"Undercover Boss" Rolls Up Its Sleeves

(CBS)  Have you ever been so frustrated by your company's policies that you wished your boss could spend a day in your shoes?

The new CBS reality show "Undercover Boss" may give you some satisfaction.

Each week, an executive will leave his or her office and go undercover to the front lines to learn from their employees' experiences.

Larry O'Donnell, president and COO of Waste Management, joined Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith from Houston to discuss his undercover experiences.

O'Donnell, who has 45,000 employees, took on five entry-level jobs, which included: sorting trash at a recycling facility, collecting trash in a truck and by hand, working at a landfill and cleaning Port-O-Potty toilets.

At first, O'Donnell said he was reluctant to go on the show, but in the end he had some important revelations about his staff and his company as a whole.

While rolling up his sleeves to get down and dirty, O'Donnell said he was "blown away with how dedicated and hardworking" his staff is and amazed at how much pride they take in their work.

"What I took away was that everyone really loved the company and wanted me to succeed in my job," he said.

Accustomed to the presidential treatment, O'Dnnell said he found that playing the role of a new employee gave him an entirely different perspective.

And in a tough economy, he's looking at any way the company can work as a team to reduce costs and save jobs.

"We've already set about trying to make things better," he said.

"Undercover Boss" moves to its regular time slot this Sunday, with a look at Hooters President and CEO Coby G. Brooks.

[infotoxemia]

I am INFOTOXEMIA and I entered the comment that appears below this one. The hidden CBS software routines BUTCHERED my actual original wording and supplemented my original text with some text of their own choosing. I just wanted everyone to know this. Specifically, I am referring to the comment that discusses at length the episode of UNDERCOVER BOSS in which Larry and his WM corporation were featured.

The comment that appears below THIS comment asks LARRY to reply to me. Larry has still not done this. I interpret this to mean that NO ONE is monitoring anything produced on TV or maintained online by CBS, anyway. Such an interpretation is completely consistent with what the major players in Talk Radio always say about the State Controlled Media. SCM is constantly demonstrating poor numbers when it comes to viewership. The american people are fed up with being kept 'dumbed-down' and 'in-the-dark'. As a result, they are not reading the CBS forum that this comment appears within.

Maybe the Webmaster for this website should reply to this comment, just to make it look as if at least SOMEBODY in America is watching CBS, either on TV or online.

[infotoxemia]

I am INFOTOXEMIA and I entered the comment that appears below this one. The hidden CBS software routines BUTCHERED my actual original wording and supplemented my original text with some text of their own choosing. I just wanted everyone to know this. Specifically, I am referring to the comment that discusses at length the episode of UNDERCOVER BOSS in which Larry and his WM corporation were featured.

The comment that appears below THIS comment asks LARRY to reply to me. Larry has still not done this. I interpret this to mean that NO ONE is monitoring anything produced on TV or maintained online by CBS, anyway. Such an interpretation is completely consistent with what the major players in Talk Radio always say about the State Controlled Media. SCM is constantly demonstrating poor numbers when it comes to viewership. The american people are fed up with being kept 'dumbed-down' and 'in-the-dark'. As a result, they are not reading the CBS forum that this comment appears within.

Maybe the Webmaster for this website should reply to this comment, just to make it look as if at least SOMEBODY in America is watching CBS, either on TV or online.

[infotoxemia]

I wish I could have an hour with which to speak with Larry O'Donnell of Waste Management about his "take" on his employee's situations. Larry, if you are out there, please post a reply to the 'info' that I am about to present.

Since this is a 'comment section', I will get right to the point and attempt to brief. I COULD write an entire BOOK of 'comments' about this topic, but that will have to wait for some other day.

Larry, Larry, Larry...<sigh>...

Larry, after watching your Undercover Boss episode, I fervently believe that YOU NEED TO create/establish a special internal department that is dedicated to creating and implementing AUTOMATION that specifically addresses the unique industrial processes and situations that "go on" within your various Waste Management business operations. Your WM is entirely TOO FOCUSED UPON doing everything in a very 'Manual Labor' intensive manner. Trying to brief, I would specifically apply AUTOMATION to :

-- the conveyor belt operation in which you were trying to sort out cardboard at high speed. Several FANUC Robotics models with Vision systems immediately come to mind...

-- the "fetch-n-bag" thing that you were doing on that side hill on the edge of the landfill. The specific piece of automation that I envision within my imagination would not only be faster and very cost effective, but it would also allow that nice supervisor the possibility of living longer by dealing with his numerous health problems via the assistance of well designed AUTOMATION.

Here is what you want to keep in mind, Larry. No tool that is well designed for WORKPLACE situations should ever require special "technique" on the part of a human operator. Consider a common Stapler in an office. Whether someone is an Old Pro or whether they are a First Timer, anybody can use a Stapler with the same speed, facility, and quality that any Old Pro would demonstrate. On the other hand, a tool such as a 'saxophone' or even a 'trumpet' both require considerable Technique and Skill from a human operator. However, neither a 'saxophone' nor a 'trumpet' are industrial workplace tools.

Write back to me, Larry. I encourage you. I have a lot of knowledge on this topic and I can't wait to present my insights to you.

Thank you for your time.

[bob65cat]

I found this almost comical at first, until I saw Randy aka Larry O'Donnell shed tears. WM puts out a weekly bullietin in house and an article he was pictured on, I find it hard to beleive that none of the employees did not recongnize him. I wonder if any of these employees know or knew what "GREEN" actually stands for. I would love to talk to Larry about my experience with WM

[SusanStoHelit]

Gotta say - this was GOOD. Watching a corporate President empty out portapotties, wiping them down, getting fired for being too slow on one job - it was really good to see anyone willing to take that on, see some of the reality of his lower level employees.

[RoboBlogger]

Probably scripted in to make it interesting.