Employee Engagement

We care about employee satisfaction. In 2015, the Postal Service replaced the Voice of the Employee survey with the Postal Pulse to measure employee engagement and encourage feedback on improving work environments. The goal of the Postal Pulse is to gauge workers’ job satisfaction, establish executive level oversight of the survey and determine a performance baseline. It’s designed to:

• Identify workplace perceptions and how they impact business unit performance.
• Train our leadership on the principles of employee engagement and creating an environment that fosters high levels of engagement.
• Provide postal leaders with a reporting platform that enables them to assess and act on survey results.
• Promote engagement and foster collaboration among leaders within the organization.

Managers can access survey results online and communicate results to their employees. More than 400 employee engagement leaders and champions have been trained at every level of the organization, and USPS has established an executive director of employee engagement who reports directly to the chief human resources officer.

Employee Training and Development

The Postal Service ensures that employees have the opportunity to develop and advance their careers. A variety of resources are available. These include:

• Sustainability in Practice — online suite of sustainability courses tailored to the needs of postal employees. These courses provide just-in-time information and practical guidance on topics that include an overview of USPS sustainability, Green Team orientation, lifecycle analysis, National Recycling Operation deployment and green information technology.
• Training courses — online and classroom training designed to help employees in different parts of the country comply with national and local environmental laws and regulations.
• National Center for Employee Development — training offered to employees who manage and maintain high-technology postal systems, vehicles and mail processing equipment using computer, video and Internet technology.
• Supervisory and Leadership Development — Supervisory, leadership and executive development courses integrate sustainability principles for participants in the New Supervisor Program, Managerial Leadership Program, Advanced Leadership Program and the Executive Leadership Program. These programs focus on a curriculum that develops Postal Service leaders.

Lean Green Teams

Lean Green Teams build on our efforts to create a culture of sustainability. This program encourages employees to mobilize at more than 1,400 facilities across the country to work on low– and no-cost projects to reduce consumption of facility energy, vehicle petroleum fuel and water, and decrease solid waste to landfills by diverting it to recycling.

Postmaster General Sustainability Excellence Awards

Outstanding Lean Green Team efforts and other informal employee initiatives gain recognition annually through the Postmaster General Sustainability Excellence Awards. These awards recognize teams at facilities, districts and areas, and at Headquarters, that contribute to a sustainable workplace. The award recipients demonstrate how their initiatives reduce energy consumption, vehicle petroleum use, waste sent to landfills, purchase of consumables or water use. In 2015, several teams were honored:

• We brake for inefficiency — an award for development of efficient, cost-effective and sustainable solutions surrounding logistics challenges: Headquarters — Vice President Network Operations Management.
• All to one, and one for all — an award for collaboration in enhancing recycling and sustainability practices: Great Lakes Area — Chicago Network Distribution Center.
• Still coming up ACEs — an award for enhancing electronic waste management and IT equipment recycling: Western Area — Remote Encoding Center.
• Your state thanks you — an award for positive environmental impact on local communities: Great Lakes Area — Detroit District.
• Welcome to the haul of fame — an award for increasing recycling quantities through transport efficiencies: Pacific Area — Sacramento District.
• LEDing the way with lighting — an award for innovation in lighting systems that have positive environmental impacts: Western Area — Grand Forks, ND, Post Office.
• Accelerating environmental benefits and cost savings — an award for leveraging existing infrastructure and sustainability practices for greater return on investment: Western Area — Rapid City, SD, Post Office.
• Shining the lights on service — an award for enhancing customer experiences through expressive sustainable lighting solutions: Northeast Area — Albany, NY, Post Office.
• Soaking up the savings — an award for environmentally beneficial operational solutions, that also had unexpected cost savings: Northeast Area — Northern New Jersey Metro Processing and Distribution Center.
• If it can be recycled, it will — an award for reducing landfill waste through enhanced waste collection practices: Western Area — Clatskanie, OR, Post Office.