The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued its final rule for Phased Retirement on August 8, 2014.
The final rule states that agency implementation of this program is not mandatory; rather, implementation is discretionary for each agency. Agencies choosing to implement the program decide whether phased retirement will be available to all, some, or none of their employees.
The Postal Service™ has examined this program closely and has determined that it will not implement the program at this time. source: USPS.com
Overview from OPM
Phased Retirement is a human resources tool that allows full-time employees to work part-time schedules while beginning to draw retirement benefits. This new tool will allow managers to better provide unique mentoring opportunities for employees while increasing access to the decades of institutional knowledge and experience that retirees can provide.
I hedge the USPS……………..last 30 years been buying FDX. when UPS came on line in the 90’s started loading up on that stock, have not once regretted it while I see po descend into hell! under accounting GAAP rules the po is bankrupt. only propped by by a govt 20 trillion in debt……….and people say stocks are risky!
Trevor, I, too, think of win-wins. Constantly.
I’ve submitted quite a few ideas internally. Two of them in writing (before I started blogging the others) were to become EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail) and Same Day Express Mail.
I’m confident that with Megan Brennan – the First Female Post Master General at USPS since Feb 2015 – we’ll see improvement.
Re: Retirement If I can’t retire after 20 years or at least get the position answering 1-800-ask-USPS at least let me withdraw my TSP( tax and penalty-free to use it for a Start-Up in the private industry!) so I can stimulate the economy!
The USPS needs a team of internal auditors, perhaps mystery shoppers (the downtown LB PO Lobby hasn’t had a Domestic Price List in over a month now) and a good delegator, improving the bottom line and employee morale (and service!)
The USPS already has a “New Idea Person”. Me! KaRi (562)804-5625 former owner of 90809 dot com. YEP, many of US domains now belong to China, etc. But why not use ie. 90809 dot gov ? Another of my ideas for PDC’s – Preferred Digital Customers. ASK ME about that plan!
What are you smoking??
Nope, here they are just setting up the senior (40+ year) employees and then when they do something minor like “Taking a Burger King coupon out of the trash” they get walked out by the OIG. Then offered to take retirement or risk losing it for stealing! TRUE STORY!!!!
Not me Trevor. An veteran employee closing in on retirement may have family needs they could attend to without being shoved into an FMLA format. But as you say, these are archaic folk.
Back in the late 80’s I was a supervisor at a BMC on tour 1. I was awakened by a call from the Plant Managers secretary directing me to attend an important meeting in an hour. I got dressed and attended the meeting. The Plant Manager had just returned from a class at a University arranged for USPS managers. He announce to the groggy me and others that “we are going to change the culture of the Postal Service.” I thought, “what, are you going to resign?” He then said, “I am empowering you!” We started granting leave requests. We started calling overtime only when it was necessary.
With that as background, a week later he held another emergency meeting and said, “You’re not empowered any more! You’re too @#$% stupid to be empowered!”
When I hear about empowering employees, I think of that, and wince. If you are ever “empowered” use that gift quickly before it disappears.
Correct, Trevor.
Just like the archaic approach to managing. Rather than empowering employees to challenge themselves and manage their workday, we continue to be managed by the long debunked “scientific approach” to management. The numbers say this so you will do this, rather than actually managing the human element. This destroys morale and does not work. That is why only a few companies in the entire world still use this approach. Lucky us, eh?!
The USPS continues to cling to archaic and uninspired personnel policies that fail to put emphasis on employee morale. A program such as phased retirement, though not without implementation challenges, would provide clear benefits to both employees and employer. Instead of finding a way to make this a win-win, the USPS has decided to stick with the usual path of lose-lose. Anyone surprised?