National Cleaning Drive of Post Offices

Back Ground Prime Minister of India has directed to prepare an action plan to transform every government Department into – a citizen centric organization with clear focus on effective delivery of services – with minimum inconvenience to the citizens. One of the action point to achieve the above objective is to make the post office – Spotless – Presentable – Welcoming Deliverable : Perceptible change towards thinking and behaviour of the postal Staff

Spotless post office

How to achieve these objectives? Working environment has to be improved to improve the work culture Clean and lean approach should be applied to internal space/office campus Periodical drive to be conducted in all offices to give a business like look to all the offices

How to make your post office Spot Less? Every office has three well defined areas of operation – Public space- Public hall, entrance to the office, the front garden etc – Operational area- Work table of each official, postmen delivery hall, postmasters chamber, server room, back office. – Facility area/ Amenities area : Washrooms, staircases, lunch/rest rooms, recreation rooms, canteen

Why spotless Office ? Such Office gives a clean and lean appearance The office look professional. The office gives a welcoming feeling to the customers. It is more pleasant and healthy to work in a spotless office

How to make the office spotless Good house keeping : – Good house keeping means cleanliness, tidiness and much more – There should be a place for everything and everything should be in its place – Ensures that unwanted items are disposed off. – Ensures that the costly resource - space - in a post office is used for operation and customer service instead of dumping the unwanted items – Ensures that employees are healthy.

Front office Public hall should be cleaned from time to time In the public hall only the following 4 boards should be displayed – Citizen charter – Hours of business – Public notice board – Advertisement All signboards, customer writing ledge, chairs and other equipment’s in the public hall should be dusted Old and outdated notices should be removed on a weekly basis One calendar and one clock only is required to be displayed on the wall All signboards displayed in counter hall should be of standard format, clean and legible

Front Office All furniture not conforming to project arrow standard should be removed from the counter hall of PAPO In other offices uniform furniture only should be kept in the public hall Remove all broken and rickety furniture from the counter hall Customer writing ledge should be cleaned off gum, paper wastes and any other discarded material by the customer at periodical intervals Proper dustbin should be provided in the counter hall and should be cleared at periodical interval

Front Office All the tube lights and fan should be of working condition The fan should be cleaned at quarterly interval. The public hall should be devoid of any hanging wires. All loose wires should be cased properly Identify an official to supervise the arrangement on daily basis. – Provide this official with a checklist – Include this responsibility in the memo of duty of the identified official

Remove unwanted notices, banners etc

Activity In your opinion what are the activities to be taken up to make your front office spotless? Trainees to make a list of such activities. Trainees will discuss with the postmaster of their office about these activities and take action to make their office spotless on their return to work.

Spotless entrance to post office The entrance of post office should be made presentable by periodic cleaning All broken pots should be removed. No unwanted furniture/ letter box should be piled at the front side of the post office If space permits, maintain a small garden Garden should well cared. Office letter box should be well maintained. The time of clearance should be visible, hour plates should be legible and changed Office name board should be in good condition. The standee provided should be displayed in a prominent place in front of the office All hanging wires/ cable should be properly cased.

Welcoming entrance

Post office with badly maintained LBs at the entrance

Spotless back office Back office consists of following areas – Counter operation area – Delivery hall – Accounts branch, Sub-accounts branch, SBCO branch etc – Server room – Postmaster’s chamber

Spotless back office Work table of each official – Every morning You should dust your table, computer and other peripherals – Do not expect a cleaning staff to come and do this for you as your work table is an extension of your personality – A clean and tidy work table project you as a organised employee with no pending work at your disposal – Remove all unwanted and useless work papers from your table and destroy – All the papers which are required for further processing should be properly filed

A well maintained back office

Work area of the staff – The files which are not in use should be stacked properly in the almirah provided – The files which completed its life cycle should be segregated and send for weeding by making appropriate entries in the index register – Do not eat at the working table, it gives a messy and unprofessional look – Remove the used coffee/Tea mugs / glasses immediately from the table. Arrange the furniture in your work area in a professional and visually appealing manner – Sit on the customers chair across your to able to understand the image you are presenting to the customer. – Make it a professional image

ILL-KEPT work area Keep your working area neat and tidy.

Remove the hanging cables/ wires and arrange it properly

Activity Trainees to list out the action to be taken for making their work area spotless on return from training

Spotless Postmasters chamber Remove all unwanted notices/ calendar’s/ photographs etc displayed in the chamber The visitors chair should be of uniform size, shape and should be in good condition The tables and chairs should be dusted and removed of all smudges /dirt Keep sufficient number of information brochures of various products handy in your Almirah for dissemination of information to the customer Do not dump any bags / items of stock in your chamber. Such items should be in the stock room

Spotless server room Remove all the old hardware from the server room and send it to the designated office for condemnation Those hardware which are to be repaired and put into use should be stored in almirah or in stock room Rearrange all the wires and cables into casings. The room should not have hanging/ trailing cables which gives a shabby appearance Server should be kept in the server racks provided Computer and peripherals should be dusted and kept in proper working condition

Keep all the hanging wires in casing, remove unwanted furniture/hw etc..

Postman delivery Hall Ensure that no unattended letters are left behind by the postman while leaving for the beat Sorting case should be well maintained. Post boxes should be kept in the closed position from inside to avoid loss of letters A proper watch should be kept to ensure periodic clearing of post box by the subscribers No hoarding of undelivered letters, bags in the delivery hall Dust the tables, sorting cases, post boxes daily The post box should be painted at prescribed interval Damaged locks of Post box should be repaired immediately All stamps and seals should be cleaned at periodic interval to get proper and legible stamp impression All letters received / dispatched should be stamped

Properly kept sorting cases in delivery hall

Spotless amenity area The amenity area includes – Wash room – Dining/lunch room – Staircases – Recreation club – Canteen if any

Spotless Wash room Wash room should have provision for uninterrupted water supply Wash room should have sufficient ventilation and lighting Should be provided with exhaust fan There should be a system in place for proper cleaning of toilets and wash basin. Preferably the arrangement should be to clean this area twice daily Unbroken and clean buckets / mugs should be provided to the washrooms Cleaning liquids in sufficient quantity should be provided to the cleaning staff

Spotless wash rooms Hand wash/soap should be made available in the wash room All leaking taps should be fixed immediately to avoid wastage of water Wash rooms should be supplied with pedestal waste bins Before leaving the washroom, the users should ensure that the area is clean and usable for others Throw the rubbish only in the bin provided

Spotless stair cases Do not dump broken furniture/ letter boxes / bags/ broom sticks etc on the stair case. Do not spit on the corners of the staircase wall. Provide spit bucket in places where the habit of chewing tobacco/pan is more prevalent. Clean the stair case also daily. Cleaning of staircase can be included in the job list of daily cleaning staff

Staircase dumped with weeded out records

Spotless dining room The lunch room should have – Proper furniture – Proper ventilation The table should be wiped off the remains of food after finishing the meal All used plates and glasses should be washed and kept in the space provided

Spotless recreation club All the equipment’s in the room should be arranged in pleasing manner After use, the equipment’s should be placed in their proper place Do not throw around the carom coins, carom powder boxes, chess coins, dumbbells etc around the room Keep the mat folded, if not in use. Switch off the TV/ Music system when you leave the room Keep the journals in the rack provided An almirah or a rack can be provided to the recreation club to keep the items in the recreation room in an orderly way

Spotless canteen Some bigger offices have canteens. The canteen should have proper seating arrangement. Should have proper lighting and ventilation. The canteen staff should wear clean and tidy dress. Canteen staff should adhere to good personal hygiene. The tables should be cleaned after the customer leaves the table. The floor should be mopped with disinfectant at frequent interval. There should be a proper system for waste disposal

Canteen The kitchen should be clean, well ventilated and provided with sufficient number of exhaust fans The arrangement for water supply and sewage should be available System should be put in place for cleaning of utensils /plates/ glasses. – Make arrangement for providing hot water for utensil cleaning – Proper drainage arrangement should be made for the cleaning area The used plates should be cleaned immediately without keeping it piled Sufficient quantity of cleaning chemicals should be supplied Kitchen should be cleaned after each meal preparation Periodic pest control through professional agency should be carried out

Role of postmasters in ensuring a presentable PO Provide sufficient storage equipment for record keeping Ensure that electrical installations are in working condition Ensure that old records are periodically weeded out Identify a place / room which is not visible to the public to store unwanted records/ items till its disposal Dispose the discarded store at prescribed interval by following prescribed procedure Encourage the staff to inculcate the habit of maintaining clean office