It's Time to Build the Bench Again

It’s Time to Build the Bench Again
By Kevin Moore
Postmaster of Toccoa, GA, and Member of North Georgia District Branch 595

Jan. 7 was a big day for me; it marked my 30th year with the Postal Service. The sad part is I didn’t think about that day until three days after the fact. I look back on how things have changed and evolved.

We didn’t have DPS. LLVs were relatively new when I started. The LLVs at my office are celebrating their 38th year with the Postal Service.

There is one thing that sticks out to me more than any other thought —the postmaster who hired me. He was tough; I really didn’t think I was going to make it out of my 90 days. He saw my potential, though, and taught me how to run an office.

One of my proudest moments was at the end of my first year when he told me I had learned more in one year than any employee with whom he ever worked. He said, “You’ll be a Postmaster someday.” And I am.

I haven’t spoken to him in years, but I owe him many thanks for pouring effort into my career development. I have tried to implement that same style and attitude into the supervisors I have managed. It seems to be working.

I just lost a supervisor as she was promoted to a postmaster position. She makes the third supervisor I’ve worked with who was promoted. She was a supervisor when I started at my office.

I remember my boss telling me she wasn’t a good supervisor and I never would be able to take leave because she couldn’t handle the office by herself. After working with her for a few days, I saw what the issue was.

No one had spent time with her to show her what to do or how to handle situations that occur throughout the day. Her previous boss talked at her—not to her. Initially, we had our struggles with late-returning carriers, callouts and employees who hated to come to work.

We formed a great line of communication and talked about how or what we could have done better or differently. We poured our effort into our employees and they saw that we cared not for just the Postal Service, but for them, as well. The morale improved greatly and callouts diminished (unfortunately, they didn’t stop altogether).

The employees started taking pride in their jobs. Many would come up to me and say, “I used to dread coming to work, but now I enjoy my job.” As postmasters and supervisors, we have so much on our plates that we often overlook the small stuff. Well, I’ve found that taking care of the small stuff benefits all of us.

So, postmasters, take time to communicate and build up your supervisors. And supervisors, work on building that relationship with your postmaster. It benefits both of you and will lead to a better office with less stress.

We recently had a training class in my district called 511. It basically was about how to better train your new-generation employees and try to retain them. Overall, the class was talking about craft employees, but it definitely applies to EAS employees, as well.

In the end, I’m happy for my latest supervisor getting promoted. But, at the same time, I’m thinking I have to start over and build a bench again. I have two years left if they don’t take away our FERS supplement.

I will have to decide at that time whether I want to continue to build benches or go sit on one. Sitting on a bench sounds pretty relaxing right now!