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Any DHL shareholders who watched CEO Phil Couchman attempt to infiltrate his own workforce last night in Undercover Boss (C4) were likely to have come away rather less concerned over daily blips than about the fact the head honcho appeared to know so little about his own organisation.
Phil, a gruff Aussie, who had a makeunder in order to not look out of place on the production line (not that he particularly needed one), surely couldn’t have been as green as he was portrayed.
He seemed shocked to discover that many employees were kept on casual contracts, that the drivers did not have satellite navigation systems in their vans and that grades of pay varied throughout the country.
DHL CEO Phil Couchman infiltrated his own workforce and appeared to not know much of what was happening under his nose
He had no idea that most call centres (including his own) simply pass customers from pillar to post until they eventually just give up in frustration.
Most puzzling was his open-mouthed dismay at how physical the work in the loading bays was. He runs a parcel delivery business, what was he expecting?
When Undercover Boss first started four years ago, it made for fresh, original TV. But now in its fifth series it just isn’t convincing and has become tired and predictable.
One warehouse man immediately spotted that Phil wasn’t who he said he was, but I find it hard to believe he was the only one during the ten‑day experiment.
Under Phil Couchman, DHL has grown into a business that has an £800 million turnover, commands the lion’s share of the UK’s delivery business and employs 4,500 people.
You don’t achieve that without being as sharp as a tack — and certainly not if you’re the sort of bumbling old duffer that he was portrayed as.
It simply doesn’t ring true that the companies which take part agree to do so in order to improve the lot of their workforce. Given how many times the DHL logo was flashed on screen, I suspect it’s much more to do with free advertising.
Last night’s show climaxed with a ridiculously schmaltzy ending in which Phil turned into a sort of Santa Claus figure who saved DHL.
He promised the drivers sat nav, he arranged for the loaders to have massages and the pay scales to be evened out. He even paid for Marcello, a home-sick Brazilian employee, to fly home to see his family.
Call me cynical, but surely a much better programme would be to go back and see how much of that is still in place a year down the line?
