October 8, 2021 (RISC-WP-22-001)

• Employees’ online ratings of the Postal Service have stayed the same or declined between fiscal year (FY) 2016 and FY 2021; reviewers spoke favorably about the Postal Service’s pay and benefits but complained about long work hours and a lack of work-life balance.

• Turnover is relatively low among career employees, who rated the Postal Service higher than their non-career counterparts did every year and were more likely to recommend USPS to friends.

• The Postal Service has been trying to reduce its non-career churn for years by measuring turnover, implementing target rates, and beginning an initiative on non-career retention within the first 90 days of hiring.

More than 644,000 Postal Service employees complete the vital work of delivering mail and packages to households throughout the country. The OIG was interested in examining the views of career and non-career postal workers — temporary employees who do not receive the same benefits as career employees — regarding the Postal Service as an employer. The OIG analyzed ratings and reviews from current and former postal workers on popular job-related websites, as well as results from official USPS internal surveys and data.

Like those of comparable organizations, USPS’s ratings have stayed the same or declined over the past six years. The OIG found that, for example, career employees on Glassdoor rated the Postal Service more favorably than non-career employees did for each of the years between FY 2016 and FY 2021. Among non-career employees, low ratings (1 or 2 stars out of a possible 5) outnumbered high ratings (4 or 5 stars) every year. In addition, non-career employees indicated they were less likely to recommend the Postal Service as an employer compared to career employees for each of the past six fiscal years.

The Postal Service has taken steps to study the employee experience. It has tracked employee turnover, measured engagement via the Postal Pulse survey, and implemented monthly non-career surveys. As the Postal Service continues its endeavors to reduce employee churn, online employee ratings present another opportunity to gather employee views.

Priscilla Lee, Bryant Switzky, Emily Bowen, Sophie Tripp, and Christopher Backley contributed to this report.