Advice Needed Really?

[chris68]

I have a situation on my mind I wanted to share and get some input from others on.

OK we had a Secretarial group meeting a few months back and it came out that a certain Manager made one of them feel pressured into sorting the mail as they were standing there waiting for it to be done (the manager) and it wasn't this persons week to do so (as it turns out it was mine).  Anyway, it came out shortly after in a meeting that it made this person feel forced into sorting the mail and made her feel uncomfortable.  OK noted.  I've since spoke up to my boss about it who nicely pointed out that as a Supervisor it is his responsibility to walk around the building and watch his departments to ensure they are working.  OK point noted, but accessively.  

Two things were done incorrectly here and I don't know how to rectify them as I'm fairly good friends with the other person involved.  It was pointed out to me by my boss that I should not have been brought into the middle of it nor into the group memeting, it should have been brought to that persons attention if it bothered them that much.  Second, I now feel obligated to tell that Manager how this other person feels.  This person in no way reports to this other person at all, but the mail sorting has become an issue now that it is left up to the Administrative staff instead of our Receptionist who we had to let go on a layoff situation.  It just all came about very badly and we had a huge meeting yesterday in our department and I didn't feel it the place to bring up that topic in front of our entire staff and those that it involved were not in the meeting due to proposal deadline.

Whew...any advice would be greatly appreciated, and if any questions, I'll be glad to clarify.  Mountains out of mole hills if you as me, personally.

[gee4]

Type up a rota for this task and post it somewhere in reception.

When it's not your turn or someone is off sick or on holiday, a back up should automatically know to check this.

We have a rota for fire marshalls but of course someone is always on leave or off sick.  We all just act as if it's our turn and when the alarm goes off we follow our drill and procedure.

As for what you should do, apologise to the person who ended up having to do the mail when it was actually your week.  Secondly notify the manager who complained that it was a misunderstanding, and inform them that you now have a rota/procedure in place.

G

[countrigal]

Or you can apologise to your friend, but make a general message/announcement to all Supervisor's/staff regarding the new procedure for handling incoming mail.  Put it in writing that it is now on a rotary basis, and that a schedule will be posted in a common area for everyone's review, so that everyone will know who will be sorting mail when.

I think that this does 2 things.  1) it allows you to repair the relationship between you and your friend.  2) it allows you to address the mail issue without singling out any one Supervisor, thereby ensuring that your friend's complaints don't get associated with this memo (or at least it's less likely to).  Plus it really isn't your place to correct this Supervisor, and any contact between you and him/her may be seen as you trying to correct him/her in the handling of both the mail and an employee.


CountriGal
Peer Moderator

[chris68]

Forgot to mention, this Manager had the schedule for that month already in possesion by yours truly.  It was a matter of the mail coming in and not getting sorted quick enough.

[bethalize]

So he's saying is that the mail is a priority and has to be done by a certain time? That seems reasonable to me from an over-all point of view because the delay of mail distribution causes a cascade of delays.

I suggest that you create an operational policy on how this will be done with times and make sure everyone agress it, including the people the admin reports to. Set out statements so people can see how they might affect their own day-to-day work.

1. The sorting of mail must be done immediately/by 9.30am every morning by the responsible person.
2. The responsibility for mail sorting will be assigned to admins on an equal rotational basis.
3. In event of any person not being able to fulfill their mail duty, the task moves to the next person on the rota until the first person is able to return to the duty.

It's important that the people you report to understand that this is what will happen so that if your boss has an emergency (or even wants his coffee and danish fetching ) he will know that he will have to wait twenty minutes for your attention. Otherwise all bosses will start pulling rank and demanding that their admin is exempt because they themselves are too important (which is rarely true).

HTH

Bethalize
Peer Moderator

[chris68]

I agree with ya bethalize, however, our mail is on a rural route still and can come literally anytime between 8:30am and 2:00pm, so I really understand where this persons frustration comes from and respect it.  However,  I do believe this other person is making a mountain out of a mole hill cause I sorted the mail for her this week out of the kindness of my heart as it was sitting there in the tote for over a half hour.  If this is what this Manager is seeing I don't blame him for being ticked off.  Every reason to be, however, I'm not in charge of this operation since our Receptionist left and this other person doesn't seem to be addressing the problem or realize there is a problem to that extent.  She's aware of this persons feelings and wanted me to step in, which I refuse to.  Our culture is such that if you have a problem with that person your supposed to be comfortable enough to approach that person and talk to them directly.  I don't see that happening here.