Life is good. We’ve all heard this saying used to describe past and current sentiments. It is often said to gauge our emotional, professional, personal, and even financial goals. When I decided to leave the retail management sector to use transferable skillsets, I never expected how rewarding it would be. No longer am I working 80 hours a week to execute on every holiday sales event, prepping for inventories for 6 weeks in a 130k-square-foot big box, or worrying about daily sales, shrink, etc.
Although that was rewarding in many ways, my current role as a Logistics Manager for Quest Diagnostics has a whole different level of rewards. We all know how important our couriers’ responsibilities are delivering patients’ specimens to our labs for testing, and I’ve been fortunate to watch it as a first shift and second shift Supervisor before being promoted to Manager. But if you don’t know how the Route Service Representative (RSR) performs their role, I’m here to tell you it is a beautiful, choreographed dance every day and night. It is rewarding to watch the RSR be empowered to suggest and make changes that not only benefit Quest, but the client in many ways. They are in control of their route. I’ve seen RSRs blossom, knowing we put our trust in them to help make the right decision that impacts quality and specimen arrival times to labs, reduces nonproductive stops, and conveys accurate messages so any number of people covering the route can do so successfully. RSRs are actively involved in daily route updates and optimizations. It is their tribal knowledge that helps us achieve the most productivity and efficiencies. I am proud to lead a team toward our shared common goals of Quality, Service, Safety, and Productivity. I appreciate Quest Diagnostics leadership for having trust in me to deliver results and take care of our employees who make it happen every day. Life is good.