What types of orientation for new employees should direct supervisors provide at the work site? Carol Burgess is a letter carrier and a part-time trainer of letter carriers for the U.S. Postal Service in a major city on the west coast. She trains all new letter carriers in her service area, which encompasses the northern half of her state. Over the past five years she has trained 318 new letter carriers. Typically, the training is offered prior to the new letter carrier’s entry onto the job, although sometimes it occurs shortly thereafter. The training program typically encompasses both the orientation of new employees to the U.S. Postal Service and the development of specific skills needed by the new letter carrier. The latter involves practice in casing mail (i.e., sorting) to appropriate locations of a case in preparation for delivery, reading maps, determining appropriate sequencing of delivery, and customer relations. The total training program takes three full days (one day of orientation and two days of skills training). The orientation part of the training program encompasses both an orientation packet and a discussion of various Postal Service policies and procedures. The orientation packet typically includes information about employee benefits, holidays, copies of certain standard forms (i.e., IRS withholding forms), outline of emergency and accident procedures, key terms used in the U.S. Postal Service, copies of the health and life insurance options, and telephone numbers and locations of the personnel department and other important offices. In addition, an explanation of the U.S. Postal Service operation and purpose is provided. This explanation includes the training to be received, the letter carrier’s duties and responsibilities, job standards and expected production levels, Postal Service rules and regulations, and the chain of command for reporting purposes are also provided. Burgess concludes her orientation with an offer of help and encouragement for the future. The assumption built into the orientation is that it will be supplemented at the job site by the direct supervisor who will provide all the necessary information about the particular facility, the personnel at the facility, the area covered by the route or routes to which the new employee will be assigned, and the additional written information such as the employee handbook and the union contract. According to Postal Service policy, each new letter carrier should get three days of on-the-job training, of which one is paid for by the training division and two are charged to the supervisor’s production. Burgess learned from subsequent conversations with her former trainees over the past five years that the orientation provided by the direct supervisor varied from practically nothing to fairly extensive. In some stations, the supervisor greeted the new employee, introduced the person to one other employee, and explained their own expectations regarding attendance, personal conduct, and productivity. Then, the employee was given an assignment and allowed to “sink or swim.” Several supervisors were known in the Postal Service to be “SOBs.” While 83 percent of new hires have survived their probationary 90-day period over the past three years, less than 20 percent survived in certain stations. Last night Burgess received a telephone call from Edith Jones, one of her former trainees who finished training ten weeks ago. Jones is a single parent with two school-age children who had left her job as a secretary and taken the letter carrier job in order to make more money. Jones was in tears as she described her experience at her station. Her supervisor had given her no written materials, introduced her to only one other employee, and has shifted her from route to route over the ten weeks she has worked at the facility. No help or support of any kind has been offered, but the supervisor has continually berated her for the number of hours she has taken to case and deliver routes. She had tried to study maps during her days off in order to learn the various areas covered by various routes, but this only helped a little. Each route had to be delivered in a particular order and it took time to learn the sequence. The other letter carriers were all stressed and working overtime themselves. Consequently, they ignored her and offered no assistance. Jones told Burgess that she was on the verge of quitting. Burgess told her to hang in there because it does get easier with time.” As a result of all the complaints she had received from former trainees (some of whom survived the 90- day probationary period), Burgess decided to recommend to the area postmaster a program to train supervisors as to how to orient new letter carriers. However, she was not sure what specific items the supervisors should include in their new employee orientation and how to train them.
What types of orientation for new employees should direct supervisors provide at the work site?
Carol Burgess is a letter carrier and a part-time trainer of letter carriers for the U.S. Postal Service in a major city on the west coast. She trains all new letter carriers in her service area, which encompasses the northern half of her state. Over the past five years she has trained 318 new letter carriers. Typically,
the training is offered prior to the new letter carrier’s entry onto the job, although sometimes it occurs shortly thereafter.
The training program typically encompasses both the orientation of new employees to the U.S. Postal Service and the development of specific skills needed by the new letter carrier. The latter involves practice in casing mail (i.e., sorting) to appropriate locations of a case in preparation for delivery,
reading maps, determining appropriate sequencing of delivery, and customer relations. The total training program takes three full days (one day of orientation and two days of skills training). The orientation part of the training program encompasses both an orientation packet and a discussion
of various Postal Service policies and procedures. The orientation packet typically includes information about employee benefits, holidays, copies of certain standard forms (i.e., IRS withholding forms), outline of emergency and accident procedures, key terms used in the U.S. Postal Service, copies of the health and life insurance options, and telephone numbers and locations of the personnel department and other important offices. In addition, an explanation of the U.S. Postal Service operation and purpose is provided. This explanation includes the training to be received, the letter carrier’s duties and
responsibilities, job standards and expected production levels, Postal Service rules and regulations, and the chain of command for reporting purposes are also provided. Burgess concludes her orientation with an offer of help and encouragement for the future. The assumption built into the orientation is that it will be supplemented at the job site by the direct supervisor who will provide all the necessary information about the particular facility, the personnel at
the facility, the area covered by the route or routes to which the new employee will be assigned, and the additional written information such as the employee handbook and the union contract. According to Postal Service policy, each new letter carrier should get three days of on-the-job training, of which one is
paid for by the training division and two are charged to the supervisor’s production. Burgess learned from subsequent conversations with her former trainees over the past five years that the orientation provided by the direct supervisor varied from practically nothing to fairly extensive. In some stations,
the supervisor greeted the new employee, introduced the person to one other employee, and explained their own expectations regarding attendance, personal conduct, and productivity. Then, the employee was given an assignment and allowed to “sink or swim.” Several supervisors were known in the Postal Service to be “SOBs.” While 83 percent of new hires have survived their probationary 90-day period over the past three years, less than 20 percent survived in certain stations. Last night Burgess received a telephone call from Edith Jones, one of her former trainees who finished training ten weeks ago. Jones is a single parent with two school-age children who had left her job as a secretary and taken the letter carrier job in order to make more money. Jones was in tears as she described her experience at her station. Her supervisor had given her no written materials, introduced her to only one other employee, and has shifted her from route to route over the ten weeks she has
worked at the facility. No help or support of any kind has been offered, but the supervisor has continually berated her for the number of hours she has taken to case and deliver routes. She had tried to study maps during her days off in order to learn the various areas covered by various routes, but this only helped a little. Each route had to be delivered in a particular order and it took time to learn the sequence. The other letter carriers were all stressed and working overtime themselves. Consequently, they ignored her and offered no assistance. Jones told Burgess that she was on the verge of quitting. Burgess told her to hang in there because it does get easier with time.”
As a result of all the complaints she had received from former trainees (some of whom survived the 90- day probationary period), Burgess decided to recommend to the area postmaster a program to train supervisors as to how to orient new letter carriers. However, she was not sure what specific items the
supervisors should include in their new employee orientation and how to train them.
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