How Would You Like Me to Proceed?

How Would You Like Me to Proceed?
By Richard Green
NAPS Eastern Region Vice President

While traveling around the country and listening to the concerns of supervisors, one issue has become prevalent. Our supervisors are expected to provide leadership and expectations for the employees who work for them, but can’t seem to get the same considerations from their superiors.

The supervisory ranks are under-staffed and overworked. They are asked to do more work than can be completed in an eight-hour day and are being asked by some bosses to not leave until the work is done, yet not being paid for the extra hours worked.

USPS regulations are in place to pay supervisors for every hour of work; no one should be forced to work and not receive pay. If you are being pressured by your superior to work off the clock, please notify your local NAPS branch immediately for assistance.

So let me describe what this looks like and what it means. Here’s the scenario:

A supervisor reports to work at 6 a.m. in their delivery unit and starts the day by providing clear instructions to the team. Volume is counted, reports are completed and the supervisor is prepared to receive the carriers scheduled to work on the day. Carriers are greeted, given instructions for the day — everything is in place for a successful day.

Mail is called up and carriers have finalized casing and are pulling down their routes to depart for the street. The window opens and everything is going smoothly. Then, it happens.

The teleconferences start. Someone from the district calls needing something yesterday and the station manager wants you to go on the street to conduct street supervision on a problem carrier. The window operation is out of control, the manager has been called to the postmaster’s office for a meeting and you are alone in the unit.

You receive a call from the manager reminding you that you must go to the street to conduct supervision of the under-performing carrier. You let your clerks know you are headed out of the office and will return as soon as you can. If this sounds familiar, welcome to the world of Customer Service supervisors.

Let’s get back to our scenario. You have completed the street supervision as instructed. You were able to correct some deficiencies with the problem carrier and, based on the constructive feedback you provided and the way it was received, you expect to see improved performance moving forward.

You are feeling pretty good about the day and grab lunch and return to the office at 2 p.m. You still have three hours of duties to complete. You are scheduled to end your shift at 3 p.m., yet your manager is telling you no T-time! What do you do?

This is the challenge our supervisors are facing across the country. I suggest you handle the issue this way:

When you have more work than time to complete, send your manager an email providing them a detailed explanation of what you have completed and what you were assigned for the day. Remind them of the instructions you were given and how much time it took to complete them.

Let them know what is left to be completed and how much time you project it will take to finalize the assignments you were not able to finish that day. Ask your manager how they would like you to proceed.

If your manager responds, “Follow the instructions,” proceed — as long as they are ethical and professionally sound. If the instructions are not ethical and professionally sound, follow them and contact your NAPS representative immediately to grieve the situation.

If you receive no response, when your end of tour time arrives, go home. You were not approved to work the additional time needed to complete the tasks about which you notified your manager.

Management should be willing to communicate their expectations with you; there should be an open line of communication to ensure you are able to complete the work assigned to you every day. As supervisors, you are expected to provide daily instructions to your employees to complete the scheduled work for the day.

NAPS believes you should be able to expect the same consideration from your supervisors. We should expect no less!

Leading into the future.