| Thursday, November 03, 2005 |
| Bureaucracy |
I received an email today that stated that all salary employees have to turn in one cost reduction idea annually. Mine is due December 15.
One thing that I have noticed since I began at ARC Automotive is the amount food that passes by my desk. It seems that every other day the company is holding a luncheon meeting for employees. So, I thought surely that I could recommend reducing some of those costs.
My mission started with my team. I asked if it had been tried before and with what affect. They said that I would meet immediate resistance. Apparently, HR and Quality love their free weekly lunches. My team was of no help and little encouragement.
I called Tena is accounting and asked for some budget numbers and year-to-date expenses for food. She immediately caught wind of my idea and avoided any details. She even said that she'd call me back. It's been 3 days and I'm still waiting.
So I emailed the plant manager's assistant. She is quitting on Friday so I figured she'd freely give the average weekly food expenses. Nope. She balked at putting it in writing. She stopped by my desk and whispered it: $400 per week.
$400 times 48 weeks is $19,200 in a year. Food is 50% deductible according to the IRS. So, ARC Automotive spends about $10,000 a year in food (not counting travel or sales meetings). If you cut out all luncheon-meetings, the savings is obvious. But all I recommended was to cut it in half for an annual savings of $5,000.
I put my plan in writing and my supervisor denied it. He said that we'd make too many enemies. He also said that the cost reduction would be a "slap in the plant manager's face." The luncheon-meetings are his idea.
I met resistance all the way from my co-workers to the accounting department, from the boss's assistant to my very own supervisor. What's next? Will I find a horse's head in bed with me tomorrow morning? Come to think of it, my computer has been acting up. Maybe they've tapped all communication from this cubicle. Who are those men in sunglasses and suits...? |
posted by Joe Napalm @ 5:51 PM   |
|
| 3 Comments: |
-
It appears that they were not hungry for your idea? You need to read my latest book, Ten reasons to never ever ever suggest cutting corporate lunches even if it means saving the company big $$$,
You should be able to find it on Amazon.
-
These people are smoking something! But what did you expect; you cannot spell 'bureaucracy' without 'crac'.
-
Chin up! You'll think of something, after all, your smart enough, your good enough, and dadgumit, people like you. If not, you can make it up to them by buying them lunch or something.
|
| |
| << Home |
| |
|
|
|
|
It appears that they were not hungry for your idea? You need to read my latest book, Ten reasons to never ever ever suggest cutting corporate lunches even if it means saving the company big $$$,
You should be able to find it on Amazon.