Mark Zuckerberg recently spent a day working in an F-150 assembly factory in Dearborn, Michigan. I don’t know why he did it, but his experience, I am sure, was valuable. I worked in a factory for a summer in between my sophomore and junior year in college, where I also learned some valuable lessons.
My factory was in Whitmore Lake, Michigan and I was a temporary summer employee. The plant is gone now, just a large piece a of concrete in a field. The company that owned the plan is gone too (and the company that owned it after that) and the plant address is listed as a superfund site.
My first lesson was when I found out that joining the union wasn’t the same as getting union representation. The UAW and the auto parts manufacturers had a deal where the temporary worker would pay union dues and a union “sign-up” fee and get union wages, but wasn’t represented by the union until after 90 days. Good for the auto companies, good for the UAW, just not as good for the temp worker. At the time the job paid pretty good, in the $7 an hour range, ~2.5x minimum wage, or inflation adjusted $25.60 an hour. Current automobile company UAW temporary wages are $15.68 an hour about 1.75x minimum wage. The current contract has two tiers, higher one for most the union voters, lower ones for new people, so things there haven’t changed.
Getting hired was easy, I took a drug test (pee’d in a cup), answered a few questions and started a couple of days later. I found myself on the line with several other fellow students from the University of Michigan working as temp’s in addition to the “permanent” staff. We manufactured bucket and bench foam seats Liquid foam was placed in an aluminum mold which a conveyor took through a large oven where the foam expanded and set. The foam seats were removed from the mold, cleaned up and then packed for shipping. My station was tucked behind the oven up against a wall, separated from the main work area by a wooden bridge that passed over the conveyor system. The mold’s exited the ovens at over 150° and the work was hot and repetitive. We worked in pairs. We had about five seconds to twist off the little foam buttons that had flowed out of the mold bleeder holes before the mold was cracked open. If we had time, we carried a wire in our hands to snake out the bleeder holes. If the bleeder holes were blocked the next seat made in the mold would be ruined.
There were a hundred petty insults at work. During a line stoppage, we swept up the floor in our area. The scrap was 2-3 inches deep around our ankles. When the foreman found out, he yelled at us. Cleaning up was the sweeper’s job (a different job class) and we weren’t supposed to sweep. The sweeper team was always working up front, since it was air conditioned, and not in the back of the factory. After that we still swept but we never swept it clean so we couldn’t get yelled at.
Management had a weak relationship with the UAW and there were a lot of arguments about the contract. For instance, the contract said when it was over 90 degrees outside for more than four hours we got free sodas. It was a hot summer and the first time we qualified, the union steward went to management and demanded our free drinks. The foreman returned with cases of off-brand drinks from a closet in the tool crib. The surprise was on us, they were undrinkable, as the temperature in the tool crib closet was easily over 100 degrees.
Toward the end of the summer the company went to a new cleaning process for the molds. The cleaner used was carbon tetrachloride (at the time used in dry cleaners and in refrigeration). One afternoon the line stopped and we were told to sit and wait. We waited 15 minutes, which was a long time for the line to be down. Finally the foreman showed up wearing an oxygen mask and tank told us there had been a dangerous spill and we were to evacuate the area. Apparently no one thought to just yell over the bridge to evacuate as soon as the spill was identified.
The carbon-tet and the heat began to cause problems for the workers. When I’d get off work, I’d see a halo around the parking lot lights. This effect went away the next morning. After a couple of weeks the effect didn’t go away until the weekend. We were then warned not to wear contact lenses to work, as the chemicals were softening our corneas. I was off for a couple of days and the company installed big fans to push fresh air down into the building. The air still smelled of course, because the fans intake was right next to the exhaust ports for the ovens. The front office staff rarely came into the factory – it was hot, uncomfortable and it smelled. When I reached my 88th day as per the UAW contract, I was let go, which was fine with me, it was time to return to college.
My coworkers didn’t care about management or the company or self-actualization. They worked in the factory for one reason, money. In the factory, you worked to live. They didn’t want a career, they weren’t willing to eat hours so that the boss would look good, they didn’t study for professional exams or spend hours trying to figure out how to get promoted. Some of my co-workers were lazy and spent more time hiding from work rather than working, and some were high pretty much all day. However, most were focused on their life outside of work and they just wanted a good paying job, do good work, avoid hassle and go home at the end of the day. A little respect would have been nice.
A great example of modern worker motivation is shown in the movie “The Circle”. People are working long hours to make a difference and to be a part of the in-crowd. Firms expect staff to put the company first in all things, socialize with co-workers, to work diligently to meet some arbitrary performance goal, and to pour their lives into the business. Home Depot called it bleeding orange. This isn’t a new sentiment. Frank Borman, the Apollo 8 Commander, lectured at the University of Michigan about putting the company first in his executives lives. He stated that he hoped their family or their church was second, but Eastern Airlines should be first. Eastern Air Lines is long gone (sold three times), Borman, on the other hand, is still going strong at 89. I wonder if he still believes that Eastern should come first in his life?
Although “The Circle” is satire, you can’t help but recognize a lot of today’s work environment. Late night texts, work flowing into personal time, privacy disappearing and a lot of double speak covering up the pressure to work harder and get more things done. Working in a factory is simpler, you show up to work, you get paid. The results are clear, they are stacked in the warehouse. Work today is more complicated, and does not always result in clear outcomes. Respect is even more important as the assets aren’t molds and ovens sitting in a factory, but brains and know-how which goes home every night.
While working at the factory, I learned about the value of respect. CEO’s forget that people are sometimes motivated by different things. Sometimes, the staff just wants a job. In the end, all effective motivation is internal. You can’t add it on by yelling at your staff, motivational speeches, clever bonus plans or free cold drinks (although that would have been nice). You need to connect with the staff by what motivates them, not you. Respect goes a long way in business. I hope Mr. Zuckerman got that from his time at the factory.
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Dr. John Zott is the Principal consultant at Bates Creek Consulting. John is the chair of the Careers Committee at FEI Silicon Valley, a senior adjunct professor at Golden Gate University and comments regularly on issues that affect consumer businesses. If you are looking for a CFO for your e-commerce/retail/consumer company, or are a former student, colleague or would just like to connect – reach out.