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FedEx Freight | Thoughts On A City Driver Advisor Like The Road Advisor

Crazy Trucker said:
Road driver advisor is pretty much a useless position. Imo
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Same goes for senior claims analyst. He shows up once or twice per month and tells people to put a strap around something (isn't that what supervisors are for?) and then wastes our time in pre-shifts talking about stupid district competitions related to damages. He also hands out hats for zero LTCs in a month.

It kind of made sense when as a group the dock workers would do a 15 minute meeting with the sales team in order to learn about endangered accounts and what can be done to address it. But this guy is just a parasite.
 
truckinbuddy said:
Should city drivers have a city advisor like the road drivers do?
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The better solution would be to change the title to "Driver Advisor". They do, in fact, offer assistance/advice to both city and road.

Much like H/R, their hands are tied/limited to actual policy conflicts. The can offer guidance on how to function within the constraints of "policy". Most I've met seem genuine, doing what they can with what they have. Personally, I can't fault them for company imposed limitations.
 
Only thought about it since manager/supervisors role in and out of some centers and always try to "shake" things up and mess with certain ppl etc. Ya no I've never been told hey thanks for going the extra mile today or great job today it's usually just hey why did that stop take you 20 mins.... because it was a lift gate stop up a snow covered driveway and I pretty much broke my back to get it done!
 
I feel bad for the RDA that gave up a great seniority position thinking he/she could make a "difference", and now they are absolutely stuck in this BS position. They can't go back to driving without starting from the bottom and can't move up in management because of lack of managerial skills.
 
First, one has to understand the original purpose behind the position...

City drivers work for their respective local center. Daily decisions for city drivers are made by their local center and all city drivers answer to local management.

Road drivers work for and answer to Central Dispatch. We are governed by local management but all daily decisions are made by Central Dispatch. Contrary to popular belief, some managers/local dispatchers do not know or understand all of the policies regarding the road operation and most are going to do what’s best for their local center. We can question a local management’s decision by going to Central Dispatch and getting a “final answer” which at times overturns/corrects the local management.


The original intent of the RDA position was to act as a liaison between road drivers and local/Central...kinda like our Regional Road Driver Managers used to do back in the day. The decision was made to call them “advisers” instead of “managers” because the position has no teeth, they have no power or authority to make decisions like the previous managers had. Having the position under operations made since considering this original intent, but now the position is under safety, :scratchhead:, which changes everything IMO.

An argument could be made with this position now being under safety that they could in fact offer advice to city drivers...the problem being one person per region simply couldn’t keep up with that many drivers. For example, we have one RSA (Road Safety Adviser) for the CLT region (North and South Carolina) yet we have almost as many city/road drivers in CLT as the rest of our region combined.

The position should’ve been left under operations IMO but once you’ve been with this company long enough, you’ll learn they can’t leave well enough alone!!
 
L2145 said:
The Road Driver Advisor position is probably the biggest waste of company resources I've ever seen. I compare them to the Abloy padlocks we used on trailers years ago. Great idea on paper, terrible in practice. They have been relegated to following up on "headway events" and doing useless reports. They are not advocates for the drivers, just another company chimney to blow smoke.
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Snapshot is running a pretty close second, hey, snapshot will be at your center next week, so get everything cleaned up and have all your ducks in a row for there surprise visit!!! Just sayin?
 
rodedawg said:
Snapshot is running a pretty close second, hey, snapshot will be at your center next week, so get everything cleaned up and have all your ducks in a row for there surprise visit!!! Just sayin?
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I always wondered why Snapshot never showed up unannounced...maybe they REALLY don’t want to see what actually goes on at every center.

We had some maintenance big wheels coming in one day and our shop had all of our mechanics cleaning for an entire day before they showed up. Talk about wasting money...I’m sure they make much more than an outside cleaning crew would’ve charged, not to mention giving the false perception that our shop is always that clean!!
 
Redracer3136 said:
First, one has to understand the original purpose behind the position...

City drivers work for their respective local center. Daily decisions for city drivers are made by their local center and all city drivers answer to local management.

Road drivers work for and answer to Central Dispatch. We are governed by local management but all daily decisions are made by Central Dispatch. Contrary to popular belief, some managers/local dispatchers do not know or understand all of the policies regarding the road operation and most are going to do what’s best for their local center. We can question a local management’s decision by going to Central Dispatch and getting a “final answer” which at times overturns/corrects the local management.


The original intent of the RDA position was to act as a liaison between road drivers and local/Central...kinda like our Regional Road Driver Managers used to do back in the day. The decision was made to call them “advisers” instead of “managers” because the position has no teeth, they have no power or authority to make decisions like the previous managers had. Having the position under operations made since considering this original intent, but now the position is under safety, :scratchhead:, which changes everything IMO.

An argument could be made with this position now being under safety that they could in fact offer advice to city drivers...the problem being one person per region simply couldn’t keep up with that many drivers. For example, we have one RSA (Road Safety Adviser) for the CLT region (North and South Carolina) yet we have almost as many city/road drivers in CLT as the rest of our region combined.

The position should’ve been left under operations IMO but once you’ve been with this company long enough, you’ll learn they can’t leave well enough alone!!
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Very good explanation/analysis, Red. Makes sense.

We've always been told, as city drivers, that we can contact the RDA for answers, advice, concerns, etc. Locations with a DDI (instructor) on site can seek advice there, as well. Not everyone is comfortable going straight to H/R, using the chain of command, or even the hotline/alertline.
 
Big Dave said:
Not after they did that surprise inspection in Clandestine Ice’s tractor and found THOSE magazines......
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MitQP35.jpg
 
SwampRatt said:
The better solution would be to change the title to "Driver Advisor". They do, in fact, offer assistance/advice to both city and road.

Much like H/R, their hands are tied/limited to actual policy conflicts. The can offer guidance on how to function within the constraints of "policy". Most I've met seem genuine, doing what they can with what they have. Personally, I can't fault them for company imposed limitations.
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Exactly this.

It COULD be a very helpful, and effective position. Especially for young drivers, But management would have to give them some degree of clout, and some swing to actually get things done. That way, the drivers could see them as a option to take things to, as opposed to management.
If management keeps their hands tied to no nothing but parrot policy, it's a total waste.
 
I can see from senior drivers this RDA being a joke but from a new guy they do give some good feedback on questions about company policies and such. When I was new I reached out to my RDA and he got back to me and clarified some things. He had 15 years as a road driver before he took the position. If I knew he was a recent college grad and got the job I wouldn’t of wasted my breath.
 
Diggger86 said:
I can see from senior drivers this RDA being a joke but from a new guy they do give some good feedback on questions about company policies and such. When I was new I reached out to my RDA and he got back to me and clarified some things. He had 15 years as a road driver before he took the position. If I knew he was a recent college grad and got the job I wouldn’t of wasted my breath.
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I agree with your post, but imo they could be replaced with a road driver handbook full of all rules and policies. Company would save a lot of money also.
 
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