USPS Leadership Promotes This Management Myth

USPS Leadership Promotes This Management Myth
By Dee Perez
NAPS Northeast Region Vice President

Often daily, you hear a USPS official remind you, whether in person, via a phone call, or during a Zoom meeting: “You are responsible for your office 24 hours, seven days a week.” And the other famous line: “You raised your hand for this.”

It’s time to dispel the first line—myth—once and for all. It is partly correct, but not in the context in which it’s being used by USPS leadership.

The first myth has no ELM reference that exists today, nor is there a handbook that mentions this reference—not even in the jobs for which you apply. However, as a responsible leader, if there’s an emergency in your building, the understanding is that, because you are the person in charge, it’s your duty to be present and understand what is happening.

I’m talking about a serious accident—a fire, crime or, God forbid, an employee or a customer suffering a life-threatening event, regardless whether there are supervisors on duty. This is your obligation.

Unfortunately, districts often use myth number one as an opportunity to take advantage through intimidation of postmasters and managers to force them to come in and oversee/work their operation on their non-scheduled days, deliver a route contrary to the NAPS and USPS agreement on how this is to be handled, oversee Amazon Sundays and attend tollgate meetings into the late evening hours until the last carrier returns, when the office has a capable EAS employee on duty.

Districts also employ various other methods, all of which are contrary to the postmaster’s and manager’s job descriptions, by instructing them to work their non-scheduled days unpaid or sending text messages every 10 minutes after their tour is over, while having a capable EAS employee closing who can do this. I’m not saying these postmasters/managers shouldn’t know what’s taking place; they should be kept informed by their closing supervisor so they have the opportunity to offer advice during a situation.

It’s criminal that MPOOs place this responsibility on the postmaster and manager, entirely disregarding and respecting the fact they already fulfilled their job commitment for the day or week to the USPS. Now they are dealing with their home life and personal issues while being disturbed by their MPOOs.

Myth number two: I don’t think anyone who is 100% honest with themselves would agree with “You raised your hand for this.” Every job and industry changes. If it remains the same in the face of technological advancements, the industry must adapt. We all can see that current mail and parcel volume are down significantly in most areas; therefore, savings are expected.

Analytics play a huge role in our survival. However, when it comes to frontline EAS employees, your job has taken on many additional responsibilities. You must be the jack of all trades. You are a vehicle expert, HR professional, Labor specialist, teacher, instructor, mentor, psychologist, counselor, investigator, retail and delivery expert and analytical deep-dive expert, among many other roles I have left out—all under one hat you wear daily.

In the early 2000s, the management catchphrase was multitasking, meaning that doing two things at once was considered the most effective way to stay current. That was 25 years ago. Today, this philosophy will not keep you current or up-to-date in your daily tasks. There’s no catchphrase associated with doing more than two things at once that relates to today’s workload. EAS positions have been assigned additional responsibilities over the years no one could have foreseen 25 years ago.

The district managers and their staffs have accepted working a seven-day, 24-hour position. Perhaps locally they want all EAS employees to be as committed above/beyond all their responsibilities because “misery loves company.” This may be the reason your leaders try to bully/threaten you into doing things you are not obligated to do.

Once your obligations to your position have been fulfilled for the day and week, your responsibilities are to your personal life—not the USPS. One thing is certain: Nobody I know raised their hands for this 24/7.