Non-career employees are typically temporary workers who do not receive the same employee benefits as career employees and are not always guaranteed a regular schedule. Image: Ron Adar/Shutterstock.com
The USPS improved some aspects of work for its non-career employees since a 2020 inspector general report citing high turnover among them, but turnover remains high and the main issues underlying it—“challenges with schedule flexibility and supervisor relations”—remain, a followup report has said.
The report said that non-career employees–temporary workers who do not receive the same employee benefits as career employees and are not always guaranteed a regular schedule—make up nearly a fifth of the postal workforce of some 633,000, in roles including postal support employee, city carrier assistant, mail handler assistant and rural carrier associate.
The 2020 report said that turnover among such employees declined over 2018-2019 from 42.8 to 38.5 percent but that was still above the target rate of 32.5 percent. Following those findings, the USPS launched an initiative including guidance on setting workhours for non-career employees and a retention program for city carrier assistants.
The new report, though, said that turnover actually increased to 40 percent in 2020 and then to 55.9 and 58.9 percent in 2021 and 2022. In surveys sent to employees who left, lack of schedule flexibility was the most commonly cited reason, followed by dislike of the supervisor and the obligation to work too many hours.
“While the specific programs resulted in retention improvements at pilot sites, we found schedule flexibility and working too many hours continue to be the top challenges for non-career employees nationwide,” the report said. “Opportunities exist for the Postal Service to expand the pilot programs and develop specific retention programs for each non-career position,” the new report said.
“In addition, supervisor relations could be improved by providing meaningful performance feedback to all probationary non-career employees. Specifically, we found that facility management did not ensure performance evaluation forms were completed, and there was no official process to evaluate and document rural carrier associates’ performances during their probationary periods,” it said.
It added that the USPS now focuses less on total turnover and more on the percentage of newly hired employees who remain on the job after a year, with a goal of retaining 50.5 percent. However, the rates in 2021 and 2022 fell short of that target as well, at 48 and 47.8 percent.
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