The Postal Service has generally reduced supervisor work hours in relation to craft employee work hours but did not always achieve its span of control target, or the ratio supervisors to craft employees.
Based on a 1:25 span of control target, there was a shortage of 412 regular supervisors nationwide and an excess of 1.8 million work hours for replacement supervisors (craft employees used to backfill supervisors) used in fiscal 2012, the IG said.
It said these conditions occurred because the Postal Service did not always adjust supervisor positions in relation to craft positions to achieve span of control targets, and because USPS did not always monitor span of control during the plant consolidation process.
Further, span of control targets could be inaccurate, as the Postal Service had not re-evaluated them since the spring of 2011, so USPS incurred excess costs from replacement supervisor work hours with no real added benefit, according to the IG.
It called on the vice president of network operations to re-evaluate span of control targets and determine the appropriate targets, fill vacant supervisor positions up to the appropriate span of control level and reduce supervisor replacement work hours accordingly, as well as to ensure that span of control targets are achieved during the consolidation process to the fullest extent possible.