Work study at Post offices :
It is the basic need for
every Postmaster on assuming charge of the Post Office to understand
its staff , transactions , mail arrangements , area of service , volume
of mails , the people and the culture in and around the Jurisdiction .
It will provide a clear idea about what is what .
Staff
The establishment and
the working strength to be studied along with the previous statistics
about the staff that was allowed to continue in the office. A rough
calculation should be made with the available statistics ie MPCM ,
Savings Bank , accountable articles for previous 3 year period. After
satisfying yourself with the work load , the actual requirement of staff
is to be take note of.
Transaction statistics
The MPCM , SB and all
other accountable articles should be studied for a specific period say
for previous period and make a small comparison about the improvements /
decrease in the transactions. This will give you a knowledge about the
overall performance of the post office and its functions.
Mail Arrangement
Make a study on the
receipt and dispatch of mails at office and find out the suitability .
This will provide a scope of identifying number of staff required at the
receipt time and dispatch time for ordinary mails. Cross check the mail
arrangement with the office working hours and identify dead time
wherein there is a difference between receipt of bags and opening cum
processing along with the closing of bags and the dead time between
closing and dispatch of mails. This provides a opportunity to identify
and shift staff for the work and for modification of working hours
according to the mail timings.
If mail is received early and the office also commences immediately
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Check the counter service requirements ie no of staff to attend counter
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If mail is received early and the office opens after a short duration
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Check for staff requirement for the mails to be processed and modify the timings for staff accordingly
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If mails is received after opening of office
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Check the mms and mail arrangement schedules for modification and possibility to receive mails within time
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If mails received at frequent intervals ie twice in the morning
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Check the interval time
between the two arrivals if the time is short try processing together
and if there is a good gap say 1 hours. Process only the ordinary mails
first and the accountable mails together. ( you can also prepare two
list for postman ie Delivery SLIP no 1 & 2 by creating duplicate
beats for postman) There can be no restrictions on creation for the
same beat and only requirement is to send all mails received for
delivery on the same day..
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Area of service
Different post offices
have different geographical dimensions for delivery and service. Have a
study about the area within a short period of time which will help a
lot in the day to day work as a Postmaster
If the area is have a good dimensional size
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Prepare to work
according to the area requirement ie The Postman who should proceed
first , second and so on and deploy staff accordingly
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If the area does not have a good dimensional size
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Prepare a dimension your self and plan to send the postman accordingly.
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If the area is like a square or rectangle in shape
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Prepare Postman for
beats and not beats for postman. Select the postman with service
hierarchy and provide nearest square for the most senior and next to
his junior and so on.
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If the area is a butterfly type in shape
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Prepare customer wise
postman beat or location based ie. Two postman should not be allowed to
share one area . Hence one full area should be provided for one
postman . They can also be some rotation within the beats at regular
intervals.
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Volume of mails
Analyze the volume of
mails ie Ordinary mails on a day to day basis and understand variations
in the volume ie Monday will be heavier than Tuesday , and Tuesday will
be easier than Wednesday and so on This provides an understanding in how
the Postman can be controlled or used effectively in other activities
of the office ie . PLI , RPLI , Account Opening etc Accountable mails also
needs some study for analyzing the work load of the postman . The number
of bulk mails delivered by each postman and the details of such
customers to be taken note of for providing window delivery. The newly
created townships should also be studied about the requirement of
manpower for mail delivery.
People and culture
This is the most
important aspect in analyzing the functioning of a post office . Each
place has its own culture and tradition , business and profession . we
have to go thro the life of the people , especially their requirement
from Post office. This will be helpful in deciding the product to be
concentrated at the post office rather than concentrating on all the
products and services of a PO.
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
What can a Postmaster do on the following situations
Leave of staff
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Should be regulated within the office and should see that each and every staff can avail their required leave in time.
Emergency situations are exempted and upto the postmaster to decide.
Do not recommend leave
for staff for long durations for silly reasons . Just make a remark on
the leave application on your disinterest ( Instead you can request
your staff to cutshort their leave)
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Deputations
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When you have already
studied about the staff engagement for the past years and also current
requirements , the transactions , the mails , the people now you can
readily fight with the administration about the necessity on production
of the statistics . You may also communicate the authority that you
should not be held responsible for any deficiency of service at the
counter when staff are being compelled for deputations.
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Shortage of staff due to leave and deputation
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Open only those counters
where you can provide service. Ask customer to stand in a single queue
. Accept transactions on First in and First Out method . Take your
standard timing for completion of transactions . Put a notice to people
on the present day staff position of your office.
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Business development activities
At present the
Administration is highly worried about the BD products and its revenue.
It becomes inevitable to do some business for the management even though
we may be at a hectic situations. After completion of the above study
and implementation of the CRISIS management technique , one can be free
enough to identify products and services for business.
Stages for business development
When you find that there is business in mails
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Concentrate only on
mails for a period of 6 months and do not consider admin pressure and
achieve some good jumps in regd, speed , parcels bookings and record
it for you support
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Product change
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Identify the next
product ie Savings Bank and concentrate to open more number of accounts
for a period of 6 months and create a record of the same for support
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Modify supervising Techniques
Our traditional
supervising techniques needs lots of modifications and to be brought to
suit the present environment that can protect against the management ,
staff and the public
Delivery performance
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Check returns by
yourself and concentrate only on those articles returned undelivered (
Do not waste time from invoicing for supervision )
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Postman Delivery time
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See that sufficient people are attending the work to ensure the postman leaves in time
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Reporting
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Always report on all discrepancies ie misspent , misdirected , complaints etc and do not take your self into problems
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Technology problems
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Do not try to rectify it
by yourself . There are people to do their job so just report and
record it for support . Do not try to be over enthusiastic as it will
not support your job.
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Late arrival of Postman
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Modify staff timings
accordingly and make yourself convenient to supervise it after that.
Ie for office which starts from 09.00 to 05.00 make a staff to attend
from 10.00pm to 06.00pm and modify your time accordingly
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Source: Postal inspectors
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