Hiring/Retention

USPS looks to hire 2,800 front-line supervisors to improve staffing across network

The Postal Service is seeking to hire 2,800 front-line supervisors over the coming months, in an effort to improve staffing across its network.

Jory Heckman@jheckmanWFED

April 27, 2022 5:57 pm

4 min read

The Postal Service is seeking to hire 2,800 front-line supervisors over the coming months, in an effort to improve staffing across its network.

USPS is planning to hire supervisors to work in customer services, distribution operations, maintenance operations and transportation operations, and will host virtual career fairs through the summer.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, in a recent interview, said USPS is looking to staff up with front-line supervisors under its 10-year plan to improve operational efficiency.

“We haven’t filled our supervisor ranks. We have to get our supervisors fully staffed and have the right workloads and the right training [for] the most important position in the organization, in terms of running the organization, in terms of running the place. We’re working on all of that,” DeJoy said in an April 17 interview.

USPS is looking to fill Executive Administrative Schedule (EAS) Level 17 supervisory positions. Employees in EAS Level 17 positions earn a minimum annual salary of $57,650 and can earn up to $87,440 a year.

Current USPS career and non-career employees are eligible to apply for these positions. New jobs are posted every Tuesday. USPS will host monthly virtual career fairs from May through August.

This USPS hiring initiative marks the agency’s latest effort to bring entry-level, front-line supervisors on board.

USPS last August planned to fill about 900 EAS Level 17 supervisor positions ahead of the year-end peak holiday season.

USPS also sought to fill more than 100,000 non-management positions last year, including postal carriers, carrier assistants, tractor-trailer operators, mail processors and mail handler assistants.

The agency is staffing up on supervisors after making Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) offers to eligible non-bargaining unit employees, followed by a non-voluntary Reduction in Force (RIF).

But the push to fill thousands of vacant supervisor positions isn’t at odds with the agency right-sizing its non-union workforce last year.

Former National Association of Postal Supervisors President Brian Wagner said last August that the RIF mostly impacted employees working in administrative support functions, but not supervisors in charge of operations in the field, such as getting mail and packages processed and delivered.

Wagner also some NAPS members impacted by RIF were “directly reassigned” to another USPS job, while others had the chance to apply for vacant management-level positions.

Wagner said USPS worked closely with NAPS throughout the RIF process to ensure all affected employees find “landing spots,” or alternate positions within the agency, rather than face layoffs.

He said last August that all but 540 of the nearly 2,000 USPS employees affected by the RIF had found new positions within the agency.

The RIF, Wagner added, also allowed USPS to adjust its workforce as it consolidated its 67 districts into 50 districts that more closely align with state boundaries.

USPS, in the hiring announcement on its website, described the open supervisor positions as a “stepping stone for many employees on their career paths.”

USPS Chief Retail and Delivery Officer Josh Colin said in a statement that he previously worked as a front-line supervisor, and urged agency employees to apply.

“Have a plan and a goal for your career,” Colin said. “Take on the tough assignments — it’s the way to build skills, learn the business and elevate your understanding of the organization.”

DeJoy, meanwhile, said USPS is focused on standardizing processes across its delivery network and making sure the agency’s workforce has a “clarify of purpose.”

He said one of his next big projects is overhauling the agency’s sprawling network of facilities. DeJoy said he’s collected hundreds of handbooks across USPS operations, some of which haven’t been updated in decades.

“Everywhere is different. There is not one thing consistent about operations — I’m exaggerating a little bit. That brings stress to management,” DeJoy said.

USPS last year also converted more than 63,000 pre-career employees to career positions, in an effort to reduce workforce turnover. DeJoy said the agency has also standardized the process for new hires to secure a career position with better pay and benefits.

As for the next steps under the 10-year plan, DeJoy said USPS also has human resources and operations initiatives in the works to make USPS a “more welcoming place” for its employees.

“I don’t have a culture problem, I don’t have a talent problem. I have an operational strategy and organizational strategy issue that we are in the mend on — and we are in the process of mending,” DeJoy said.