Protecting Window Clerk Jobs

WOS — Window Operating Survey WOS, is a tool used by management to assess the need for window staffing in offices.

This tool offers no interaction by management to assess the amount of traffic flowing through your station.

Consequently this tool is being used to understaff our windows because the clerks don’t understand how it calculates time. Here are the current WOS times [list of time credit received based on type of transaction].

WOS gives you credit for each transaction, however, shortcuts on POS and clerks not taking credit for window related services are not painting an accurate portrait of the need for staffing in our offices.

Here are tips that help your office have higher WOS scores that will justify more staffing and result in fewer reversions of window jobs.

3 easy ways for a Window Clerk to make a difference

• Scan when you can (and as much as you can) to get more earned time credit

• Identify the three (3) keys that give you earned time credit for non-revenue (not all do) and use them, as required, to represent the time it takes you to do your non-revenue actions and the services you provide

• When not working the window, clock off the window operation and onto the correct operation

Logging in

• DO NOT log in before the beginning of a half-hour or log off after the beginning of a half- hour.

•  POS measures the amount of work done in a half-hour. It is calculated from the top of the hour to the bottom of the hour, and the bottom of the hour to the top of the hour. (EX: 8:00am to 8:29am, and 8:30am to 8:59am).

• If you log in at 8:50am, POS shows that you were on POS since 8:30am and did no work. This results in the WOS report showing a half-hour of overstaffing.

• The same holds true if you log out for lunch at 11:01am. POS will show that you worked until 11:30 with no transactions.

• If you would make these mistakes for one day on the beginning and end of your day, breaks, and lunches, your office would show your office overstaffed by 3 hours.

• That is almost half a job. If two clerks did this, it could show the need to reduce one window clerk.

Opening the office

• When opening the office, have your drawer ready to put in.

• At your opening time, EX: 8:30am, unlock the door and by the time you are back behind the counter, hit the button for retail and put your money in. It only takes a few seconds to do this and it doesn’t earn you an unproductive half hour.

Transactions

• We lose time by not taking credit for transactions at the window.

• When we get a vacation hold, are you hitting the customer vacation hold button to receive time?

• Why is earning time important? Every time a clerk does 30 minutes in transactions, they earn 15 minutes of soft time.

• Soft time is the time spent doing miscellaneous window work such as stocking the lobby. 5 to stay alive.

• When selling multiple items, DO NOT just scan one and change the quantity. You will only get credit for one item. EX: a customer wants to buy 5 books of stamps. Clerk one scans one and changes the quantity and earns 35 seconds of work time. Clerk two scans all five and earns 2 minutes and 55 seconds.

Lobby sweeps and Dutch Door Activities

• There are times when due to heavy customer volume that customers will either pick up hold mail or a package from someone not logged onto the window.

• It is necessary that this work be recorded and handed to a window clerk so that time can be earned for this transaction.

• If it isn’t entered into POS, then it doesn’t reflect the need for additional staffing at busy times.

• Management should NEVER do lobby sweeps.

• If a clerk performs a lobby sweep to get vacation hold mail, then you need to hit the button for vacation hold mail.

• There is a button on your POS units which reflects anything you do at the window.

• You need to record any and all transactions in POS

If you have any questions about how to record a transaction you can ask the lead clerk in your station or you can request to speak with a union steward.

Bargaining Unit Work

It is also important for every clerk to report supervisors or managers performing clerk work.

In Omaha, management is NOT allowed to

• touch the mail
• perform a single scan
• perform lobby sweeps 
• servicing the self-service kiosks that are located in the lobbies of some stations.

It doesn’t matter if its 2 minutes or 2 hours. Every time you allow a supervisor to perform your job you make it easier for them to eliminate your job.

If you have a supervisor doing any of these things in your station you need to ask for a steward and report the violation.

In the ongoing battle to protect jobs, it is critical that all members know the rules and share this information with fellow members.