Punching In: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee
Product Description:
Curious to know just what happens behind the "employees only" doors of big companies, journalist Alex Frankel embarked on an undercover reporting project to find out how some of America's well-known companies win the hearts and minds of their retail and service employees. Frankel knew the only way to find answers was to go native.
During a two-year urban adventure through the world of commerce, Frankel applied for and was hired by a half-dozen companies: he proudly wore the brown uniform of the UPS driver, folded endless stacks of T-shirts at Gap, brewed espressos for the hordes at Starbucks, interviewed (but failed to get hired) at Whole Foods, enrolled in management training at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and sold iPods at the Apple Store.
At the heart of Punching In lies Frankel's quest to find out how some of the giants of commerce turn thousands of average job applicants into loyal—even fanatical—workers. How do they identify and recruit workers who will best fit their companies? How do they indoctrinate employees into their corporate cultures and make them perfect messengers of their brands? Along the way Frankel pauses long enough to wonder why he is so often immune to corporate attempts to win employees over.
In this lively and entertaining narrative, Frankel takes readers on a personal journey into the land of front-line employees to discover why some workers are so eager to drink the corporate Kool-Aid and which companies know how to serve it up best.
Subjects: Business & Management, Job Satisfaction, Organizational Behavior In Business, Business & Economics, Business / Economics / Finance, Business/Economics, Business Life - General, General, Business & Economics / General, Social Science / General, Industrial & Organizational Psychology, Industries - Retailing, Workplace Culture, Employee loyalty, Employee motivation, Organizational commitment,
A 'decent' read but should've been 'great'
Alex Frankel's, "Punching In," is a decent to very good read for nosy folk like myself who have often wondered what it would be like to be a hourly waged worked at the likes of UPS, Starbucks, Gap, The Apple Store, etc. Frankel covers the entire process for each of the outlets he works for chronicling the application and hiring process, the minutiae of the actual workday itself and post-mortem reflections upon his inevitible resignation.
For the most part, "Punching In," is a brisk read and Frankel does a worthy job in capturing the employee atmosphere and atitudes of each of his postings and for these reasons alone the book is worthy of a 4-star review for anyone interested in the companies discussed or the thematics concerned. What would've pushed this book into 5-star territory would've been the inclusion of 2 items that were curiously lacking. First off, it would've been nice to learn the specifics of Frankel's hourly wages, what kind of perks workers are entitled to, etc. For a book that aims to be a 'fly on the wall' peek behind the curtain said omissions are puzzling. Also lacking is more insight into the lives of Frankel's co-workers who unlike him are actually in need of these monotonous and low-paying work for the sake of subsistence. Barbara Ehrenreich's, "Nickel and Dimed" is a brilliant and superior comparison to Frankel's. In the end however, this book is certainly worth a read if the material is of any interest to you.
Dry
I bought this book thinking I would get some insight into other types of jobs.
Unfortunately, this book provided very light insight. The author, while telling his story, managed to take the charm out of all his escapades. There were not cute little anecdotes, no witty storytelling, no delicious 'scoops' - absolutely no insight at all.
This book is dry - telling us the basic facts and not much else. Very little character development and no entertaining stories.
If you want to get a feel for how the other person feels - read 'Waiting' a much better story than this one.
Pass on this one.
Interesting!
I really enjoyed this book, and it caused me to look at large corporations and their hiring/training processes with a new, better-informed perspective. Though it becomes obvious which companies Mr. Frankel has a bit of disdain for and which he respects, I have to commend him on presenting a well-balanced look at all of them. I got the impression that he went into each job with an open mind and made his analysis based on honest assessments of his own experiences.
Especially interesting to me was the chapter on those silly pre-employment questionnaires you are given...I always thought you'd have to be a numskull not to "pass" them, but there's more trippy psychology to them than I had imagined.
(Oh, and I laughed out loud at his contempt for the viciously-mundane fold-and-refold cycle at GAP, having worked at a major clothing retailer myself. It truly is a thankless, endless task!)
Overall, this book was a great vicarious look into jobs we either don't want to or don't have the ability to try for ourselves.
An engaging and unauthorized look at what it's like to be a front-run employee
I've always admired the work done by UPS drivers . . . in
addition, I've always been impressed by how well
employees at Starbucks go about getting coffee
to the vast numbers of people who enter their
stores each day.
Other businesses come to mind, too, including
Gap, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Apple stores . . . they're
all covered in Alex Frankel's PUNCHING IN,
an engaging and unauthorized look at what it's like to be a front-line
employee at these various organizations in America.
Frankel went undercover to get hired by each one, then
spent time doing such tasks as folding endless T-shirts,
selling iPods and completing a management training
program . . . what really caught my attention was how
he attempted to find out how these firms then tried to turn
thousands of job applicants into new hires and eventually
loyal--even fanatical--workers.
For example, at UPS:
* . . . we were given only a brief lesson in how to treat
customers. It went something like this: If a customer is angry
at you or upset that a package has not been delivered, tell them
that you are sorry. Do not confront them or engage them.
That was one extreme . . . at Gap, things were different:
* On my first day, I had a gnawing sense of not really knowing
what to do, but I received constant advice that I needed to be
doing something. "A little secret," said one coworker. "Don't stand
around, or management will say, 'Why isn't he doing anything?' "
My first day was a blessedly abbreviated four-hour tour of duty;
I wandered around aimlessly and tried to avoid both the eyes
of my managers and the questions of customers before I was set free.
I also liked the so-called advice that others gave Frankel, including
this from a coworker at Enterprise:
* Another guy shared his own method of selling insurance to
unsuspecting customers and regaled us with stories of selling "trips":
"Dude, I'd like, rattle off a bunch of stuff and, like, totally confuse them,
and then I'd, like, say, 'So, you want full coverage?' And they're like
'Okay,' " said Allan.
Lastly, all was not so perfect for the author . . . he interviewed for
a job at Whole Foods, but did not get it . . . probably because he
had difficulty with the online application:
* The test consisted of statements and a choice of four
answers--"strongly disagree," "disagree," "agree," or "strongly
agree"--for each statement. Trying to guess which answer would
get me invited in for an interview as quite difficult. Statements bobbed
and weaved in unpredictable directions and included the basic
and the absurd:
You have confidence in yourself. Your stuff is often kind of messy. You like
to have exciting fun. It is maddening when the court lets guilty criminals go
free. There are some people you really can't stand. You are somewhat of
a thrill-seeker. You are always cheerful. You like to stir up excitement when
you are bored. It is easy for you to take advantage of others. You are not
afraid to tell someone off. You can wait patiently for along time. Realistically,
these days, companies do not expect much loyalty from employees. You
deserve to be better off than you are. You like to be alone. Slow people
make you impatient. You love to listen to people talk about themselves.
Your behavior gets out of control at times. You've done your share of trouble-
making. You think about your feelings and try to understand them. You
would rather work on a team than by yourself.
Overall, PUNCHING IN is a great book to read or give as a gift
for anybody entering the workforce . . . it will also make others
presently employed rethink the wisdom of leaving their current
job for something that often isn't as wonderful as it may look.
An Interesting Look Inside Retail America
After I finished this book, I sat down and thought about all the companies I have worked for over the years. The number was rather daunting, including jobs in college and in high school. After I figured out who I had worked for, I looked at which companies I had enjoyed working for and which I had found boring and dull. After thinking for a while, I realized that the author had hit the nail on the head perfectly with his assertion that there are employees for every company, but not every company is for all employees.
While reading the book, it quickly became apparent that there are many companies that want bodies to fill space and do menial tasks, while there are some companies who are looking for intelligent people to think and be individuals, even in the front line of retail. The authors take on what each company wanted and how they tried to get an employee to that point was fascinating. I enjoyed the inside look at the companies, and I can say that I will not look at some of these companies in the same light ever again.
