Latiesha Suggs believes being positive helps her work relationships at the Omaha, NE, Processing and Distribution Center.
“I say ‘Hi’ to everyone I see, even if I don’t know them,” she said. “It puts a smile on their faces.”
Suggs, a mail handler who joined the Postal Service in 1995, strives to meet job expectations, and she encourages her colleagues to do the same.
“We understand what our goals and expectations are on every shift. We know what our priorities are,” she said.
Distribution Operations Supervisor Michelle Hargis appreciates Suggs’s enthusiasm and willingness to help communicate goals to the facility’s distribution clerks and mail handlers.
“She’s my right hand,” Hargis said.
The Postal Service encourages managers and supervisors to foster friendly work environments, part of the organization’s core strategy to engage, equip and empower employees. Research shows that employees who feel engaged deliver better customer service, have better attendance rates and work safer.
To get better acquainted with her colleagues, Suggs likes to talk about her hobbies, including her love of basketball and riding her Harley Davidson motorcycle.
Hargis said this kind of positive communication helps develop a family-like environment at the facility.
“We all just care about each other,” she said.
Suggs, who raised two daughters as a single mother, said she can always count on her work family for support and encouragement.
“The Postal Service has allowed me to provide for my family,” she said. “That makes me want to work hard and do a great job.”