OIG Says Postal Service Could Do a Better Job Controlling Absenteeism

OIG On Absenteeism

Excerpts from the USPS OIG Audit Report – Postal Service Absenteeism:

Conclusion

The Postal Service’s total absenteeism rate for major benefits is comparable to the total absenteeism rate of the federal sector, but higher than that of the civilian sector. We identified two potential causes for the difference between the Postal Service and the civilian sector absenteeism rates — the Postal Service offers more leave benefits than the civilian sector and they offer fewer incentives for employees to accumulate leave. In addition, we determined some supervisors were not complying with attendance control procedures related to unscheduled absences. We also determined that CSRS and FERS retirees use comparable amounts of sick leave in the last years before they retire.

Comparison to Federal and Civilian Sectors

The Postal Service’s total absenteeism rate for major benefits is comparable to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) rate for federal employees. However, it was almost double the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) rate for private industry and approximately 4 percent higher than the state and local government rate. The higher absenteeism rates of the Postal Service and the federal sector may be due to the fact that, comparatively, they offer more leave benefits (more hours) and fewer incentives to employees to bank leave. We are not making any recommendations regarding these findings.

Controls Over Unscheduled Absences

We estimated supervisors did not comply with Postal Service policies and procedures regarding unscheduled absences for at least 11,468 employees nationwide. We identified several causes, including lack of training, supervisors not using the Enterprise Resource Management System (eRMS) as the system of record for controlling unscheduled absences, and insufficient oversight. In addition, Labor Relations indicated they did not have adequate resources to monitor attendance control. As a result, overtime was used to cover 17.4 percent of the unscheduled sick leave4 and the Postal Service could have saved $4.0 million in overtime costs by following proper attendance control procedures during the 12-month audit period. Postal Service officials are responsible for administering the leave program and controlling unscheduled absences, while its employees are responsible for avoiding these types of absences. Labor Relations professionals stated they provided supervisors with training on attendance control and advice on proper corrective actions; however, opportunities exist to improve oversight and reduce unscheduled absences.

We recommend the area vice presidents require district managers to:

1. Provide refresher training to supervisors to ensure they are aware of unscheduled leave policies and procedures and the importance of following them.

2. Establish and implement internal controls to evaluate and ensure supervisors’ compliance with unscheduled leave policies and procedures (for example, performance and accountability measures or periodic management reviews).

3. Require supervisors and labor relations specialists to use the Enterprise Resource Management System to record employees’ inability to meet position requirements, corrective actions taken, and grievance data.

Management’s Comments

Management generally agreed with the findings and recommendations. Specifically, seven of the eight areas agreed with all three recommendations. Great Lakes area management agreed with recommendations one and two, but disagreed with recommendation three. They stated based on current Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with various unions, supervisors, and labor relations specialists should not document corrective actions and grievance data in an open system, because this could be viewed as a violation. Additionally, Eastern and Southeast area management commented on the accuracy of our monetary impact. Some area vice presidents also provided extensive documentation that supports their corrective actions. Although we have not included this information in this report, it is available upon request.

Evaluation of Management’s Comments

Overall, the OIG considers management’s comments responsive to the recommendations, and the corrective actions should resolve the issues identified in the report. Regarding the Great Lakes area management’s disagreement to recommendation 3, we reviewed the MOUs in question and determined they do not preclude management from implementing this recommendation. Additionally, the Privacy Act restricts disclosure of personally identifiable information by agencies and prescribes penalties for improper disclosure. Our recommendations are consistent with the routine uses contained in Postal Service policy, as all Postal Service employees are responsible for protecting such information, and its use would not excuse improper dissemination that could arise from access and use.The OIG considers all three recommendations significant, and therefore requires OIG concurrence before closure. Consequently, the OIG requests written confirmation when corrective actions are completed. These recommendations should not be closed in the Postal Service follow-up tracking system until the OIG provides written confirmation that the recommendations can be closed.

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5 Responses to "OIG Says Postal Service Could Do a Better Job Controlling Absenteeism"

  1. I can’t speak to the people on here who claim to work hard for USPS. All I know is the people at my local USPS are the laziest SOBs who have ever walked the face of the earth. They love to give out false information and don’t care at all about customer service. Everyone’s just punching the clock and passing the buck. USPS needs to be privatized now.

    Those of you working hard, I’ve read they offered 150,000 of the 646,000 USPS employees early retirement last March, was it not good enough to take?

  2. Started in 1969,drafted 1970,came back in 1984. Forward to 2010 and I now have a double hernia from carrying. All of management could care less. Most of them were only clerks. Have Jo Ann Feindt, VP Great Lakes try and do my job in the snow for a week and understand what a carrier puts up with! When you get down to it the CHIEFS have no idea and THEIR paperwork tells it like it is. If you’re not dead you can come to work and do your job, hernia or not. Come on down Jo Ann and give it a try. WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE EXCEPT A HERNIA OR TWO (or your dignity)
    PS Try finding Jo Ann Feindt’s adress online, won’t happen. Do you really think uper management wants to hear from a lowley carrier ? So here is my challenge to ANY high level manager, try to do my job for six days straight with a double hernia and tell me honestly that it’s no problem.

  3. I have been working for the USPS for 28 years the problem with unauthorized sick leave is that employees are working 6 days a week up to 10 and 12 hours a day. Employees who do not wish to work overtime are being forced to work over on a daily basis, including thier days off, and holidays. The body can only continue at this rate for so long.Dont get me wrong the USPS has been good to me but a body can only sustain so much before breaking down. We are not hiring any new fresh bodies(what management consideres of the employees) and at one point in my life i would love to know that when i clock in i will only be doing my job not part of the 12 vacant routes that does not have a body on it

  4. What have you been (smoking)? Management never leads by example…..Just do as your told and mind your business! Cheer up, when this business finally fails and the ship sinks, the idiots (management and supervisors) that steered the vessel unto the shoals will be out of a job too. Pay back is a bitch…..but sooooo sweet!

  5. In my office, we currently have a supervisor with 3000+ hours of S/L, who hasn’t been to work in months. He made his intentions to retire clear to everyone not long before disappearing. It’s considered a common practice to burn off unused S/L before retiring and this is practiced from the lowliest custodian on up the ladder.
    I would recommend a crack down on absenteeism from the top down rather than the bottom up. Management should lead by example.

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