New MOUs Focus on Retention
Back in the beginning of July, the National parties released MOUs and supporting material for the New Employee Experience, Retention and Mentoring Program or (NEERMP). Ironically, the acronym is hard to say without spitting. The program was designed to address the terrible retention rate of newly hired City Carriers (CCA and PTF) and centers around three (3) Memorandum of Understanding: MOU M-01949 and MOU M- 01961 New Employee Experience and Retention Program, and M-02010 Jointly Developed Questions and Answers New Employee Experience Retention and Mentoring Program (NEERMP), along with the training materials, Power Points’ and videos.
The Idea is to provide more structure for new Carriers, more guardrails for Management to help avoid abuses of hours and scheduling. It also gives the Union an opportunity to make sure that the new Carriers are offered more love and support from their peers. The idea behind it started as pilot program during the 2019 - 2023 National Agreement and was obviously deemed successful by both parties because they signed off on the MOU. To me it is common sense. If you are not going to pay the newly hired employees more money and give them more benefits, can you at least be kind, and give them some assurances as far as scheduling?
One of the key elements of the Mentoring Program is clearly the Mentor. When the NEERMP MOU was first released to the field, there was some conversation that the Mentor need not be a Shop Steward, or an OJI. The way I interpret most of the NEERMP material; the Mentor, for most of the length of the new Carriers probation, is to be the newly hired Carriers friend and Guru. In my eyes the Mentor should defiantly have a rudimentary understanding of the M-41, the ELM and the JCAM; however most importantly you are this brand- new Carriers lifeline if he or she runs into issues that they may be reticent to ask Management or the Union about.
I think that the Mentor program is a great idea. It is a way to address a newer American workforce who is probably more intellectually evolved with a higher emotional IQ than dinosaurs like me. However, I do feel that it highlights the idea that the USPS has a lot more serious issues than not enough people are buying stamps. I am not trying to degenerate into “Pops Morelli” or wax poetic about the good old days, however if I am being honest, I do feel a little ashamed that we need MOU and contractual language to convince us to put the new hires under our wing.
Management caring about their own careers more than their Carriers is not new. But we (Letter Carriers) use to be a much more cohesive unit and more resilient to Management’s bean counting obsessive behavior. I know this is not first time I have written about this idea in a Limb article, BUT I feel the Letter Carriers used to stick together more. Most offices would Bowl, have a summer picnic at the many beautiful Long Island Parks or meet after work for a beer or three a few times a year. I have heard that most Offices don’t have an Organized Holiday Party anymore. That use to be an automatic in almost all Offices. What a shame.
I find it ironic how much of a shift there has been, with our work force, to communicate and interact within Letter Carrier groups on social media, but not in real life. I find it sad how many negative conversations there are on Face Chat amongst our Brothers and Sisters as well as we need a National MOU to assure that a New Employee have someone to reach out to for advice or help or just vent about the job to someone in their local Office. Social Media was supposed to bring people together and cell phones were supposed to increase human connectivity. I’m sorry but I do not see it that way at all.
I understand that the program offers more than just the Mentor themselves. Clearly the MOU was meant to compel Management to ease the new employee into the job without the new Letter Carrier feeling overly abused.
I feel that it can only help the workplace environment if we try harder to bridge that gap ourselves. There is no reason that Carriers can’t get together on their morning breaks to welcome the new employee. I know we all have very busy lives, but I would love to see more offices of Branch 6000 plan outside of work group activities. I know it is difficult to get along with everyone, but we need to focus on your mutual common interests, our job. If we all stick together it is extremely hard for Management to get away with breaking the rules.
According to Forbes.com:
“Team building has a bad rap. In most companies when a supervisor says, “We’re going to do some team building!” employees start re-running old episodes of The Office. It’s one thing to see it on TV but getting a real-life taste of your manager mimicking Steve Carell’s insanely-awkward-try-hard leadership style just isn’t as funny.
“Despite its reputation for being, well, lame, team building is the most important investment you can make for your people. It builds trust, mitigates conflict, encourages communication, and increases collaboration. Effective team building means more engaged employees, which is good for company culture and boosting the bottom line. It can also be adventurous and enjoyable if you do it with a little pizzazz.”
Obviously, there is a great amount of unrest in the Postal Universe right now, but that is all more the reason to seek comfort and collaboration in our brother and sister Letter Carriers. When Letter Carries get together, they can accomplish almost anything.
