U.S. Postal Service

This report supplements an earlier GAO report (GAO/GGD-00-76, Mar. 2000) on the representation of women and minorities in management-level jobs at the U.S. Postal Service. GAO provides statistical information on the representation of women and minorities in Executive and Administrative Schedule (EAS) levels 16 through 26 in the Service nationwide for fiscal year 1999. GAO also describes for the Chicago, Illinois, and Akron, Ohio, postal districts the (1) representation of women and minorities in EAS levels 16 through 26, (2) initiatives undertaken to promote diversity, and (3) lessons identified by district officials that seek to increase diversity. GAO also provides information on alleged equal employment opportunity concerns at the Youngstown, Ohio, postal site.

GAO noted that: (1) at the end of FY 1999, women and minorities in USPS' districts represented a district average of about 49 percent of the EAS 16 through 26 workforce; (2) the representation of women and minorities in EAS levels 16 through 26 in USPS' 83 districts ranged from about 22 percent to 95 percent; (3) in Chicago, women and minorities represented about 93 percent of the EAS 16 through 26 workforce compared with their overall workforce representation of 92 percent; (4) in Akron, the representation of women and minorities in the district's EAS 16 through 26 workforce was about 41 percent compared with their overall workforce representation of about 46 percent at the end of FY 1999; (5) in Chicago, black men and women represented about 84 percent of the EAS 16 through 26 workforce in FY 1999--white, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American men and women represented about 16 percent; (6) in Akron, white men and women represented about 81 percent of the EAS 16 through 26 workforce in FY 1999--black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American men and women represented about 19 percent; (7) both the Chicago and Akron district offices are using the Associate Supervisor Program (ASP) to increase the representation of women and minorities in EAS levels 16 through 26; (8) ASP has provided opportunities for a diverse group of employees from lower grade levels to be trained and eventually promoted into first-level supervisory positions; (9) to improve other aspects of diversity, both districts are using a national alternative dispute resolution program referred to as REDRESS (Resolve Employment Disputes, Reach Equitable Solutions Swiftly) to facilitate discussion between managers and employees on individual EEO complaint issues; (10) Chicago and Akron have also developed their own individual initiatives to promote appreciation for cultural differences; (11) according to district officials in Chicago and Akron: (a) management must demonstrate its commitment to diversity; (b) training and career development programs must be made available to provide opportunities for women and minorities to ascend to supervisory and management-level positions; and (c) an environment that encourages communications and cultural appreciation between management and employees must be established; (12) regarding the alleged EEO concerns at the Youngstown postal site, district records show that race and sex discrimination were most often cited as the bases for the complaints; and (13) management, union representatives, and employees had different opinions about the source of the problem.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Team: Phone: