Are we ready for work? Hello again, Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. We\u2019ll have Joe joining us a bit later in the program today and we\u2019d like to talk about being Ready or Prepared for work each day.
\n We work in the Warehousing, Transportation and Operations fields, It can be Hot during the Summer, sticky and humid and Cold during the winter and maybe we work in Cooler vaults or Freezer environments, lol we may even have a position where we could be in all three environments throughout the course of our shifts!
\nI feel we handle these circumstances or situations much better if we\u2019re prepared for them.
\nWe may have day positions or deep night shifts, really anything in between. Certainly not unique to our industry but Operations shifts may be long too, in the distribution arena the task of selection and loading isn\u2019t through until that last case is loaded for delivery. I\u2019ve interviewed candidates before, gave them the shift start time of like 6 till finish and I\u2019m always asked if that\u2019s eight hours or ten hours, Try explaining what till finished means, 6 to 8 to 10 or as much as 14, just till finished! Production facilities can be exactly the same, manufacturing can hold true as well, and transportation, transportation is a beast of its own, right?
\nThere\u2019s differences in working a day shift and the night shifts, there should be differences in how we approach or prepare for them as well. Myself I love the 3rd shift, being one that never required the full 8 hours of sleep it fit me well, the 2nd shift was a good fit for me as well. I find these two shifts are great for saving money, you\u2019re working during those disposable income hours, also, or at least in some of the distribution centers the weekend comes earlier, many 3rd shifts select and load Sunday through Thursday so deliveries are rolling Monday through Friday. I found another great thing is, you come in, know the piece count, get it done and go home, you don\u2019t have to worry about forgetting to do anything really, just come back the next night and start over again. There especially great for the single man or woman, I mean we have a lot of unconventional freedoms like when we want to sleep, we can get off and go straight to bed or we can stay up a while, take care of errands or socialize on the schedule we want too. I use to get off, go to bed for my 6 hours and get up early afternoon, while others would stay up in the mornings, get their day done and wake up like an hour before work. Like I said I loved those shifts, and we\u2019ll be talking a lot more about the night shifts a bit later, there really important should we have aspirations of Management in the Operations world.
\nOf course when most people think of a job I think our first thought has to be the 8 to 5 thing, Operations is 24/7 and really 365. Don\u2019t get me wrong, there\u2019s tons of positions in our field that are day jobs, and there\u2019s equal opportunities on all shifts. Many times the 2nd & 3rd shift may come with a differential of some kind or outright pay more hourly as well. In our Distribution worlds we\u2019re going to find that a bit of experience on the night shifts are typically going to be a prerequisite to most positions of upper management. It\u2019s going to be important that we have a thorough knowledge of how each shift works, what it takes to make it happen and how the employees do their jobs.
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\nThe Nightshift can be a bit rough on Families or young children if we approach it as just another job. Our sleeping is of course upside down most of the time but other things like our eating can be affected as well. I always just eat by the clock, another words I have typical breakfast foods during morning hours, I always try and have a good lunch but a light lunch when I\u2019m working nights and then I\u2019ll have dinner foods in the evening. I know a lot of men and women that eat by the meal or breakfast foods just before going into...