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    Pre-Career Retention Initiatives Cover
Mar
31
2025
Report Number:
24-131-R25
Report Type:
Audit Reports
Category: Human Resources, Service Performance

Pre-Career Retention Initiatives

Background

The U.S. Postal Service relies on pre‑career employees to supplement its regular workforce. Pre-career employees are temporary workers who do not receive the same employee benefits as career employees and are not always guaranteed a regular schedule. The Postal Service’s 10-year strategic plan identified “unacceptably high rates of pre‑career employee turnover” as a key challenge and created a goal of stabilizing and empowering the workforce, which included a reduction of pre‑career workforce turnover by 50 percent.

What We Did

Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Postal Service’s national and local initiatives to improve the pre‑career employee experience and retention. We conducted site visits at 12 judgmentally selected facilities and interviewed district human resources personnel, facility managers, and pre‑career employees to understand the Postal Service’s retention initiatives.

What We Found

The Postal Service created the 511 Initiative, which is designed to stabilize the workforce and improve the employee experience by focusing on reducing the separation rate and improving the retention rate of the pre‑career workforce. However, opportunities exist for the Postal Service to improve the initiative and its national standardization of the pre‑career employee experience and retention. Specifically, we found the Postal Service has not expanded its pre‑career pilot site locations since 2022, and did not create any new pre‑career retention pilot programs in fiscal years 2023 or 2024. In addition, we found the 511 Initiative was not fully understood nationwide and challenges exist with pre‑career employees receiving coaching and feedback from facility management.

Recommendations and Management’s Comments 

We made five recommendations to address the opportunities to improve the 511 initiative and its national standardization identified in the report. Postal Service management agreed with all five recommendations. Management’s comments and our evaluation are at the end of each finding and recommendation. The U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) considers management’s comments responsive to all recommendations as corrective actions should resolve the issues identified in the report.

Report Recommendations

# Recommendation Status Value Initial Management Response USPS Proposed Resolution OIG Response Final Resolution
1

Update the Learning Management System to require and assign all facility managers overseeing pre-career employees to take Delivering the New Employee Experience training.

Open $0 Agree
2

Reiterate the importance of the 511 Initiative best practices and facility managers responsibilities to ensure national compliance and standardization of the initiative.

Open $0 Agree
3

Assess the benefits of the implemented Retention and Mentor Pilot programs and develop strategies to improve annual retention rates for all pre-career crafts.

Open $1,437,662 Agree
4

Require Postal Service Forms 1750 to be tracked and monitored in the Retail and Delivery Applications and Reports system for all facilities instead of only pilot sites.

Open $0 Agree
5

Require all operations to use the electronic Postal Service Form 1750 web-based application once implemented.

Open $0 Agree