Unfortunately, FedEx Office Senior management is driving the nation's foremost reprographics company into the ground. The single, most confounding Senior management initiative is to trim staffing to the bone, prohibit overtime and expect each Center's manager (the only salaried position in even the biggest-volume Centers) to fill-in the staffing gaps. These gaps are particularly evident in Centers open 24 hours 7 days a week. Senior management doesn't give a hoot about anything the front-line staff has to say. There is no way for Center employees to frankly discuss work-related issues with Senior management. This situation all but guarantees labor unions to become involved sooner or later. Center staff is largely detained in their assigned Center without any opportunity whatsoever to observe practices at other Centers, let alone share tips to improve personal and work-group performance. Training is unavailable on topics such as "How to Deal with Difficult Customers" and "How to Get the Most Out of the Canon Printer/Copier." In recent months, increasing pressure has been applied to prompt each and every Center employee to sell the Product of the Month to each and every customer, as if the revenues derived from the sales of pens, pencils, reams of copy paper and USB drives will bring the company to the Promised Land. Product of the Month gives Senior management one more metric which ranks each Center employee by units sold per month. Hourly employees' wages in the retail Centers are lower than those at FedEx Corporation's other operating companies, which are in the transportation industry.
