Russian Post - causes of problems from within
A few days ago I communicated with a person working in a non-final position in one of the EMS branches of Russian Post, and taking advantage of the moment, I asked a question about the reasons for the delay in mailings.
The reasons are simple and banal, like everyone else in Russia. But I think it is worthwhile to talk about some of the details of the work of the post and the latest events in more detail. The habrasoobshchestvo (as well as all people using mail) it deserved.
The story does not claim to be complete, but some points can bring clarity to the situation.
The problem, as mentioned above, is simple - the organization’s completely ill-conceived policy in the use of financial resources.
Somewhere around the new year, the Russian Post, already experiencing some financial problems, which is why many branches simply do not receive enough money to create normal working conditions and hire a sufficient number of employees, organizes the Miss Post of Russia contest.
')
Everything would be fine if it was just a fun event, designed to slightly support the necessary atmosphere in the team of the Post and its individual branches as a whole. But the situation was somewhat different. Several million rubles were allocated for organizing the competition (Mail and EMS simply do not have the means to buy heaters for the winter in the regional center office - people are freezing, half of the state went to hospital sickness, some 2 thousand rubles the management cannot allocate pair of heaters). One way or another, Mail employees, managers, directors of branches, specialists, etc., organized the competition (I don’t have an exact list, but this is not only the director and the Moscow management). In addition to the millions of costs for the competition, the organizers were issued no less impressive awards (yeah, a heater problem, and several hundred thousand awards to the one who helped organize the competition - no). That is, for all the lack of money, the Post management manages to spend millions on completely unnecessary things. And this is just one event. And how much more money goes into the void?
Naturally, at a certain point after such waste, the money problem became more acute. People began to reduce wages, while the load, the volume of work has increased significantly. Naturally, this did not suit many - a significant outflow of personnel appeared. Even in Moscow, there was a problem with the completeness of the state, what can we say about the regions. The load on those who did not dare to quit right away, again increased even more.
In one of the regional offices (far from being the smallest in terms of the volume of processed shipments), the question arose of opening a vacancy for the driver to deliver the shipments. It was necessary a few people. Moreover, the work of EMS is structured in such a way that small regional offices should support the central office of the region — send their personnel there, help with the solution of individual issues, etc. And what do you think? Of the selected people, only half reached the department. And this is despite the fact that the staff was staffed to a minimum and in the event of illness of one employee, there is no one to replace him.
Naturally, in such cases, the processing time of items is delayed, as is the delivery time to the recipient's door. And customs have nothing to do with it - the problem is taking place not only in the Center, but also in the regions.
The second reason is logistics and non-optimal delivery routes.
All foreign shipments pass through Moscow. Even if you in Vladivostok are waiting for a parcel from Japan, first your parcel will pass through all of Russia to Moscow, will be processed there and then again will go through all of Russia in the opposite direction. That is, there is a lack of any logical optimization of delivery.
The third reason for all Mail problems is organizational.
The management of Post of Russia and EMS in attempts to bring the enterprise to a good level of profitability has put almost unrealistic plans. And if during a normal working process and staffing it is necessary to make efforts, but the plan can be fulfilled, then in reality people who occupy leading posts in Moscow and those responsible for certain aspects of the Post's activities throughout Russia (and not in certain regions) prevent them from doing so. plan. Whether this is due to the professionalism of these employees, or to the confusion in the work process directly in Moscow. But most likely both reasons play their part.
So, the Moscow leadership still can not decide on the adoption of job descriptions in regional offices. In general, the work is structured in such a way that job descriptions should be worked out all the same in Moscow, while Moscow makes the final decision on whether to accept this or that person for a certain position even in the region. However, all the documentation (job descriptions, contracts, etc.) is required from the heads of departments, which in turn in some cases pass this work to specialists of the sorting centers, who are not obliged to do this at all. Nevertheless, the prepared job description is sent to Moscow for approval and ... hangs there. No greetings or answers. After some time, Moscow again requests job descriptions and history repeats itself.
Requests for funds to hire new employees, purchase equipment, etc., are processed for months. There are two reasons for this - the poor organization of solving such questions and the incompetence of individuals, whose duties include processing and processing requests from branches. So, if there are not enough specialists in the department to process all correspondence, it takes months to wait for a response and a decision from Moscow to allocate funds and allow hiring, or it takes up to a year. The situation is similar in other aspects of production activities.
It comes to quite funny. Employees of sorting centers are deprived of bonuses, reprimanded for not having the necessary equipment on the premises of the SC, do not install safe-doors in certain rooms, etc. This is despite the fact that the request for funds for the purchase and installation of equipment was sent to Moscow, for the first time a year ago, and then repeated it several times, was not allocated any money, although the request reached the responsible persons - they could not approve everything.
In addition, the rules for processing and mail delivery have not changed for several decades. No, in the 90s, of course, a new edition of the rules was published. But in fact, it was no different from the previous one.
The center regularly organizes inspections of branches. At first glance, all this is correct, because it is necessary to somehow control the activities of branches and branches. A number of people in Moscow are instructed to collect documentation and information on key performance indicators from the Post Office and EMS, to analyze these indicators and provide it to the leadership or curators of the regions. In theory, again, right. In practice, this is done in the following way: the person responsible for analyzing the activity sends an instruction to the Post Office to prepare information on the department’s performance over a certain period. Moreover, information is not received at all in the form of documents and calculations of the number of items, time for processing correspondence, its delivery and financial receipts. The department itself prepares the analysis of activities and provides information in such a way that the analyst no longer has to read and analyze anything, but only provide the printout of this document to those who need it. That is, the people responsible for the quality and optimization of the workflow simply do not work, and they load the staff of the departments that are already unable to cope with this situation with their duties. Of course, with such a load and the lack of a sufficient number of personnel, the Mail simply cannot work as expected and in time to resolve all issues.
And in the light of recent events (the very outflow of personnel, the increase in workload and the constant plans and instructions that are unrealistic under such conditions) people simply give up. The management is not very interested in solving the problems, and there is no desire for people who are directly processing mail or managing sorting centers, much less wanting to try to change something for the better. Especially when the manager's salary is 7 thousand rubles.
In the EMS, it is normal for an employee to be appointed to the position of the head of the central regional office / sorting center, even if it is known in advance that a person cannot fulfill his duties (not only because of the lack of necessary qualifications and experience, but also because that this person is engaged in the activities of another company whose owner is). Actually, the manager is constantly not in place, not at all because he has to go on business matters, but because he decides for days either with personal problems or with problems of another organization. Accordingly, all the work is run on its own or absolutely all problems are solved by employees of a rank lower.
Separately, you need to say a few words about the training of specialists and attempts to improve the work of the departments. The quality standard of work is considered to be offices in relatively small cities, where 10 people are enough to cope with the existing volume of correspondence (but no more). Heads of such departments can easily be sent to another city to train local SC staff in their craft. Moreover, in this local SC the same 10 - 12 people process 5 times the larger volume of shipments. But it is believed that in a larger volume of processed items of SC, the workflow is less adequate than in a small colleague.
With such questionable ways, EMS is trying to optimize the processing of shipments and improve the quality of services offered.
The mysterious reorganization and the great plans of the leadership, built at an inopportune moment and without any preparation and optimization of the working process as a whole, only aggravate the situation.
Total:
1. The absence of postal rules that meet modern requirements.
2. The absence of any logic in the distribution of funds.
3. Lack of workflow.
4. The lack of personnel.
5. Lack of thoughtful delivery routes for correspondence.
6. Disinterest of senior managers in addressing the current situation.
All this led one way or another to the current situation with the time of mail delivery to the destination. Delay shipments at customs - only inept excuse.
According to the same EMS employee, the situation with shipments will not improve in the coming months, but it may well get worse.
The reasons are simple and banal, like everyone else in Russia. But I think it is worthwhile to talk about some of the details of the work of the post and the latest events in more detail. The habrasoobshchestvo (as well as all people using mail) it deserved.
The story does not claim to be complete, but some points can bring clarity to the situation.
The problem, as mentioned above, is simple - the organization’s completely ill-conceived policy in the use of financial resources.
Somewhere around the new year, the Russian Post, already experiencing some financial problems, which is why many branches simply do not receive enough money to create normal working conditions and hire a sufficient number of employees, organizes the Miss Post of Russia contest.
')
Everything would be fine if it was just a fun event, designed to slightly support the necessary atmosphere in the team of the Post and its individual branches as a whole. But the situation was somewhat different. Several million rubles were allocated for organizing the competition (Mail and EMS simply do not have the means to buy heaters for the winter in the regional center office - people are freezing, half of the state went to hospital sickness, some 2 thousand rubles the management cannot allocate pair of heaters). One way or another, Mail employees, managers, directors of branches, specialists, etc., organized the competition (I don’t have an exact list, but this is not only the director and the Moscow management). In addition to the millions of costs for the competition, the organizers were issued no less impressive awards (yeah, a heater problem, and several hundred thousand awards to the one who helped organize the competition - no). That is, for all the lack of money, the Post management manages to spend millions on completely unnecessary things. And this is just one event. And how much more money goes into the void?
Naturally, at a certain point after such waste, the money problem became more acute. People began to reduce wages, while the load, the volume of work has increased significantly. Naturally, this did not suit many - a significant outflow of personnel appeared. Even in Moscow, there was a problem with the completeness of the state, what can we say about the regions. The load on those who did not dare to quit right away, again increased even more.
In one of the regional offices (far from being the smallest in terms of the volume of processed shipments), the question arose of opening a vacancy for the driver to deliver the shipments. It was necessary a few people. Moreover, the work of EMS is structured in such a way that small regional offices should support the central office of the region — send their personnel there, help with the solution of individual issues, etc. And what do you think? Of the selected people, only half reached the department. And this is despite the fact that the staff was staffed to a minimum and in the event of illness of one employee, there is no one to replace him.
Naturally, in such cases, the processing time of items is delayed, as is the delivery time to the recipient's door. And customs have nothing to do with it - the problem is taking place not only in the Center, but also in the regions.
The second reason is logistics and non-optimal delivery routes.
All foreign shipments pass through Moscow. Even if you in Vladivostok are waiting for a parcel from Japan, first your parcel will pass through all of Russia to Moscow, will be processed there and then again will go through all of Russia in the opposite direction. That is, there is a lack of any logical optimization of delivery.
The third reason for all Mail problems is organizational.
The management of Post of Russia and EMS in attempts to bring the enterprise to a good level of profitability has put almost unrealistic plans. And if during a normal working process and staffing it is necessary to make efforts, but the plan can be fulfilled, then in reality people who occupy leading posts in Moscow and those responsible for certain aspects of the Post's activities throughout Russia (and not in certain regions) prevent them from doing so. plan. Whether this is due to the professionalism of these employees, or to the confusion in the work process directly in Moscow. But most likely both reasons play their part.
So, the Moscow leadership still can not decide on the adoption of job descriptions in regional offices. In general, the work is structured in such a way that job descriptions should be worked out all the same in Moscow, while Moscow makes the final decision on whether to accept this or that person for a certain position even in the region. However, all the documentation (job descriptions, contracts, etc.) is required from the heads of departments, which in turn in some cases pass this work to specialists of the sorting centers, who are not obliged to do this at all. Nevertheless, the prepared job description is sent to Moscow for approval and ... hangs there. No greetings or answers. After some time, Moscow again requests job descriptions and history repeats itself.
Requests for funds to hire new employees, purchase equipment, etc., are processed for months. There are two reasons for this - the poor organization of solving such questions and the incompetence of individuals, whose duties include processing and processing requests from branches. So, if there are not enough specialists in the department to process all correspondence, it takes months to wait for a response and a decision from Moscow to allocate funds and allow hiring, or it takes up to a year. The situation is similar in other aspects of production activities.
It comes to quite funny. Employees of sorting centers are deprived of bonuses, reprimanded for not having the necessary equipment on the premises of the SC, do not install safe-doors in certain rooms, etc. This is despite the fact that the request for funds for the purchase and installation of equipment was sent to Moscow, for the first time a year ago, and then repeated it several times, was not allocated any money, although the request reached the responsible persons - they could not approve everything.
In addition, the rules for processing and mail delivery have not changed for several decades. No, in the 90s, of course, a new edition of the rules was published. But in fact, it was no different from the previous one.
The center regularly organizes inspections of branches. At first glance, all this is correct, because it is necessary to somehow control the activities of branches and branches. A number of people in Moscow are instructed to collect documentation and information on key performance indicators from the Post Office and EMS, to analyze these indicators and provide it to the leadership or curators of the regions. In theory, again, right. In practice, this is done in the following way: the person responsible for analyzing the activity sends an instruction to the Post Office to prepare information on the department’s performance over a certain period. Moreover, information is not received at all in the form of documents and calculations of the number of items, time for processing correspondence, its delivery and financial receipts. The department itself prepares the analysis of activities and provides information in such a way that the analyst no longer has to read and analyze anything, but only provide the printout of this document to those who need it. That is, the people responsible for the quality and optimization of the workflow simply do not work, and they load the staff of the departments that are already unable to cope with this situation with their duties. Of course, with such a load and the lack of a sufficient number of personnel, the Mail simply cannot work as expected and in time to resolve all issues.
And in the light of recent events (the very outflow of personnel, the increase in workload and the constant plans and instructions that are unrealistic under such conditions) people simply give up. The management is not very interested in solving the problems, and there is no desire for people who are directly processing mail or managing sorting centers, much less wanting to try to change something for the better. Especially when the manager's salary is 7 thousand rubles.
In the EMS, it is normal for an employee to be appointed to the position of the head of the central regional office / sorting center, even if it is known in advance that a person cannot fulfill his duties (not only because of the lack of necessary qualifications and experience, but also because that this person is engaged in the activities of another company whose owner is). Actually, the manager is constantly not in place, not at all because he has to go on business matters, but because he decides for days either with personal problems or with problems of another organization. Accordingly, all the work is run on its own or absolutely all problems are solved by employees of a rank lower.
Separately, you need to say a few words about the training of specialists and attempts to improve the work of the departments. The quality standard of work is considered to be offices in relatively small cities, where 10 people are enough to cope with the existing volume of correspondence (but no more). Heads of such departments can easily be sent to another city to train local SC staff in their craft. Moreover, in this local SC the same 10 - 12 people process 5 times the larger volume of shipments. But it is believed that in a larger volume of processed items of SC, the workflow is less adequate than in a small colleague.
With such questionable ways, EMS is trying to optimize the processing of shipments and improve the quality of services offered.
The mysterious reorganization and the great plans of the leadership, built at an inopportune moment and without any preparation and optimization of the working process as a whole, only aggravate the situation.
Total:
1. The absence of postal rules that meet modern requirements.
2. The absence of any logic in the distribution of funds.
3. Lack of workflow.
4. The lack of personnel.
5. Lack of thoughtful delivery routes for correspondence.
6. Disinterest of senior managers in addressing the current situation.
All this led one way or another to the current situation with the time of mail delivery to the destination. Delay shipments at customs - only inept excuse.
According to the same EMS employee, the situation with shipments will not improve in the coming months, but it may well get worse.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/89008/
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