Training Development for Postal Inspectors - Literature review Example

Training Development for Postal Inspectors, Does It Need Improvement Executive Summary The paper reflects the importance of the training and development for postal inspectors in the United States Postal Inspection Services (USPIS). USPIS was established to upkeep and to protect the US postal services from delivering standard and reliable services to the people without any fraudulent activity. The department endeavours to administer the laws that enable to protect the country’s mail system from any kind of illegal or hazardous use. They also aim at ascertaining public trust in the mail system. The postal inspectors in USPIS require being mentally strong which is possible with the incorporation of training and development. It is an important aspect for the success of the sector as well as to reduce the fraudulent acts. The training program is an integral part of USPIS and its functioning following the mission and the vision. It has been noticed that the training program needs few changes because of its long tenure which lasts for months. The courses identified are too long therefore the employees instead of being motivated might get stressed out. It has been ascertained that the need for the actual training and the training provided had a gap which requires amendments. It is recommended that few courses must be reduced to improve the efficiency of the employees. The courses must be provided through e-learning to save time and make the people knowledgeable without focusing much on other dimensions. The aspect of training has its own significance as it facilitates in the growth of an individual’s career along with enabling to flourish in the sector by maintaining dignity and integrity of the job. Consequently, the United States Postal Service department employs several individuals and contributes to the economy of the country. This is possible due to the presence of valuable resources in USIPS. Introduction: Brief History about the Company The United States Postal Service (USPS) is one of the independent agencies, which provides postal services to the people of the United States of America. It was initiated for the first time in the year 1775. Consequently, Benjamin Franklin was designated as the ‘first postmaster general’ of the nation (A&E Television Networks, 2014). Benjamin Franklin through his talent and hard work changed the concept of postmasters and made the people realise their value. The Postal Service of the US follows a strict principle in order to distribute the services to every individual without failure but with efficiency and affordability. For about 231 years, the USPS has distributed better-quality services to the customers (1USPS, 2014). The postal services have strengthened the bond of friendship with the public by delivering their mails on time by maintaining the confidentiality. This has led to the rise in the economy of the country through the improved and advanced services delivered. The postal services sector has advanced a lot in the last few decades and at present is using advanced technologies such as the computerised equipment to make their task easier (1U.S. Postal Service, 2014). The USPS has developed rapidly in the last few years and has employed over 8 million individuals (United States Postal Service, 2013). It is the one of the world’s biggest postal services which covers a large geographical area for its deliverance of the services. The mission of the company is to effectively and efficiently deliver services to the customers at their residential and business premises. The mission is to bind the nation together by delivering universal services. Moreover, the mission of USPS is to deliver reliable, trusted and efficient services to the people and make them stay connected (2USPS, 2014). The vision of the company is to improve the quality of the services with the changing environment in the modern age (2USPS, 2014). Furthermore, to protect the services provided to the people, a federal law enforcement arm named The United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) was institutionalised. The objective of the arm is to protect and support the service and the employees of US Postal Service. USPIS is enforced to meet the public trust through the use of mails. Moreover, the United States Postal Inspection Service has shown great courage in fighting against the criminal and the people trying to misuse the postal system. It is a professional organisation which performs investigation and functions related to security in order to ascertain stability and make the postal service more effective (U.S. Postal Service, 2014). Correspondingly, the objective of the paper is to analyse the importance of Human Resources (HR) related concerns with the training department of the United States Postal Service, in the postal inspector division. Based on the derived compression, certain recommendations will be made to improve training and augment higher graduation rate. About The Products and Services of the Company Postal inspectors are the agents of the federal law, who investigate the illegal matters in order to maintain the integrity and security of the postal services. The US Postal Service provides various products to the people as required by them. The products delivered by the postal service department include various kinds of stamps. The stamps are available in the service concern as per the need of the people such as the Forever/ 49-cent stamps, new stamps, price change stamps, books of stamps along with priority mail express and air mail stamps. The stamps are available for the people as per their preferences with various colours and prices. Moreover, the key service provided by the company is to get proper delivery of goods through the shipping supplies and mails. USPS aims at providing the people with the option to buy goods along with delivering of the goods to every individual covering the wide geographical area. The major service provided is the distribution of the mails at various locations which is possible by using the computerised equipment (U.S. Postal Service, 2014). With the help of the computerised technique, the service of the department has improved. Besides, with the advanced technique the deliverance of mails in a single day has augmented and so has the risk of security. Correspondingly, the Postal Inspection Service provides services which are useful in managing the security and avoiding any illegal transactions. Postal Inspection Service further offers assurance to the business in America regarding the transfer of funds and securities in a safe manner through mails. They work with the local prosecutors and the attorney of the US to fight against the illegal transferring of the goods or funds. They carry firearms and make arrest as well as investigate and prepare the perpetrators for the courts. In the US, there are 1500 postal inspectors posted to reduce the fraudulent acts and make the postal environment safe (U.S. Postal Service, 2014). Additionally, to carry out the responsibility, the Postal Inspection Service has a security force of uniformed police officers amounting to 650 in number. Border security, protection of the high-value mail consignments and performance of other vital defensive functions are amid the key services performed by the officers to safeguard the postal environment. The department also functions a forensic crime based laboratory which is competently operated with forensic scientists along with technical specialists as its members to ensure safety (1U.S. Postal Service, 2014). The Human Resource Concerns The United States Postal Inspection Service creates an extensive career opportunity for the people. The agency is a constituent of professionals who are involved in the sector to ensure integrity and security of the US Postal Service. The job of the people is to investigate the crime and to reduce the violation of the postal related law. From the point of view of the human resources, the person engaged in this sector needs to be a sound individual with the ability to perform rigorous physical activities on a sustained basis. The individual needs to be physically as well as mentally strong to acknowledge proper investigation. They need to carry firearms, conduct arrests in case of the illegal activities, and serve subpoenas as well as comprehensive reports to protect from the dangers. Correspondingly, the requirement of the HR is to attract the candidates and to train them to work for long hours as well as irregular hours (2U.S. Postal Service, 2014). It is ascertained that the competition for the Postal Inspector position is high and the recruitment of the candidates depends on the successful completion of the entire recruitment process. The aspect of eligibility criteria is another key concern for the HR in order to select the best candidates out of the lot. The various criteria which need to be fulfilled to be a part of the prestigious Postal Service include the fact that the candidate must be a citizen of America within the age limit of 21 to 36.5 years. The candidate must have a four year degree from a renowned college or university and possess unblemished personal background. There are few more special knowledge requirements from the HR for the Postal Inspector position which include language skill, postal experience and academic achievement. It is observed that the candidate without such knowledge would be provided with less preference as compared to others (3U.S. Postal Service, 2014). Any candidate with military experience, law degree and computer expertise would be given preference based on their qualification as per the need of the job. These are the primary concerns of the HR before recruiting candidates for the reputed and responsible job. Furthermore, the major concern of the HR is related with the maintenance of a drug-free workplace. The Postal Inspection Service is devoted towards the workplace which is drug free. The unlawful usage of the drugs by the employees is one of the major concerns regarding the employees for the HR. Furthermore, it is the concern of the HR to observe that the employees or the candidates appearing for the recruitment process do not sell or buy drugs which is considered to be unethical. There are various policies regarding the drug issues. Any candidate found using drugs while committing high level of responsibility is deliberated to be unsuitable for the purpose of employment. The HR constantly keeps a measure on the candidates regarding their use of illegal drugs during the tenure of the career (3U.S. Postal Service, 2014). On the other hand, the HR is also responsible to recruit and train people by providing them ‘Basic Inspector Training’ at the ‘Career Development Unit (CDU)’. The training programs have four stages such as academics, firearm, physical fitness with defensive tactics and practical exercises. Every member would be employed if they have achieved minimum graduation in the training program (U.S. Postal Service, 2014). Graduation in the basic training is one of the major criteria for the employment to be effective. Even if the candidate is appointed, the person not being able to complete the graduation in the training would lead to his termination. The other vital concern of the HR is to provide benefits to the people who have met the requirement of the employment in department. The employees in this sector are provided with high compensations as well as benefits to be motivated and attentive towards their work (3U.S. Postal Service, 2014). The postal inspectors are not liable for the overtime compensation as they are exempted from Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA). The inspectors are provided with various benefits to retain them in the service and to keep them motivated. The other concern of the HR is related to the allocated leaves of the employee. The leaves provided to the people are the annual, sick and the holiday leaves. The leaves are of importance for the employees as this would lead to their motivation, make them efficient and in return increase the productivity of the employees. Leaves are of significance as it acts as a motivational tool for the employees and the HR in retaining the talent for the long term. Another concern of the HR is the providence of insurance for the safety of the employees based on the service they provide for the common people of the US (3U.S. Postal Service, 2014). Training and development of the officers in the Postal Service Department is one of the important aspects for the HR to make the employees more effective. The initial training is mandatory for the inspectors to gain knowledge about the department and to be effective in providing safety to the people. The Career Development Department was established to provide the basic training to the candidates for the post of inspector. The training consisted of in-service and refreshers on the specialised subjects. They have a huge campus with various progressive features of ‘elite law enforcement training’ required for the successful completion of the training program. The candidates have to be a part of the 13 week scenario based training which comprises the investigative techniques, tactics of the defence, firearm and other legal matters. The training is of importance as it facilitates in developing the ability to solve the issues, along with enhancing their critical thinking and to enhance the cognitive skills. After the training is complete, the inspectors are to participate in a post basic training which is tenured for four to six months. The training program scheduled for the employees lasts for a minimum of 400 hours which enables to derive an understanding about their physical stability (4U.S. Postal Service, 2014). The major asserts of USPS are its employees and correspondingly the training and development of the employees is the vital investment strategy for the success of the organisation. Moreover, it is acknowledged that training is important for the growth of individuals in their career. It is also of significance to upgrade the people with the use of new techniques and policies. Consequently, the concern of the HR is to successfully carry out the training program and make the process of inspector training smooth so that a proper talent is retrained. Suggested Improvement in Training to Increase Higher Graduation rate Training and development plays an important role in every field. It is vital for the employees to undergo the process of training in order to enhance their performance and meet the objective of the organisation. The basic knowledge about the work and the workplace environment is made familiar within the process of training and development. The courses which are of four phase is of importance for qualifying as an inspector in the USPS. The tenure of the training lasts for several months which help the employee to gain better knowledge. The training of a person is directly linked with the performance of the individual. In this regard, a training needs assessment is important wherein the method will identify the performance requirement and the gap amid the need of performance and what it is in present (Barbazette, 2006; 3USPS, 2014). On the basis of the needs assessment, it can be recommended that training and development process must be redesigned to be more effective and time saving. The need of the postal services to prepare the individuals in a short span is not prudently possible through the tenured training program. The classroom training provided to the people can be provided through the e-learning process which would reduce the time of training. This can act as a change in old guideline and policy. In addition, in the year 2013, few of the courses were precluded from the training which made the process of training development more accessible, efficient along with interactive. These reductions in the training courses and time have helped the people to increase their productivity and be more efficient regarding the safety of the public. It is also recommended for the HR manager of USPS to enhance the use of the advanced technique for the purpose of training to make the individual tech savvy and accustomed with the use of the gadgets required on a regular basis for the postal inspector (2USPS, 2014; Kozlowski & Salas, 2009). Conclusion USPS is an important agency belonging to the federal government of the US which provides service to the people with reliability and easy affordability. The position of postal inspector is important for carrying out investigation along with ensuring the organisation’s proper functioning. In order to ensure that the postal inspector is well-informed and focussed towards the attainment of the desired goal, the dimension of training and development plays an invaluable role. Training and development for the position of postal inspector is a must, failure to abide by the training guidelines can lead to the termination of the employee. The concerns of the HR are several as they would focus to retain the talent by providing benefits and helping in the successful completion of the training. With the suggested focus on training needs assessment along with acknowledging the importance of technology for the successful attainment of higher graduation rate in the training program can be a decisive step to ensure sustainable future. References A&E Television Networks. (2014). Congress establishes U.S. Post Office. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/congress-establishes-us-post-office Barbazette, J. (2006). Training needs assessment: Methods, tools, and techniques. United States: John Wiley & Sons. Kozlowski, S.W.J. & Salas, E. (2009). Learning, training, and development in organizations. United States: Taylor & Francis. 1USPS. (2014). The history of the United States Postal Service. Retrieved from http://about.usps.com/publications/pub100/pub100_001.htm 2USPS. (2014). United States Postal Service 2013 annual report to congress. Annual Performance Report, 1-74. 3USPS. (2014). 7 training and development. Retrieved from https://about.usps.com/manuals/elm/html/elmc7_001.htm 1U.S. Postal Service. (2014). Mission statement. Retrieved from https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/aboutus/mission.aspx 2U.S. Postal Service. (2014). Who we are. Retrieved from https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/employment/whoweare.aspx 3U.S. Postal Service. (2014). Eligibility. Retrieved from https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/employment/eligibility.aspx 4U.S. Postal Service. (2014). Professional standards and resource development. Documents, 1-2. United States Postal Service. (2013). Postal facts. Retrieved from http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-facts/postalfacts2013.pdf Read More