of the companies he's working for and tales of his actual employment (the cross section of Starbucks customers he describes is a highlight). Index and endnotes are a pleasant surprise. Cons: He doesn't explicitly say how long he worked for each company. I hope he was allowed to reveal all of the things about the companies' workings and policies that he does without getting sued. Grade: A

Punching In is a great book. The book tells the story of journalist Alex Frankel's quest to work undercover at a dozen front-line workplaces and details the work he did for five major companies like Starbucks and UPS. Frankel does a great job of explaining how newly hired employees are made to believe in a company's mission and brand and become loyal workers. As a customer, you come away from reading Punching In much more knowledgeable about what goes on behind the counters at America's large retail chains.

Punching In Written by: Alex Frankel Published by: HarperCollins ISBN: 978-0-06-084966-5 Reviewed by: Stephanie Rollins for ReviewYourBook.com "Behind the Scenes of the Front Lines" 5 stars This is a great book! All business owners/entrepreneurs, sociologists, and industrial psychologists must read "Punching In". The author informally studied different cultures of well-known businesses, such as UPS, Starbucks, and Enterprise. Only one of these companies would I work for, after reading this book. The bonds between the employees are profound. The attempt to "brainwash" the employees into accepting the company culture is incredible. Even more amazing is the willingness of certain employees to adapt to this environment. Being an entrepreneur, I cannot understand this. The tidbits of information about each workplace are hilarious. For instance, UPS workers think that women find them attractive and lust after them. So today, I was at Subway. A UPS worker sat next to me. I kept looking at him out of the corner of my eye. Did I think he was attractive? Yes, strangely I did. The ways Enterprise employees try to sell insurance was disgusting. Starbucks workers take coffee way to seriously. The training and hiring practices varied from company to company. Some stores use statistics to determine the best employees. "Punching In" is fascinating for those who are business-minded. It is hilarious, and it is from the personal experience of the author. Professors of human sciences and business should add this to the required reading list.