To the editor:

By far, the most demanding job I ever worked included being the supervisor of 18 people who were, in turn, supervised about 127 individuals, totally. So, I oversaw 145 people.

There were some things I did when people were hired and there was a policy in place that had to legally be followed to terminate people from various departments. When hired, everyone was informed of place or location where the work was done, the number of workdays a year and personal days off. There was always a place for the supervisor’s name and a full job description. When, in our case, a national approving agency came to accredit our institution, there was never a bottom-up review of person’s performance. A person was in the clear.

Elon Musk and President Donald Trump have every right to dismiss individuals who do not perform their tasks or do not perform them where they are to be performed. However, I see a backward, upside-down practice in what is occurring in the U.S. government. For example, you do not allow or demand an employee at the bottom of the pay scale to report what they have accomplished during the past five days. You ask their superior if they had done their job description’s delineations during the time requested. Some five days will by far be busier than other five-day periods.

I could not tell if 145 individuals were doing the intricacies of their jobs at any given time. Rather, the larger our organization grew, the employee-supervisor tree grew, so that people in oversight could oversee. I raked through 18 reports as needed, and supervisors under the 18 people each had at the most five persons to oversee. And the reports came up the ladder, and when there was an issue, I was held accountable, who held the next person’s supervision was accountable, down to the worker’s level. Ultimately, I did not do the five day’s work of anyone who served under me. Ultimately, I was still responsible for all the people who reported under me.

It doesn’t seem like that is the government’s employment policy. And no matter what, someone is always hurt. Often it was I who suffered when an employee was let go.

The Rev. Jeffrey A. Mackey

Colliers