USPS performance plan makes goals clearer
Representatives of U.S. Postal Service managers say a new pay-for-performance system is working and that an added emphasis on midyear reviews is one positive effect of the program.
Officers of the National Association of Postmasters of the United States and the National League of Postmasters say that all postal managers received interim reviews this year.
That didn’t always happen under the previous program, leaving managers in the dark as to where they stood until the year was finished, said league President Steve LeNoir and NAPUS Executive Director Charlie Moser.
“The fact that we had 100 percent [of managers receive] midyear reviews is a major step toward a working pay-for-performance system,” LeNoir said.
The new program, called National Performance Assessment, replaced the Economic Value Added (EVA) program, which was canceled in 2002. Critics of the old bonus program complained that it did not set specific goals, awards were not handed out objectively, and managers did not know where they needed to improve.
Under the new program, managers will be judged on how well they met goals set by their superiors. Managers will also be judged on whether their postal facility and the Postal Service as a whole met expectations.
Moser said that while goals are clearer under the new program, there is still room for improvement. Managers’ goals are not always applied consistently, although, he said, he expects this to improve next year.
Moser said he expects there to be “bumps in the road” in the program’s first year.
Managers complained last fall that their individual goals — which covered leadership and communication — were unclear, LeNoir said. But he said those were clarified and the program is running more smoothly.
Leadership skills could be shown by working with the community and promoting the Postal Service, and communication skills could entail holding weekly safety talks, or letting workers know what the facility’s goals are and whether they are being met, LeNoir said.
And managers can check their progress on the Postal Service’s Web site, www.usps.com, under the new system. Managers’ progress is updated once a month, LeNoir said, and managers can send in questions about the system.
Managers contacted by Federal Times praised the new system, which they said gives them a better picture of what they need to accomplish to earn a raise.
“They’ve taken the subjectivity out of it,” said Kevin Schwab, a postmaster in Eldora, Iowa.
Darryl Martin, a plant manager at the Joseph Curseen Jr. and Thomas Morris Jr. Processing and Distribution Center in Washington, said under the new system, his evaluation is better tied to his performance.
“It’s an improvement over EVA,” Martin said. “You have that control in hand.”
Postmaster Kirk Edgecombe of Monticello, Ill., said his goals under the new program — such as improving delivery efficiency and Express mail delivery, and reducing accidents — are realistic.
“It puts more weight on things I have control over,” Edgecombe said. “It’s a positive step.”
Postmaster Clara McCullar, who oversees the three-route post office in Michie, Tenn., said she understands what her goals are, but she has spoken to postmasters at larger offices who complained about confusing goals. McCullar said she expects those problems to be corrected by next year.
McCullar said she prefers the annual raise she will receive under the new program to the one-time bonus payments the EVA program handed out. And she said that checking progress online is a great feature.
“When everything is perfected, it will be a much better system,” McCullar said.
Managers will receive their first raises under the new program in January 2005.
