Jeanine Adams sees the Postal Pulse as an important management tool.
She uses the employee survey to measure her ongoing efforts to improve morale at the Bridgeville, PA, Post Office, where she became Postmaster in 2015.
“It’s not enough to manage employees. You have to show you care about them, too,” Adams says.
For example, soon after stepping into the Postmaster job, Adams began holding daily meetings near her office’s time clock, where she reviews the previous day’s work, previews the work ahead and recognizes employees who are celebrating a birthday or another milestone.
The survey results show Adams’ efforts are paying off: Bridgeville has the nation’s most improved Postal Pulse “grand mean score” — the average response on all questions — since the survey began in 2015.
The team’s score on the Postal Pulse reached 4.67 out of 5 last year, up from 1.9 in 2015.
To help other managers improve Postal Pulse participation, Adams offers three tips:
• Communicate with employees. “Talk to your people. Don’t just tell them that they need to do it, but tell them the ‘why’ so they can understand the importance,” she says.
• Put the Postal Pulse survey in perspective. “I tell my employees that this is an evaluation of me, not the organization as a whole, but my facility under my watch.”
• Keep your eye on the prize. “I like being No. 1. It feels good to be No. 1. When you improve, take it back to the floor. It gives people a sense of being part of a team.”
Bridgeville’s goal for the latest survey, now underway through June 14, is a score of 5.0.
“We are in this together,” Adams says. “I’m like a band director. If we can be happy and content doing our jobs, it makes our jobs a lot easier.”
“Best Practices,” a series on employees who demonstrate on-the-job excellence, appears regularly in Link.