Over the next 2 years the Postal Service will reassess the current system to enhance and refine it as appropriate and will continue to explore the possibility of incorporating pay-for-performance initiatives at every level of the organization. Proposed models for including bargaining unit employees in a pay-based performance system will be studied. Private sector practices and alternative models will also be analyzed and considered.

Continue Workforce Environment Improvements

Under the 2002 Transformation Plan the Postal Service began to build a highly effective and motivated workforce. The Voice of the Employee (VOE) survey is an employee opinion survey designed to assess the workplace environment. Each year, all career employees have the opportunity to respond to the VOE survey, which compiles their opinions on a wide range of work-related issues. The VOE survey gauges employee perception of the Postal Service overall, of the specific environment in which they work, and of the employee's immediate supervisor.

The VOE survey reveals that the workplace environment has improved substantially and continues to improve. Current efforts, initiatives, and systems have all contributed to an increase in the Postal Service's VOE survey index. The index is comprised of six questions about key workplace factors that can impact employee performance and thus affect business outcomes. The index rating is composed of favorable responses to these six questions. Nationally, the VOE index rating has improved steadily, from 58.1 in 2001, to the current 2005 rating of 63.3. Analyzing survey results helps identify organizational issues in order to plan improvement strategies. The Postal Service will continue to maintain a workplace that is safe and conducive to performance, values the uniqueness of all employees, and leverages the talents that every individual brings to the organization.

Perhaps the greatest investment the Postal Service can make for employees is maintaining a safe work environment — making sure they return home to their families each day the same way they came in to work. Under the 2002 Transformation Plan, several innovative programs were implemented to improve employee safety. The "Safety Depends on Me" campaign is a series of multimedia safety communications designed to target employees' attention and cooperation to prevent safety hazards, such as slips, trips and falls, materials handling and lifting, industrial accident reductions, and motor vehicle safety. Two programs that had major impacts were the Ergonomic Risk Reduction Process (ERRP) and the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). Through partnership with the American Postal Workers and the National Postal Mail Handlers Unions, in conjunction with OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, ERRP teams at 69 sites developed solutions that have reduced lifting and handling accidents 75 percent more than in non-ERRP sites.