IV. CUSTOMER-FOCUSED CULTURE

The Postal Service will continue to create a more customer-focused culture — employees with the right skills and behaviors for today‘s customer-centric environment. The Postal Service will continue to align the workforce with changing customer needs, new technologies, and emerging markets. Major strategies include attracting and retaining talent, engaging employees to provide outstanding service, and increasing accountability and recognition through performance-based management.

Success under these strategies will depend on the efforts of the nearly 800,000 career and temporary employees of the Postal Service. The new law changes many things, but not our employees‘ focus — delivering affordable universal service and creating new growth. The Postal Service will continue to clearly communicate expectations, reinforce performance, and eliminate workplace distractions. The rules of the business have changed and the workforce must be positioned to win. Employees will be guided to achieve optimum results through training and leadership development. Performance will be recognized and rewarded in direct relation to the outcomes necessary for success in the Postal Service‘s new business environment.

To meet customer expectations and advances in technology, employee roles will continue to evolve. Employees will be assessed for skills and competencies that fit organizational needs and advance the Postal Service‘s strategic direction. Workforce planning will be optimized by placing the right mix of employees, in the right location, at the right time. The commitment to being an employer of choice means a continuous effort to strive for trust, integrity, and valued employee contributions in a performance-driven environment.

1. Attract and Retain Talent

The Postal Service will continue to focus on its talent pool by developing employee strengths, identifying high performers, grooming future leaders, and recruiting to complement in-house resources. The focus is shifting toward more targeted and relevant training to help improve employee performance. Employees need to have a clear understanding of desired behaviors and outcomes from the start. All employee training programs will evolve from business strategies.

Develop Future Leaders

Continuous leadership development is a key Postal Service strategy focused on preparing leaders for the challenges to come. The organization‘s approach identifies individuals at all levels who best meet the desired attributes of true leadership for a customer-focused organization.

Educational opportunities will concentrate on creating the critical skills necessary to succeed. Leadership competency models have been updated for all levels to align with the strategic needs of the organization. To date, models consisting of up to eight competencies have been completed and incorporated in all executive training. The Postal Service will continue to use a corporate succession planning program to maintain leadership continuity. Strong educational opportunities and challenging management assignments will be used to develop people before moving them to positions with greater responsibility.

Talent Acquisition

Talent requirements will be forecasted to support current and future business strategies, such as skills required to leverage new pricing flexibilities. The Postal Service is focusing attention on recruiting new employees to fill the gaps. A strong campaign promoting the Postal Service as an employer of choice is being developed to attract employees to a postal career. These employee efforts are being made to develop a unified postal employment brand.

The Postal Service‘s corporate recruitment strategy is a proactive approach to assist in developing and sustaining critical workforce skills, while at the same time helping to balance the career and lifestyle goals of employees. Activities include participation with other federal agencies in annual career fairs and visits to colleges and universities to strengthen the existing talent base. Recruitment activities raise awareness of the Postal Service to assist in its efforts to fill vacancies, and develop and maintain skills profiles of qualified applicants. Today‘s employee is interested in a fulfilling career in which the work-life balance is considered and respected. The Postal Service will continue to strive to meet these expectations.