Federal Manager's Daily Report

Improving Engagement Requires Planning, Followup, Report Says

Like other federal entities, the Postal Service is trying to improve its employee engagement but achieving that goal will require more attention to planning and employee feedback, the postal IG has said in an online posting.

“USPS made employee engagement a top priority a couple of years ago and used the Postal Pulse survey as a way to evaluate it. In early 2016, a human resources team created eight engagement activities that included continuation of the Postal Pulse employee survey, action planning, training for managers and supervisors, employee engagement website and publications, and an awards program for those who contribute to an engaging workplace,” it said.

However, it said that the number of managers and supervisors developing action plans for employees has “declined from year to year, despite proof that development of an action plan generally doubled employee engagement … We also found USPS did not monitor or respond to comments on employee-focused social media sites. We noted that best practices would have employers respond to comments to demonstrate that employees’ opinions matter.”

Another area of potential improvement, it said, is correlating employee engagement levels with outcomes. In the USPS context, it said, that can be seen in meeting delivery timeliness standards, a lower number of carriers assigned per route, and lower usage of unscheduled leave.

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