Life Post FedEx Freight... as a Local Cryo Driver

Well... today was my first day after leaving FedEx Freight. I had some grandiose plans of making a "diary" similar to my FedEx Freight thread, but that was very railroaded once I had the chance to review and sign a much more restrictive Confidentiality Agreement and Social Media Policy.

So, since a few folks in the other thread expressed interest, I decided I'll journalize my adventures at the new company, giving as much information as I can without violating those agreements.

Today was day one, and similar to what you'd expect from large corporation onboarding setups.

• Arrive at 7:30, begin to fill out and read roughly 6 hours worth of new hire paperwork, including some pretty exhaustive security policies, much more in depth than I've typically seen over the last 3 jobs I've had in the past decade. These security controls and procedures make FedEx's internal controls look like kindergarten curriculum.
• The original plan was to belt out all of this paperwork and head out of state for an onboarding "class" tomorrow, but the inclement weather caused corporate to reschedule for a later date. My supervisor was quick to remark to me that "You know, it's not like the majority of our work force are truck drivers.", expressing his frustration with the last minute change. This was also due to (as I found out) that he was planning on my traveling to provide a buffer to allow for my information to cascade through the internal systems to begin full on computer based training when I returned to the location on Thursday morning.
• Took lunch from 12:15-1:00, returned to finish more document signing and policy review.
• Met the Safety employee that will have to travel from out of state to perform my road test, which is not a typical DOT road test. This won't be for another 6-8 weeks from now after I've done multiple weeks in the passenger seat and multiple weeks in the driver's seat AFTER I've completed computer based training. This will be a road test, in a vehicle loaded with product, examining the entire way I execute the company's prescribed process, over the course of half of the shift. It is already being ingrained in me that they don't want anything done fast, they want it done right.
• Spent time with my supervisor beginning to set up my computer and internal system credentials, including my corporate e-mail, payroll and Kronos information. One thing that was interesting during the e-mail setup was the communication with a global security certificate company to begin the validation of my identity for issuance of an e-mail signing certificate. That's very new to me to see a company institutionalizing that type of process.
• Left at 4pm, under the hopes that tomorrow my online education credentials would be active to begin the two weeks of online learning, if not, who knows how the day will go. IT told him from the beginning of the day that my credentials may take UP TO 72 hours from today to be active.

The one thing that stuck out to me during the entire day, was that I spent it's entirety with the location manager and not an hourly employee or otherwise that has a mountain of other things piling up that he'd rather prioritize. One of the PowerPoint presentations that was required for review with him was literally dissected a section at a time with him adding a lot more information from his professional experience than the slide included. It was certainly not the typical "death by PowerPoint".

 

I’d imagine that as well as the scope of genuine danger of the materials that the company hauls across the board, not just at my location which is very limited.

 

Today was spent doing one thing, and one thing only: HM126f training. 7 solid hours worth, and fortunately scored 100% on my assessment on the first attempt. I had about 47 training modules loaded to my online account today, but it was expressed to me that I was not to learn or complete any other training before completing the HM126f module, as all employees are required to be trained on it, unless you are an administrative employee working in a 100% office facility.

Biggest contrast I see between FedEx Freight and this carrier and how they handle Hazmat, is that FXF’s policies are geared toward using the absolute minimum amount of placarding, while this company fully implements permissive placarding and will require a flatbed with only one small cylinder of Oxygen to go out with a placard.

 

Had to do it when I started with FXF too. Doesn't bother me too much, full rate to sit on my duff and acquire a taste for the company Kool-Aid... oh yeeeeeah