Recently Glassdoor.com announced the winners of the second annual “Employees’ Choice Awards” for Best Places to Work.
The Top 50 were selected from more than 37,000 companies reviewed by the nearly 100,000 employees who completed a 20-question survey on Glassdoor.com in 2009. Only companies who received at least 25 votes were included on the list. The survey questions relate to employees’ attitudes about:
- Career opportunities
- Communication
- Compensation and benefits
- Employee morale, recognition and feedback
- Senior Leadership
- Work/life balance
- Fairness and respect
Loading ...Southwest came in number one with a 4.7 rating on a scale of 1 to 5. United Airlines and Gibson Guitar are at the bottom of the reviewed companies with a 1.9 rating. FedEx scored a satisfactory rating of 3.8. Neutral ratings were given to UPS (3.1) and the Postal Service (2.8).
What are your thoughts on the current workplace environment? How can it be improved?
Has the workplace environment in the Postal Service gotten better or worse over the last 10 years and why?
This topic is hosted by the OIG’s Risk Analysis Research Center (RARC).
48 Comments
Leave a Reply
If you want to make the PO a better place to work, eliminate the word “COMPLIANCE”. It has to be the most demoralizing word out there. There are more respectful ways to get the job done than through threats and micromanagement.
If it wasn’t for the pay and benefits, the PO would have a turnover rate worse than McDonald’s or Walmart. It is the only reason I stay.
Also, eliminate PFP as it stands now. I am at a level 11 office where I am lumped with all of the other 11-16 offices, who, as a group are doing lousy. Where is the incentive to do a good job when you know you are not getting a raise next year because of how other offices are doing? There is none. And when you do a good job, they raise the bar so high that you cannot reach it. Then you look terrible.
Treating us like we cannot do our jobs by making us fill out pointless reports and scans is not going to make the PS a better place to work. Treating us with respect will.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
In college the Information and Systems Analysis instructor said:
“Anything can be automated, but not everything needs to be automated.”
Automation may be faster but it sure is not as accurate. I agree that there is way too much management and micro-management from higher levels.
I gave about 2 seconds thought to going into management, no support and too easy to be let go. I never thought that unions were necessary until I started at the USPS. I believe in service first. I got 2-5 years till I retire and I’ll serve my patrons till then.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Well this looks like it could be a very good chance to tell it like it is. Than you all can reply and tell me how you think it is and than we all can sit back and keep blaming everyone and everything for the mess we all are in.
The Postal Service:
Yes Service!
No we aren’t even close to Service anymore.
The craft employees;
The good, bad and extremely lazy
The Management;
The good, bad and extremely lazy
I have seen them all folks and today we are still where we were yesterday, the sense of urgency from all employees of the Postal Service is non- existent.
We could care less about getting it done every day and making sure that the people that pay the bills (for those of you who forgot it’s the same people that use our services)…
But, we can and do tell everyone within ear shot just how bad each of us is. Day in and Day out all we do is keep telling everyone who will listen just how UNDERPAID we are, how the work environment is TOXIC, and how unfair EVERYTHING we have to do is…..
But every two weeks we all EXPECT that pay stub to show up and allow us all to pay all those bills that we have, keep the roof over our heads, put food on the table and make sure that when we want something (even when we can not really afford it) we should be able to “JUST DO IT”…………..
Will the well run dry? We all think it will just keep coming and coming………..
WAKE UP EVERYONE, GIVE THAT 8 HOURS EVERYDAY (NOT JUST ON THE DAY THAT YOU FEEL LIKE IT), TREAT EACH OTHER WITH DIGNITY AND RESPECT, QUIT COMPLAINING ALL THE TIME, HELP EACH OTHER WHEN YOU SEE OTHERS JUST NOT UP TO PAR FOR THE DAY, AND SAY THANKS TO SOMEONE ONCE IN A WHILE, BECAUSE YOU KNOW AS WELL AS I DO WE HAVE ONE OF THE BEST PAID, BENEFITS AND RETIREMENT LEFT IN THIS BIG OLD USA.
If we all would just take a look at what others don’t have, what they are not able to do anymore, and what they wish for ( just a good paying job, some benefits and OMG a retirement to count on)…………………… MAYBE JUST MAYBE WE ALL WOULD COME TO WORK EACH AND EVERYDAY TRYING TO MAKE THIS PLACE BETTER THAN WHAT CAME BEFORE US INSTEAD OF TRYING TO TEAR IT DOWN LIKE WE ARE DOING EVERYDAY..
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I would venture to say that the environment within the Postal Service has gotten much worse over the years. Constantly berated by upper management, forced by upper management to falsify scanner scans, checklist after checklist, too many “support” people who have no clue what really goes on in delivery or processing. Upper management mandates stupidity, that mid level supervisors need to impliment, making them look like idiots. Priorities are not delivery or processing related, Get Carriers back by 5 yet if 1 piece of local originating mail comes back off the street as 3M mail send a Carrier back out.
How about getting back to basics instead of crap like Mystery Shopper, IBM dropping mail in boxes, mock zero bundle. Why cant our support people drop letters in boxes or use planet code to track mail, why cant support people or other Supervisors perform mystery shopper tasks.
It just seems the Postal Service has become one big numbers game. Do whatever it takes to get “that” number lie cheat or steal, but get that number.
Its sad when employees would rather deploy to Iraq, or Afghanistan then come to work at the Post Office!!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
CURRENT MANAGEMENT MUST GO!!!!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
All we do is move the mail. Why is everything at Headquarters such a secret?
If consolidations need to take place, then get on with it! It shouldn’t take 4 or 5 years to make a decision and follow through.
This company has way too many layers of management. We’re so top heavy we’re on the verge of toppling over. The only segment of the Postal Service to grow in employee numbers in this economic downturn and mail volume decline is Headquarters. Something is fundamentally wrong with our leadership (or lack thereof). We don’t need more VPs. I think 40+ VPs is plenty for any company. Potter has got to go. He has demonstrated an inability to make a decision and get things done. AMP is a prime example.
The threats and intimidation at all levels is causing employees to dread coming to work. All we do is move mail. It shouldn’t have to be this way.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Yesterday was a great example in our office as to the current state of affairs at the post office. It was the day after a holiday, a snowstorm, not enough carriers, but plenty of managers standing around wondering why the mail didn;t get delivered. One of our managers is a 204b (letter carrier), that SHOULD have CARRIED mail yesterday, but instead he was scheduled as a manager. Why? Why do we need 2 managers managing 5 carriers?????????? This shortage of carriers resulted in a large number of customers that did not get mail yesterday in our town simply because we didn;t have the manpower to get it all delivered. Not only that, but all of the carriers were in penalty overtime which certainly doesn’t help our bottom line either. The people running the post office ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
There is no communication from management in our office. We know of upcoming changes only through rumor. Our opinions are never solicited so they make changes that don’t work and end up costing money. Our customer service is horrible. Carriers don’t have time to maintain their routes. Many, many VH and forwarding problems from frequent route changes. We had 120 clerks at one time and 3 supervisors. Now we have 43 clerks and 3 supervisors,and they work 6 days! If the PO hired honest, talented managers they wouldn’t need so many managers managing managers and we could spend the money on the front line employee that provides the service. Listen to the employees, we know how to provide service at reduced cost. The managers sitting in meetings are clueless to the reality.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Sirs, in no particular order :
1) recruit managers from the best of employees, not the worst
2) stop the repetitive wasting of money, the harrassment of employees, and the destruction or workplace morale by managers who cannot or will not adhere to the contract.
3) hold managers responsible for their negative actions as well as giving them bonuses
4) demote managers who are obviously incapable so they do not get passed up the chain as what happens now.
5) streamline management and administration; our manager to employee ratio is 1 to 8 while private business is 1 to 25. How can we live with that kind of overhead ?
6) narrow the gap between L’Enfant Plaza and the field so that national programs like C.O.R., Standardization of Cases, etc; which have not worked and hurt the carriers productivity are halted BERFORE they are spread to far.
7) ASK the employees what works and what doesn’t. We are your producers not your enemies !
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
The rank and file have, by my observation, ZERO faith in upper management’s ability to lead us forward. The micro-management of every detail has turned postmasters in to policy-passers.
Upper management wants congress to let them run the USPS like a business. A good business hires local managers to run their offices efficiently. Upper management has no clue what they are doing, and in the business world they would be out of work.
If this continues, we’re doomed.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Get rid of bad supervisors, plant managers, and postmasters. Most of them have had formal complaints filed by employees and the unions. Look at these complaints seriously and FIRE these bad apples. They are the reason there is low moral. Postal workers want to be treated with dignity and respect. Getting rid of the bad management would be a great start in improving the working conditions of all craft employees. How many law suits have to be filed? How many EEO settlements have to be made? How many grievances need to be won? Keeping the bad supervisors is so costly to the Postal Service. Why won’t anybody listen to what the workers are saying???
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
A good example of why the Postal Service’s employees moral is so low is an employee’s mother passed away and the supervisor required the employee to bring in documentation to prove his mother died in order to use HIS sick leave to bury her.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I’v worked for the post office for 15 years and this is the worst managed company I’v worked for. I’v been active military, worked for a fortune 250 company,and currently in the military reserves. I’v watched managers with EEO’s, plant evidence to write letters of warnings and get caught, dump DPS in the outgoing mails and get caught be promoted over and over. Yet the OIG seems to only go after some low affending craft employees. Maybe the OIG should start by looking at its own priorities first. Why do I stay on with the PO? Pay and benefits.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
the climate is horrible. i just retired and got my retirement certificate via priority mail and was not even signed. The place is toxic, unfriendly, and was just about the worst job I ever worked at.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I almost voted for “Employee morale, recognition, and feedback” but the real critical vote is ” senior leadership”. Absolutely everything starts with leadership. Leadership excellence leads to employee excellence which leads to satisfied customers which leads to financial results & repeat business. (Disney’s business chain from the Disney Institute). Like it or not, leadership is the key.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
The answers are all here, Management is top heavy and poor at best. Fire 3 postal supervisors and hire 1 professional manager and allow them to Manage, not micro-manage.
Get back to basics, eliminate the 12 different goals for a bonus, just use EXFC and leave it at that.
Investigate a few supervisors and managers for a change, most are fudging their numbers and commiting fraud against the USPS because they get bonuses based on those fradulent numbers.
Make supervisors responsible for the contractual violations they commit, craft employees are getting paid huge amounts because supervisors try to beat the contract rather then manage within the negotiated limits of it.
One more thing I would like to see is the OIG act on some of these blogs, we read them and respond to them but little is done about the feedback given. Starting to look like more lip service from the upper levels.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
There are a few threads running through all of these comments. The first is that the average employee cares about the Post Office. The second is that in actuality there is no business model working. It is merely upper, middle and lower management running scared. And, sadly, it appears that the only people who are responding to you are the worker bees.
Just after World War I Congress almost shut down the United States Military Academy at West Point. There had been a hazing incident and a cadet died. The Army pleaded with Congress for one last chance. They sent in a young dynamic officer to be Superintendent. He called the Corps of Cadets together and spoke to them. ” From his experience in the Great War he realized that West Point MUST CREATE LEADERS OF MEN—-NOT DRIVERS OF MEN”. We need the same.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Lots of great insightful comments. The resounding principle causes and solutions are clearly directed at USPS management throughout the hierarchy. If identification of the cause is a moot issue, why is the solution so elusive?
Respectful to the OIG, your current $239 million operating budget comes directly from the the USPS. In fiscal year 2008, as the rest of the USPS had contracted budgets, the OIG had an increased budget.
It would be naive to think that the OIG would bite the hand that feeds them.
Without true accountability with independent enforcement, the solutions will continue to elude like in the magician’s shell game.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I selected “fairness and respect” in the above survey. This would have the biggest impact on the Postal work environment. All the other choices hinge off of this. Improving fairness and respect among colleagues and management would boost employee morale, productivity, communication, and the like. For example: employees would work harder knowing that their work will be recognized and rewarded.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
When I started at the PO as a PTF I saw a clerk die on the floor and the first thing the supervisor did was punch him off the clock. Thats how low the place is.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0