- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Collins (1 Dec 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060849665
- ISBN-13: 978-0060849665
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.7 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 655,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Punching In
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
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.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This came highly recommended. It was interesting to read of the various experiences applying and being inducted into top names within US various industries. Somehow it didnt quite meet my expectations - there wasnt the clear take-away I perhaps expected, things I could immediately try and implement in my own teams. Some details didnt seem necessary - names of others being interviewed for instance. My conclusion was that people have to believe in their organisation without being persuaded to do so!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
21 reviews
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Very enjoyable
23 Dec 2007
Format:Hardcover
About: Frankel takes jobs with several well-known companies and reports back from the front lines of customer interaction.
The first job he tackles is as a holiday season driver helper at UPS (where he's told that most do not last longer than 4 days due to the grueling amount of stuff to be delivered during this time). Fun fact: UPS is the world's 8th largest airline.Then he heads to the suit-required halls of an Enterprise Rent-a-Car where they really want customers to buy their insurance and he is told to phone competitors, posing as customer, so if say they were out of SUVs, Enterprise could hike their SUV rental prices.
After dealing with autos, it's off to the GAP where workers can only wear Gap clothing or clothing with no visible competitor markings and employees' bags searched by Loss Protection when they leave for the night. This job requires lots of folding, listening to the same music for 6-8 weeks at a time, and pressure to sell Gap credit cards to customers.
Frankel heads from clothes to coffee as he is hired as a barista at Starbucks. While you must wear either a white or black shirt with black pants or khakis while slinging coffee, they do offer health insurance to employees. Note for your next visit: Coffee Masters (who have had special training) wear black aprons instead of the green standard.
The final job takes him from black coffee to the glaring white of an Apple Store where the dress code is pretty much just the black Apple logo shirt he is given. At the Apple Store, he's encouraged to "be who you are" and the work force is only 10% female. Although employees do not work on commission, there is large emphasis on selling "extras" with each computer sale.
Frankel also attempted to get positions at Container Store where didn't get past the group interview and Home Depot where he answered some questions "wrong" on the "these questions have no wrong answers" section of the application, so the computer locked his application as it deemed him not a good fit for the place. He was also not hired at Best Buy or Whole Foods.
He provides a nice sum up at the end, stating that UPS had the most adventure, the Apple Store had a much "looser" feel than then more codified Gap, Enterprise and Starbucks, where he never felt quite at ease.
Pros: Very enjoyable read. Writing is crisp, to the point and exudes honesty. Nice balance of analysis of the companies he's working for and tales of his actual employment (the cross section of Starbucks customers he describes is a highlight). Index and endnotes are a pleasant surprise.
Cons: He doesn't explicitly say how long he worked for each company. I hope he was allowed to reveal all of the things about the companies' workings and policies that he does without getting sued.
Grade: A
The first job he tackles is as a holiday season driver helper at UPS (where he's told that most do not last longer than 4 days due to the grueling amount of stuff to be delivered during this time). Fun fact: UPS is the world's 8th largest airline.Then he heads to the suit-required halls of an Enterprise Rent-a-Car where they really want customers to buy their insurance and he is told to phone competitors, posing as customer, so if say they were out of SUVs, Enterprise could hike their SUV rental prices.
After dealing with autos, it's off to the GAP where workers can only wear Gap clothing or clothing with no visible competitor markings and employees' bags searched by Loss Protection when they leave for the night. This job requires lots of folding, listening to the same music for 6-8 weeks at a time, and pressure to sell Gap credit cards to customers.
Frankel heads from clothes to coffee as he is hired as a barista at Starbucks. While you must wear either a white or black shirt with black pants or khakis while slinging coffee, they do offer health insurance to employees. Note for your next visit: Coffee Masters (who have had special training) wear black aprons instead of the green standard.
The final job takes him from black coffee to the glaring white of an Apple Store where the dress code is pretty much just the black Apple logo shirt he is given. At the Apple Store, he's encouraged to "be who you are" and the work force is only 10% female. Although employees do not work on commission, there is large emphasis on selling "extras" with each computer sale.
Frankel also attempted to get positions at Container Store where didn't get past the group interview and Home Depot where he answered some questions "wrong" on the "these questions have no wrong answers" section of the application, so the computer locked his application as it deemed him not a good fit for the place. He was also not hired at Best Buy or Whole Foods.
He provides a nice sum up at the end, stating that UPS had the most adventure, the Apple Store had a much "looser" feel than then more codified Gap, Enterprise and Starbucks, where he never felt quite at ease.
Pros: Very enjoyable read. Writing is crisp, to the point and exudes honesty. Nice balance of analysis of the companies he's working for and tales of his actual employment (the cross section of Starbucks customers he describes is a highlight). Index and endnotes are a pleasant surprise.
Cons: He doesn't explicitly say how long he worked for each company. I hope he was allowed to reveal all of the things about the companies' workings and policies that he does without getting sued.
Grade: A
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
An Interesting Look Inside Retail America
16 Mar 2008
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
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.
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Enjoyable but not very profound
18 Dec 2007
Format:Hardcover
I was really hoping for some more interesting tidbits about the various companies. More stories would have been useful, especially about the Apple Store. In some ways it seemed like Alex ran out of energy by the time the Apple Store chapter was written. By contrast, the UPS chapter was full of good imagery and insight into what it felt like to be a UPS delivery agent. The Enterprise chapter also made me feel that I had enough information about Enterprise to know if I would like to work there or not and some clues to why the business succeeds.
All that said, this was a quick read for me and I'd recommend it especially when it comes out at the paperback price.
All that said, this was a quick read for me and I'd recommend it especially when it comes out at the paperback price.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Management > Distribution > Retail
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Management > Management Skills > Motivation
- Books > Business, Finance & Law > Reference & Education > Business Life
- Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry > Applied Psychology > Occupational & Industrial Psychology
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Psychology Textbooks
- Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
