I was in a clients distribution warehouse (huge distribution warehouse) last week which, when you stood back and detached yourself from the scene, blinked and then looked again, could easily have been a scene from a science fiction film that when watched you'd think "I hope that vision of the future never comes true".

No-one walked in the warehouse, it was the size of at least three football pitches and at least forty foot high to the roof, row upon row of storage racks reached almost to the roof and all were colour and number coded and stacked high with brown cardboard boxes - small personal electric transporters with short reach fork lift or flat bed carriers scurried to and fro each with one operator who stood at the back as if welded to the unit, following instructions from a monitor perched in front of them, larger fork lifts followed them to bring boxes down from the roof if needed.

No music played, no distractions allowed, mobile phones were banned, when you were on shift you belonged to the company and you were part of the machinery of getting the boxes into the storage unit or out of the storage unit, up to 100 employees on each of three shifts worked this way, and most bizarrely they were all controlled by a stocky little man who strutted a yellow footpath along the front edge of the shelving over-viewing everything, if he needed to speak to you he blew a football referees whistle and at the whistle everyone looked up to see if it was they that he needed to speak to, if it was then you drove your transporter to him.

It was a most bizarre scene and I've been in hundreds of such warehouses before but never one so regimented as this and the more you watched the more you watched in disbelief that no-one ever considered getting off their transporters, removing their "safety gloves" and their "safety glasses" and chinning the fat controller in one final sign-off - you won't be surprised to learn that I was there on behalf of an agency and all of the staff were theirs, I seriously doubt that any of them had anything like a permanent contract of employment.

Life in 2014...

It does raise the interesting question of whether advertising constitutes as - for want of a better expression - psychological assault.

It's easy to say, "Don't watch". But very often you aren't in control of the medium. Add then the fact that it is influencing your subconscious in ways you can neither detect nor grasp the full magnitude thereof.

One thing is for sure. Goebbels would have cut his right arm off in exchange for TV.

I've seen these types of warehouses a couple of years back, there was even a silly comedy film about it from the US some while back. In terms of picking/loading it's all very efficient, I banned the radio from all my work places, some people didn't like it, but about half were releived to be rid. As far as I'm concerned you're there to work and distractions are just that. People lose focus then they make mistakes and from mistakes means people can get hurt. Ensuring people have proper breaks was a massive thing for me, seen far too many organisations where staff just flip out/become disgruntled and/or make mistakes because they don't get proper breaks and carry on through because the work load distribution is uneven. Having somewhere nice to hang out for your break/lunch always improves things everywhere I've been and introduced it.

The only stupid thing here is the sloppy nature of addressing the staff in the wharehouse with a whistle , Information via the console as an overider direct to the person needing to be addressed is far easier or even via a headset would be far more effective and less time wasting/distracting. Blowing a whistle is just a ridiculous way to communicate in this day and age and because of what it represents/how a whistle is used (shrill dictatorial noise) it can add certain negative effects on employees & the general working environment.
Your immediate thoughts on chinning the fat controller are fairly common just because of how he addresses his staff.

Given that the overwhelming majority of radio minutes are directed towards music whose practical purpose is to drive out conscious thought (in minds capable of such), engender pathetic notions of nostalgia and "make the day go quicker..." banning it sounds like a great idea.

At the very least it might excite anaesthetised minds into leaving a job which sounds like nothing short of Victorian drudgery.

The ultimate aim of tories and kippers in their quest to "reptriate laws from Brussels"

Not surprisingly I disagree with some of the points. The whistle thing is ludicrous and contacting via the screen would be much more appropriate.

It is well known that in most cases we lag behind the very best in terms of productivity, yet when someone tries to up the anti everyone is up in arms, you can't have it both ways.

The market is very competitive driving efficiency through the supply chain is one way of improving competitive advantage. In a distribution process like that what would you expect? Replace the machines with ladders and people?

The problem with the whistle is not so much the idiot blowing it, it's his senior managers who are allowing him to act like that.

I've often visited the Mercedes Benz factories in Germany and the first surprise was seeing vending machines on the shop floor dispensing bottles of beer. When I queried it I was simply told that "it's thirsty work and they know we prohibit anyone getting drunk on the job"

A change in management attitude is usually the first thing to improving efficiency

I agree - also its management's job to ensure processes are efficient and well thought out, you need to strike the right balance in the management/employees relationship. At the end of the day the employees are paid to do a job not to socialise, that is what they do outside of the working environment

I did some contract work over an extended period at a head office for one of the big 4 mobile phone companies and they offered their staff 'free vend' on the drinks machines (Fresh tea, fresh grind coffee etc)
It worked out to 7-8 free drinks per person per day on an average 7 hour day, that's not including the ridiculously priced barista bar that was always inundated breakfast/morning break, lunch and afternoon break. I timed the 'gatherings' at the vending machines alone (because I could) and I'd say they lost at least 50 minutes just in the time to get the drinks, have a chat and walk back to their station and a couple at closer to 80 minutes.
I've worked in a fair few large blue chip/FTSE 100 organisations and it's incredibly scary how truly incompetent all levels of managament & workforces are in these companies (& how ridiculously overpaid), it beggars belief some of the stuff that goes on. No wonder this country has been in the poop for so long and will continue to be so.
I got to know a bit about the goings on at BAE Brough nr Hull and I'm not surprised it went to the wall, jesus H it was a free for all!!

What's your opinion on cig breaks? Way back in my office days it would drive me potty watching smokers saunter outside for a smoke once an hour for 10-15 minutes while the rest of us carried on slaving, and then take a full lunch hour.

One girl started taking 'fresh air' breaks and was threatened was disciplinary.

Workshy and stunk of cig smoke.