Engaging employees in company success: The UPS approach to ...

ENGAGING EMPLOYEES IN COMPANY
SUCCESS: THE UPS APPROACH TO A
WINNING TEAM

Lea Soupata

UPS is the world’s largest package delivery company and a leading global provider of special-
ized transportation and logistics services. One of the company’s missions is to maintain a finan-
cially sound company, with broad employee ownership, that offers a long-term competitive re-
turn to shareowners. This ownership culture is demonstrated through ownership guidelines for
managers and supervisors as well as several employee stock programs. The ownership culture is
vigorously promoted throughout UPS by a variety of communication channels. Employee own-
ership is core to the UPS culture, and it translates into a strong work ethic, with employees en-
gaged in growing the business and committed to the company’s success. © 2005 Wiley
Periodicals, Inc.

Good management is not just organization. This article will focus on a specific strategic
It is an attitude inspired by the will to do imperative (critical organizational outcome)
right. Good management is taking a sincere that aligns with overall corporate goals. The
interest in the welfare of the people you “Winning Team” strategic imperative is a
work with. It is the ability to make people human resources effort to attract, develop,
feel that you and they are the company—not and retain a skilled, motivated, and diverse
merely employees of it. Good management global workforce. The Winning Team initia-
is your worthiness to have and hold the con- tive strives to develop not only an effective
fidence of others. (Jim E. Casey, in United workforce, but also one whose interests and
Parcel Service of America, Inc., 1985) values align with UPS, which subsequently
results in highly engaged employees. It also
For UPS, a century of experience con- is intended to preserve and build upon
firms that any large organizational strategy UPS’s culture and legacy of integrity, owner-
must be grounded in the company’s culture ship, performance, respect, innovation, per-
and aligned with its business goals. The UPS sonal growth, and service excellence.
company-wide vision is based on founder
Jim Casey’s philosophy of good manage- The Winning Team effort works in com-
ment, and on UPS principles and priorities. bination with other strategic imperatives.
These include “Value-Added Solutions,”

Correspondence to: Lea Soupata, 55 Glen Lake Parkway NE, Atlanta, GA 30328, (404) 828-6035,
[email protected]

Human Resource Management, Spring 2005, Vol. 44, No. 1, Pp. 95–98
© 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).
DOI: 10.1002/hrm.20046

96 • HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Spring 2005

One of the “Customer Focus,” and “Enterprise Excel- Managers Incentive Program, and the Long-
company’s lence.” These imperatives are supported by a Term Incentive Program. This ownership
missions is to number of initiatives, each monitored culture is vigorously promoted throughout
maintain a through standard measures. UPS by a variety of communication chan-
financially nels. Employee ownership is core to the UPS
sound company, Background culture, and it translates into a strong work
with broad ethic, with employees engaged in growing
employee UPS was founded in 1907 in Seattle, Wash- the business and committed to the com-
ownership, that ington, as a messenger company and has pany’s success.
offers a long- grown into a corporation with more than $33
term billion in revenue by concentrating on the The UPS Measure of Success
competitive goal of enabling global commerce in more
return to than 200 countries and territories. UPS is UPS uses metrics that are based on industry
shareowners. the world’s largest package delivery company standards, UPS historical trends, and chal-
and a leading global provider of specialized lenging stretch goals to measure the results
transportation and logistics services. The of the Winning Team effort. For example,
company continues to develop the leading turnover is a retention metric. Since reten-
edge of logistics, supply-chain management, tion is a workforce planning initiative, other
and e-commerce by integrating the three groups have measures tailored to their own
flows of goods, information, and funds. UPS areas of responsibilities. The resulting key
maintains a positive global reputation initiatives, based on measures and goals,
through its sustainability effort. consist of programs, projects, and functional
initiatives. For example, a Winning Team
UPS also emphasizes the importance of critical initiative is “Establish a workplace
the environment and social health. environment based on a supportive relation-
Through the UPS Foundation, the philan- ship with our employees.” In order to tackle
thropic arm of the company, UPS champi- this, many functional initiatives were devel-
ons innovative solutions to social problems oped, such as dynamic communications
by focusing on literacy, hunger, and effec- with employees through an employee Web
tive volunteerism. Employees view UPS as portal project.
a model for global community involvement
and corporate citizenship. The Winning Team metrics coincide with
key metrics used to keep track of progress in
UPS Today reaching business goals. These success indi-
cators include: revenue growth, operating in-
Today, there are more than 357,000 UPS come growth, net income growth, operating
employees throughout the United States, economic value-added growth, customer sat-
Canada, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin isfaction index improvement, employer of
America. Although UPS is constantly ex- choice index improvement, and service qual-
panding, its strength exists in the commit- ity index improvement.
ment and dedication many employees have
to the company’s success. Today, UPS is pub- The Winning Team strategic imperative,
licly traded, but it is still predominantly an in alignment with the non-HR imperatives,
employee-owned company. comprises UPS’s strategy to fulfill its purpose
to enable global commerce. To meet this pur-
One of the company’s missions is to pose, all functional processes, business unit
maintain a financially sound company, with programs, projects, and initiatives align. Any
broad employee ownership, that offers a long- new programs, projects, and initiatives are
term competitive return to shareowners. This developed with the intent of contributing sig-
ownership culture is very strong at UPS. It is nificantly in a measurable way. Areas within
demonstrated through ownership guidelines Human Resources that contribute to this
for managers and supervisors as well as em- strategic imperative include employee com-
ployee stock programs, which include the munications, employee relations, and learn-
Discounted Employee Stock Purchase Plan, ing and development, all of which have

Engaging Employees in Company Success: The UPS Approach to a Winning Team • 97

unique responsibilities in successfully meet- work Communications Meeting, a progressive Company
ing Winning Team goals. The following sec- employee relations initiative is in place. success depends
tions discuss each area’s contributions to the Known as “One Vision,” this hour-long one- on a
outcome in more detail. to-one conversation between the supervisors commitment to
and first-line employees focuses on UPS’s building trust
Employee Communications competition, technology, health and safety, and improving
opinion survey feedback, UPS supply-chain employee
The significance of UPS’s success in meeting solutions, stock purchasing, and recognition. relations by
the business goals as the strategic imperative It also encompasses “Project LEAD,” a pro- relying on
requires a broad communicative effort. Em- gram that rewards employees who obtain sales integrity,
ployees must know what UPS is doing, why leads for the company. In short, this conversa- ability, and
we are engaging in various activities, and tion states what UPS has done, where UPS is character.
what their individual roles are in making the presently, and the future of UPS. It is seen as
business successful. They also must under- a forum for the supervisor and first-line em-
stand the principles that are guiding the im- ployee to communicate openly with each
peratives, which are found in the UPS Char- other and talk about the challenges the com-
ter. That charter, which includes the pany faces, business initiatives, and how all
company’s strategy, mission, purpose, and can work together for success.
values, sets forth the principles that guide
decisions made and solutions developed Employee Relations
every day at UPS. The strategic imperatives
grew from the vision of the charter. An important part of the One Vision discus-
sion focuses on how the managers, supervi-
In creating a thorough understanding of sors, and first-line employees can work to-
the Winning Team initiative and developing gether to maintain an open and trusting
supporting relationships throughout UPS, a environment. Company success depends on
number of media and deliverables are used. a commitment to building trust and improv-
There are frequent communication meet- ing employee relations by relying on integrity,
ings throughout the operating districts ability, and character. During discussions,
among staff, operations, managers, and first- the supervisor explains the UPS open-door
line employees. In addition, UPSers.com, policy, which means the supervisor is avail-
the employee portal, provides the most up- able at any time for workplace issues, ques-
to-date information about UPS, technology, tions, or concerns. The supervisor also en-
industry news, employee services, and busi- gages the employee in a discussion about
ness initiatives. building and improving trust.

This communication channel, which em- Along with a supportive workplace, the
ployees can access from work or home, is Winning Team attempts to build on an inte-
needed, because with more than 70,000 grated talent management program, since
drivers, UPS is truly a mobile workforce. UP- employees are a competitive advantage to
Sers.com includes links to the medical, den- any organization. Succession planning, ca-
tal, vision, and prescription carriers, as well reer development planning discussions,
as other benefit providers for U.S. employ- management performance improvements,
ees. It also includes links to the administra- and retaining talent are essential. UPS en-
tor for the UPS Savings Advantage (401(k) courages promotion from within the organi-
plan) and the Discounted Employee Stock zation and believes in cultivating talent.
Purchase Plan. There is also a site where em- Succession planning is a long-range process
ployees can view executive speech sum- that is important for UPS leadership conti-
maries and biographies to better understand nuity in critical positions, and for furthering
who the UPS leaders are and what they are individual employee development. Succes-
saying to the public about the business. sion planning is aligned with the Winning
Team because merely making financial goals
Historically, UPS employees receive feed- does not ensure an individual’s promotion to
back in three-minute daily group meetings.
Today, in addition to the three-minute Pre-

98 • HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Spring 2005

greater responsibility. Rather, the individ- Team imperative. Employment and retention
ual’s ability to manage people effectively processes, practices, and criteria accommo-
(using their historic employee relations date workforce stability and development in
index scores as a measure) plays a key role in order to retain the diverse talent. Training
UPS’s promotion decisions. and development processes help UPS to con-
tinuously develop this talent.
Learning and Development
The Winning Team strategic imperative
Career development planning discussions is grounded in UPS ideals. It provides initia-
help ensure that employees set appropriate tives for HR practices that preserve the cul-
goals and develop plans to assist them in at- ture and legacy of UPS and engage employ-
taining necessary skills and experiences that ees in the company’s success. UPS continues
are in line with the organization’s needs, to align HR activities with critical organiza-
eventually filling essential competency gaps. tional outcomes, such as Winning Team. In
Performance improvement plans also are order to do so, first-line managers and super-
used to guide and assist managers and su- visors must be able to respond to constant
pervisors in creating a strategy to improve change and innovation.
employee performance that is consistent,
specific, clear, and documented. It is neces- Metrics that measure the improvement
sary for UPS to identify, align, and retain di- of initiatives associated with Winning Team
verse talent in order to grow and exceed the assist the company in determining success by
competitors. comparing its progress to the planned re-
sults. These indicators ensure that the HR
UPS believes diverse people, ideas, and practices advance UPS while supporting the
points of view are critical to the success and vision found in the UPS Charter, the foun-
growth of the company. However, just having dation that guides UPS and has helped it to
a diverse workforce is not enough; people grow into one of the most admired compa-
must be able to effectively manage that di- nies in the world.
versity. Diversity training that emphasizes
qualities such as “trust,” “respect,” “relation- REFERENCE
ships,” “acceptance,” “inclusion,” “working
together,” and “team” supports the Winning United Parcel Service of America Inc. (1985). Our
partnership legacy: Jim E. Casey.

Lea Soupata, senior vice president for UPS, manages a human resources organiza-
tion that serves nearly 357,000 employees worldwide. She has been a member of the
UPS Management Committee since 1995 and a member of the UPS Board of Direc-
tors since 1998. Committed to maintaining UPS’s reputation as an employer of
choice, Soupata oversees the company’s strategy in training, developing, and retain-
ing a diverse and highly skilled workforce. Soupata serves as chair of the UPS Foun-
dation, the company’s charitable arm, and has been active in a number of community
services programs, including United Way.