A Postal Service HR management initiative to increase employee availability has not been using established management processes, the USPS inspector general has found.
It said the DRIVE 6 (Delivering Results, Innovation, Value, and Efficiency) initiative, is designed to reduce workers’ compensation costs by $80 million annually, return injured employees to work, and reduce accidents, reportable workplace injuries and illnesses, and reduce sick leave.
However, the five projects comprising the initiative consisted of operations already being accomplished outside of DRIVE, the IG said, adding that they were often characterized as over-resourced or under-ambitious.
The IG said that information was not shared with the executive leadership team and did not appear on the executive level dashboard because there was no separation of duties between the DRIVE initiative lead and roadmap owner.
The IG recommended that the director for strategic planning establish a process to ensure DRIVE project management rolesare held by separate individuals, and further recommended that management evaluate implementing regular audits and controls for each project at the project management level.
