About Us – Employees
The ultimate change-thinker
Creativity, perseverance and understanding is what it takes
Don’t tell Annette Randall, route analyst from Plymouth, Mass., that something can’t be done. The single mother of four daughters will quickly set you straight. Promoted from dispatcher to her current role within just a few months, Randall improved countless systems with her can-do attitude. “If anyone ever tells me, ‘Oh, you’ll never get it done,’ my response is always, ‘Oh yes, I will,’” Randall says.
By studying the ins and outs of each of her duties, and by working hard to learn and understand the roles of her co-workers, Randall has cooked up a recipe for success for getting to the head of the class. From collaboration to determination, here are her top five strategies for success.
- Respect - When Randall first arrived on the job, missed trash pickups averaged between 50 and 60 each week at her Stoughton, Mass., facility. This wasn’t a number Randall was comfortable with, so she helped cut it down to three. “It was all about treating the drivers with respect,” she says. “I’d call them on the route and see how their day was going and see how I could help - they weren’t used to having that consistent treatment.”
- Ownership - “You’d swear Annette was the CEO of the company,” says Jim Clements, labor relations specialist who was Randall’s district manager in Stoughton. “It was like any money going out was coming out of her own pocket.” But that’s just Randall’s nature. “I just ask myself, ‘What would I do if this were my facility?’” she says. “I figure the more money the company makes, the more money I’ll make.”
- Determination - It used to take Randall longer than she’d like to admit to key in all of the daily route sheets for her facility. No one ever complained, as she was on target with what others had done before her, but Randall wanted to improve. “I put my mind to it and keyed and keyed and keyed until I had same-day keying,” she says. “I just wanted to do better.”
- Listening - Before Randall’s time, uniforms were not a popular item - no one was wearing them. “I wanted to know why, so I asked,” she says. “Turns out they hated them. The pants were too hot for the summer.” Randall suggested adding shorts to the uniform, and these days everyone is wearing them. “If somebody’s pants don’t fit, I say, ‘Bring them to me, I’ll get you the right size - I pretty much know everybody’s pants size now!’”
- Teamwork - For Randall, it’s not just about mastering her job; it’s about understanding everybody’s role. “I had a chance to see what the customer service reps go through on a daily basis, as well as what the drivers face out on the road, and that taught me huge respect,” she says. “Learning how everybody works only helps me in the long run.”
When Annette Randall took on the role of single mother to her four daughters (ranging in age from 4 to 19), she made it clear they could count on her. “I told my girls, ‘OK this is it, all we’ve got is each other - if you can’t count on me, you can’t count on anyone,’” she says. So it wasn’t tough for Randall to persuade the male drivers at the Stoughton facility to her way of thinking. “I needed these guys to count on me as a dispatcher,” she says. So when anyone had a question on a medical insurance form, she was there with an answer. If someone had a direct deposit problem with his paycheck, she would fix it. “I’m just looking out for them,” she says. “They’re my guys.”
