CEO of $90 billion Waste Management collected garbage and attended 1 a.m. safety meetings—’It’s not always just dollars and cents’

For someone who prefers staying up late like CEO Jim Fish, getting up for safety meetings at 1 a.m. could lead to an exhausting day. However, Fish made the effort because his deceased father-in-law, a union pipefitter, advised him that regularly attending these meetings—not just occasionally—would provide valuable insights and help him connect with frontline employees.

Fish’s father-in-law was absolutely right.

“It provided tremendous value in understanding both the operations and the employees,” Fish stated. “One key lesson for me—coming from a finance background—was that success isn’t measured solely in financial terms.”

Safety serves as a fundamental pillar of Waste Management’s operations, with the company aiming to decrease its total recordable injury rate (TRIR) by 3% each year, targeting a TRIR of 2.0 by 2030. Achieving this goal would mean two recordable injuries per 100 workers annually or per 200,000 hours worked. According to its sustainability report, the company cut total injuries by 5.8% last year and reduced lost-time injuries by 2.4%.

“Investments in safety or in personnel don’t always immediately impact profitability,” Fish explained. “The benefits of safety programs typically emerge over extended periods, and while a safe work environment will ultimately reflect positively on financial statements, the results aren’t instantaneous.”

Generating $22 billion in revenue during 2024, Waste Management stands as the largest trash and recycling transfer and disposal services provider in the U.S. and Canada. The Houston-based corporation, valued at approximately $90 billion, employs over 60,000 people. At 63, Fish has led the company as CEO since November 2016, though his tenure spans two decades. Before becoming chief executive, he served as CFO, senior vice president of the eastern division, and regional VP for Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

During the first half of his CFO tenure, Fish would join crews to collect trash roughly every four to six weeks—typically whenever he attended those late-night safety sessions. Eventually, board members expressed concerns about him performing manual labor, though they approved of him accompanying workers in trucks. Currently, Fish visits approximately 20 to 30 facilities annually and rides along with drivers on five to 10 occasions. He encourages open discussion on any topic—from sports and politics to safety and compensation—primarily to stay awake during these rides.

“Drivers usually feel somewhat anxious when I join them, but after roughly ten minutes they relax and share their honest opinions,” Fish noted.

This, he explained, demonstrates why those predawn gatherings proved so beneficial, yielding insights that extended well beyond injury statistics and safety protocols.

Fish discovered the reason behind Boston’s dramatic productivity decline during winter. Initially puzzled by the seasonal variation, experiencing subzero conditions firsthand—with numb hands and feet—completely altered his perspective. What might appear as mere data variance in headquarters becomes vividly apparent and significant when navigating frozen routes where trash and recycling bins are buried in snow.

“Ice and snow on roads or frozen bins create major challenges,” Fish observed. “While it seems straightforward, this wasn’t something I truly grasped from behind a desk until I experienced field conditions directly.”

Another crucial insight emerged from observing the company’s diverse workforce and implementing minor adjustments to ensure effective communication with staff.

During a visit to a Rhode Island district where approximately 95% of residential route drivers were Puerto Rican or Dominican, Fish participated in a 1 a.m. safety meeting. The safety performance in that division was quite poor, Fish acknowledged, prompting him to investigate the cause. He realized that while most employees spoke English, Spanish was their primary language. The local manager spoke no Spanish and relied on another driver to interpret safety instructions.

Fish chose to explore promoting a bilingual candidate from within the district who aspired to management. The company advanced this individual to a driver-manager role.

“Seemingly overnight—though likely not by chance—their safety performance improved dramatically,” Fish remarked. “Critical information was getting lost in translation.”

This adjustment also countered an unintended message being conveyed to employees—that Spanish-speaking workers lacked advancement opportunities, Fish explained. The unspoken implication was that leadership would perpetually remain “a white guy like Jim,” noted Fish, who has been diligently improving his own Spanish skills.

Directly confronting this perception enhanced safety outcomes and encouraged employees to pursue roles they previously considered beyond their reach, he added. The company also brought in an instructor to teach Spanish to other staff members, enabling them to become proficient.

“Their safety record completely reversed, which I believe was no accident,” he stated. “With nothing lost in translation, drivers could no longer claim they didn’t comprehend their manager’s instructions, since they were delivered in both English and Spanish.”

The bilingual manager appointed at that location evolved into one of Waste Management’s top performers, Fish recalled. Tragically, he died of a heart attack, Fish said, though he had steadily climbed from driver to route manager, district manager, and senior district manager. He would have likely continued advancing had he not passed away. Fish mentioned the manager was also selected for an exclusive trip to the Ritz Carlton in Hawaii for the company’s top 200 employees, accompanied by his wife.

In Fish’s perspective, the company’s essence and competitive advantage lie at the vital field operations level—not in executive offices. Gaining deeper insight into the workforce and unlocking greater productivity and efficiency was best achieved by enduring those demanding predawn meetings each month during the early phase of his leadership.

“I recognize my title carries weight, but that doesn’t make me more valuable than any other employee here,” Fish asserted. “I’m not a superior worker or parent… we simply hold different positions within the organization.”