The Voice of the Employee (VOE) survey was revised last year to measure employee engagement. What is significant about employee engagement? Employee engagement fosters and drives discretionary behavior, eliciting employees’ best ideas and their genuine commitment to the success of our organization. Engaged employees feel valued, understand how they contribute to the organization’s success, and work harder as a result.
External research shows a connection between employee engagement and business performance as a stronger indicator than any other measure of employee attitude and business performance. Analyses of VOE survey data conducted over the past year have consistently shown a significant relationship between employee engagement and the performance of the Postal Service™. Districts with higher VOE index scores tend to have better performance on several National Performance Assessment (NPA) indicators including Express Mail®, First-Class™ Overnight, First-Class 2-day, and First-Class 3–5 day service. Furthermore, more engaged districts have lower rates of motor vehicle accidents, injuries, and illnesses.
The quarter one, fiscal year 2011, results for the VOE survey are completed. More than 76,000 employees — 54 percent of those surveyed — responded. Of those who responded to the survey, 64.6 percent replied favorably. The majority of our employees understand the Postal Service’s strategic direction and how their work affects the organization’s success. Seventy-five percent of employees say they are proud to work for the Postal Service. Seventy-nine percent are aware of the security measures in the workplace, and the same percentage believes they have been properly trained to do their jobs.
The quarter two surveys are being mailed out now. Ensure all employees are given the opportunity to confidentially complete our employee engagement survey and return it by February 21.
source: USPS
i got the post card last time but not the survey. mgmt knows i won’t fill it out so they probably did it for me!
Sirs, just a few questions,
1) Is the fact that 46% of the employees did not respond meaningful even though they were provided with return envelopes and allowed to fill out the survey on the clock?
2) How can it be called the “Voice of the Employee” if all the questions are written by management?
3) If the Post Office and their managers held to the ethics and credibility that they swore to uphold they would not be in the position to be embarrassed by having to hire allegedly independent auditors to speak to their own employees.
4) the work situation in post offices across the country is a disgrace.
again how much money is wasted on this meaningless program?total waste
Once again flawed numbers. How can you take the results seriously? I mean get real here. Just over 1/2 of employees surveyed responded. 76,000 responded. That means that 150,000 +/- were surveyed. That is 1/3rd of the workforce. So let’s break this down into the simplest terms. Approx 1/6th of the total work force responded. Of those 64% responded “favorably”. So about 1/12th of the workforce says there happy. So around 4,200 +/-employees out of over 500,000 are the basis for these conclusions.Yea that’s a set of numbers I’d use to set my course.
Why are these dopes still doing these surveys?
Well, I received a post card saying that I was going to be getting one several months ago, however, I NEVER received the VOE survey! I guess I am in the 46 percentile. 🙂
YOUR MGRS IN THE LONG ISLAND DISTRICT ARE CRUEL AND INHUMAN TO EMPLOYEES WITH MEDICAL PROBLEM AND FORCE PEOPLE TO RETIRE WITH THIS CONDITIONS ARE MGRS TO TREAT ALL EMPLOYESS WITH DIGNITY AND RESPECT ?
oops…just read the last paragraph..
How can the results be in when i just received my survey today?
So this means at least 46% of the employees just don’t care.
OH MY GOD!! MAYBE WE SHOULD BE FILLING OUT THESE SURVEYS. WE HAVE KNOWN FOR MONTHS NOW THAT A SCHEME CHANGE IS GOING TO BE NECESSARY. HOW MUCH TRAINING HAVE WE RECEIVED?? VIRTUALLY NONE!! MANAGEMENT’S LEVEL OF CONCERN? ZERO. GO FIGURE!!! LOCAL MANAGEMENT ISN’T CONCERNED, BUT WE SHOULD BE??? NOT!!!
Here’s the challenge, USPS, submit the raw data from the surveys to an independent body for evaluation. The Postal Service is known for manipulating data. Just yesterday we have confirmation or at least acknowledgment from the PMG that extra-ordinary means have been used to pad EXFC numbers. We have former PMG Potter’s infamous $238 billion figure which seems to have appeared out of thin air with no substantiation.
The validity of the VOE is severely compromised. Without even trying to parse the numbers offered in this release one must be skeptical from the start. The submission rates of the survey are part of the NPA process which ought to draw some attention to the administration of the surveys. In some Districts managers are told to coax employees to give non-neutral responses, an act that’s certainly likely to taint the data.
“Districts with higher VOE index scores tend to have better performance on several National Performance Assessment (NPA) indicators including Express Mail®, First-Class™ Overnight, First-Class 2-day, and First-Class 3–5 day service. Furthermore, more engaged districts have lower rates of motor vehicle accidents, injuries, and illnesses.”
So is the correlation that employees are more engaged and perform better in those Districts or that the art of massaging numbers has been mastered to a greater degree?
The Orwellian use of data and the art of doublespeak are demonstrated characteristics of the postal world. Read the briefs submitted in the five day and exigent cases by the Postal Service for an education of redefining terms and data to suit one’s ends and purposes.
As Congress, the regulators, and the Executive Branch examine the way forward for the Postal Service one of their first tasks ought to be examining the credibility and validity of statistical means and methods.