"UNCOVERING THE UNDERCOVER BOSS" - Episode 6, GSI Commerce

In this week’s episode, Michael Rubin, Founder and CEO of GSI Commerce, went undercover as Gary Rodgers, a seasonal employee. GSI Commerce provides e-commerce and interactive marketing services for retailers. The Company has 5,000 regular employees but during the holiday peak season the numbers increase to 10,000.

His first day as a seasonal employee was spent working at the Company’s fulfillment center loading a trailer with Rochelle, another seasonal employee, who had three weeks’ experience. Matt was the floor supervisor and his only guidance was to tell both employees to stack the boxes “high and tight.” Rochelle worked quickly but the two of them did a terrible job of loading a trailer. The boxes were in disarray and some were falling as they were being loaded. The Company’s failure to train either employee on how to load and stack boxes could have been disastrous. Either employee could have sustained an injury, the unbalanced load could have affected the driver’s ability to properly steer the vehicle, and it most certainly would have resulted in crushing a few boxes.

Nothing was ever mentioned about the need for training or the lack of supervision. At the end of the show, Michael rewarded Rochelle for being a hard worker, which she was, but the supervisor and all of management failed.

The lesson learned is that most jobs, in this case loading a trailer, require training and nothing should be taken for granted. This is a job that is not only physically demanding but the consequences of loading a trailer poorly will affect the employees, the truck driver, others on the highway and the customers. Michael only recognized that it was a physically exhausting job. He did not even think about the financial repercussions of not properly training employees –workers compensation claims, damaged goods, and a potentially dangerous vehicle on the highway. Could Michael have been pennywise and pound foolish for not spending money on properly training employees?

Michael’s other major experience occurred at the Company’s call center in Florida. He assisted operators who receive calls from disgruntled customers. One of the operators, Danielle, had an extremely poor attitude. She explained to Michael that you had to show the customer who was the boss. Danielle demonstrated this in dealing with a customer who was dissatisfied with the merchandise received in a crushed box. Danielle told the customer that she could not receive $50 credit immediately, because the system would not allow it to happen. The customer did not accept Danielle’s answer and Michael was so mad at Danielle that he almost blew his cover. He thought that she was not satisfying the customer and he would have fired her on the spot if the cameras were not present.

There are several problems with this situation and they don’t only center on Danielle. First, based on what little we know, Danielle was a bad hire as her personality was a poor fit for the job. Second, what kind of training had she received? At the end of the show we find that she was only provided with two days of customer service training. In a customer oriented position, we doubt that this was enough to handle calls from disgruntled customers, which are the most challenging. Third, as is often the case, the system designed to fix the problem, was, in fact, the major cause of the problem. It prevented Danielle from immediately satisfying the customer. Fourth, Michael wanted to fire her on the spot. Instead of hearing her side of the story, understanding the system’s short comings or evaluating the training process, he was ready to attack the person. A good manager should never fire a person on the spot. Before any discipline occurs he should have invested what led to this serious failure in performance.

This episode concludes, as have the others, with the CEO “taking care” of the individuals with whom he came in contact. Cameron, a warehouse picker, was promoted because Michael thought he would be a good supervisor. Adam, a call center employee, was given $10,000 so that he could have a nice wedding. Shannon, a line processor, was given $5,000 for the community football league. Is Michael’s way of fixing problems, with money, really the right way to motivate a work force? What if you were an employee of Michael’s company, working as hard as possible, and you found out on television that Michael rewarded a few select employees with cash? How would you feel?

These were all very nice gestures, but how does Michael’s actions affect the other employees in the organization? Of the 10,000 other great regular and seasonal employees many of them have needs or desires, but they will not receive similar rewards. This type of favoritism from the CEO causes far more organizational problems than it is worth. A sincere thank you from the CEO is better for the overall organizational well being than choosing a few lucky employees who not only benefit from celebrity status but also receive money and/or promotions.

“Uncovering the Undercover Boss” is written by Richard Reinhardt, Vice President of F&H Solutions Group LLC. You may contact Richard by email at rreinhardt@fhsolutionsgroup.com or by phone at 901.291.1546.