A Changing U.S. Postal Service Workplace
By Ronald Williams for Postal Employee Network

There are many unexpected and proposed changes on the plate of the U.S. Postal Service right now. Initiatives to control costs, cut work-hours, match employees with workloads, cut delivery days, declining mail volumes, new technology and more…

I recently read an article online that talked about comedian, entertainer Bill Cosby becoming an honorary chief petty officer, U.S. Navy. At his acceptance speech he told a story of his boot camp days, recalling how the recruit training company commander was often screaming in face and he didn’t like it. He wrote home and told his mom about it and she eventually wrote a letter to the company commander. The company commander called Bill into the office and showed him the letter while pointing to the verbiage where his mom directed the company commander to “continue doing what you are doing.” His face was shocked!

Inside the Postal Service it seems when employees have ideas or issues, and you know what they say about issues (it’s you) no one at USPS in a leadership position wants to listen. Like the Cosby story, if a boss receives a complaint or suggestion their inaction implies that the perpetrator should continue doing what they are doing like we are in a boot camp.

For the last several years I’ve been undercover as a postal employee (Laugh-out-loud). I’m not a professional writer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. I’ve tried the IG Hotline for situations that I know impede the flow of mail operations, and all you get is a postcard in the mail that basically says “thank you for your correspondence.” The EEO system is a venue for poor race relations and/or when an individual feels intentionally treated different. It seems that the end result is designed to separate you from your wallet, and nothing changes as a result of the complaint, and the cycle repeats itself. Elected officials appear to be more concerned only with huge numbers of votes, or correspondence rather than responding to individual constituents. I heard one professional speaker say that politics can be broken down like this, “poly means many, and tick means blood sucking creature.”

The National Labor Relations Board is a great external resource for information regarding unions or management. The Postmaster General will never receive correspondence from employees because it will be intercepted by someone who feels it is their job to say “no” and they will send it right back to where the problem originated for continued simmering. Local management is very unfriendly to the complaint process, and perceives them personally as a sign of weakness. If you are a believer then you would acknowledge that complaints are an opportunity to do things better. The President of the United States will receive correspondence and if you are lucky you will receive a collectible and frame-able reply on White House letterhead. These courteous folks in his administration will also actually forward your response to the appropriate people that need to respond, and they will, wow! It’s almost like the Verizon Wireless commercial, “can you hear me now.”

I said all that to tell you that the U.S. Postal system for employee feedback is an “iceberg” and this is only the tip. There is a stereotype about men that says we don’t like to pull over and ask for directions. I do! But I am always redirected back to the starting point like a malfunctioning GPS. As an individual I find it extremely hard to get results, but I believe there is strength in numbers and with competent leaders in front of unions, and management we should be able to get anything intelligently, and peacefully to win-win conflict resolution.

With all the changes and disruption going on these days it seems the most common term tossed around on the workroom floor is “Just be lucky you have a job.” This is true, but in the context that it is directed from the mouths of managers, union leaders, and then regurgitated by other employees it can be deemed offensive, and perceived as a veiled threat. It implies that having an opinion, idea, or feelings is inconsistent with citizenship, or postal employment. That quoted comment is designed to pull people down rather than lift them up.

We need to change our working mentality from the park your car, park your brain type of thinking. It suggests that people are unimportant and all the employer wants is a warm body. That ineffective business model won’t help us better compete for national or global business. We are in a changing workplace and people are different in opinions, social status, national origin, cultural backgrounds, sexual orientation, and gender. We truly need diversity to be our strength to keep USPS afloat. I always say that P&DC does not mean personality distribution center. The “P” is for processing. The procedures for the way we process and distribute mail will be around a lot longer than any one individual (Curly, Larry, Moe etc.) and the process is what we should be constantly focusing on like a laser to improve.

On a final note I wish our leaders would sincerely engage employees beyond a printed or posted mission statement with principles that are not institutionalized. You and I have to become proactive about turning the entire Postal Service into the highest performance work organization. We need to focus on talent and stop looking to titles for the answers. This includes everyone from the newest employee all the way to the ivory towers. Management has to believe that the workers in the trenches can contribute more than labor, and stop the “Just throw the mail on the belt” robotic announcements. That devalues the same human resources this agency hired to help deliver greatness. Union leaders must change their mindset to organize the people they represent in “team leader” mode to find ways to discuss impacts on production with the managers and show them why union jobs pay more money. This entire culture needs to get in tune with the strength of unity, a core value of commitment, ability as a foundation to competency, and creativity to have fun doing everything we do.

I’ll sign off with this:

The honorable Colin Powell as a motivational speaker told the story of how he loves New York hotdogs. When he was Secretary of State he stayed at a prestigious NYC hotel and decided he wanted to step out to go up the street to get a hot dog. He said the mayor had police cars following him along the street as he was walking, and a Secret Service detail was closely behind him. As he got closer to the hot dog stand the vendor saw him and all the activity surrounding him and screamed out “I got my Green card.” Everyone cracked up laughing. With all the changes coming and going inside the U.S. Postal Service many employees who see this career as their only livelihood might get the wrong message too about what is going on. It is important to keep the lines of communication open because appearances can be interpreted in many different ways.

Ronald Williams