What’s this show called … Undercover Boss?

For this week’s column, I wanted to check in with a series that I saw once before, almost nine months ago when it premiered following the Super Bowl. That’s right … it’s the corporate public image extravaganza, Undercover Boss.

The pilot wasn’t half bad, although it wasn’t particularly for me. And one or two things stuck out during my viewing experience that have stayed with me, leading me to want to check in with the series once again.

First of all, I wondered then how the bosses would continue to be able to go undercover the more publicity the show received. Second, while that first boss — Larry O’Donnell, President of Waste Management — did reach out to the employees that he came across during his experience, I doubted how feasible it was for these bosses to actually help their employees on a grander scale.

The first thing I noticed as the show began was the new recession angle incorporated into the intro. I’m not quite sure how this exercise is helping anyone gain, or keep, a job, but then again Donald Trump isn’t really lifting up the economy one apprentice at a time. So okay. But the line “They will discover the truth” that followed? Is there corporate disease at the heart of these companies that’s being uncovered? The show will do well enough as a feel-good experience; they should leave the drama on the cutting room floor.

This episode featured Steve Phelps, Chief Marketing Officer of NASCAR, undercover as the winner of an all-access pass to different NASCAR experiences. I’m not ashamed to admit that I know nothing about the sport (very unlike Ivey, who had a lot to add to the water park episode), but one thing thoroughly confused me — going in, my understanding was that cars are owned by teams, with NASCAR supplying the races, advertising, etc. Somewhere in there revenues are fed in by the racing teams, and media revenue share is fed out by the league.

So it seemed to me that Steve, undercover as Kevin, wasn’t really working for NASCAR at all. Hendrick Motorsports is its own company, Daytona International Speedway is owned by the International Speedway Corporation, the concession stands are probably owned by the venue, and tire specialists work for independently-owned racing teams. I’m sure there’s only good vibes between all of these different businesses, but working for NASCAR is a bit of an inaccurate description.

Regardless, there was something I really enjoyed about this episode. NASCAR speaks to a broader swath of this country than any other sport. And the people involved all seem to be of a unique breed, who see their sport as an event not just limited to the hours of play. Phelps should have been a little embarrassed by the need to pretend like he was only then learning how hard those jobs were, but there was something feel-good about watching him get his hands dirty first with the Hendrick pit crew, then with Daytona facility operations, and later with the tire specialists (not to knock the concession stand, but the physical demands were greater elsewhere).

It would be hard to articulate why, particularly because I saw the entire objective as a sham, but I really enjoyed this episode. My two lingering questions remain — they solved the cover story for this week, but what about for next? — but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the 44 minutes I spent with Phelps in Florida.

But I don’t see how his experience will benefit any large group of people. Dion, head of the Hendrick pit crew, has his future set, and also has the opportunity to contribute on an “industrial council” (whatever that is). But why didn’t Phelps suggest that NASCAR begin to work on an advancement schedule for pit crew members as a whole? Dion’s family is taken care of, but what about everyone else?

The hand Phelps extended to Glen, who Phelps worked with painting the motorway, was tremendous. First the autographed race helmet (only good if Glen’s son is a NASCAR fan), and then the offer to cover all medical expenses for Glen’s son with leukemia. Tremendously generous. But let me ask you this — if NASCAR’s health plan does have coverage issues that are affecting Glen, wouldn’t it be better to review the benefits offered to employees and improve them? What about everyone else dealing with out-of-pocket medical expenses?

Cindy and Tom, the volunteers running the concession stand, got money for their charity, Cindy’s daughters’ cheerleading squad. Nice. And Tom gets to go watch the championship race, all expenses paid. But what does that do for concession stand workers? What did Steve learn from that experience? I couldn’t tell you.

Scott the tire specialist got him and his crew tickets for their families to come to a race. Again, great for them, but what about the policy that allows corporate NASCAR to take away crew freebie tickets and give them to sponsors? What about the other crews on all the other teams?

I’m not knocking the generosity, but the localized nature of all of these offerings actually goes against the stated purpose of the show, which is to improve the company and employee experience for the better. If insufficient health care is a major concern (I don’t know if it is; I’m just saying), Glen getting hooked up does nothing to combat that. All it says is that the powers-that-be behind the show did their research well before helping Phelps choose his assignments.

I enjoyed the undercover portion of the episode a lot, but as far as how it translates to the premise of the show? I’m still not getting how this is any more than free publicity.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Nov 01, 2010 @ 14:30 EST5EDT