In fiscal 2012, 35 percent of postal executives were retirement eligible, but that number could grow to 49 percent within three years, the USPS inspector general has said in calling for improvements to postal succession planning.
USPS has a Corporate Succession Planning program that it uses to identify and develop top-performing employees for new or expanded executive roles. The program includes many best practices for successful organizations, but with 73 percent of potential successors eligible to retire in the next seven years, more could be done to improve the program.
For example, 289 days after the approval deadline, management had not approved 621 of the 3,624 developmental activities that it reviewed, according to the IG.
It said some managers did not make approving these activities a priority. Delays hinder the ability of potential successors to develop the skills they need for leadership positions, the IG said, and it called on management to enhance controls to ensure potential successors’ developmental activities are approved in a timely manner.