May 22, 2019

The American Postal Workers Union told its members on May 21: “Don’t Let the Postal Service Take Your Pulse!”  Depending on their occupation, the 200,000 APWU members belong to the Clerk, Maintenance, Motor Vehicle, or Support Services divisions.

“It is that time of the year when the Postal Service wants to take your pulse!  Like previous years, the 2018 Postal Pulse survey showed the USPS what we already knew: Your work environment is not good; your supervisors treat you poorly and morale is low. The mean score changed by less than one-tenth of a point—suggesting nothing has changed at the Post Office. One statistic that trended in the right direction in the APWU’s opinion, was employee participation in the survey.  It went down from 46% in 2017 to 42% in 2018.  The APWU’s goal is a zero-participation rate.

The APWU implores you once again:  Do not participate in the 2019 Postal Pulse Survey.  You are probably being flooded with emails, postcards to your home, stand-up talks, posters on time clocks, and other tactics to try to get you to take the survey.”

Postal Times describes the annual employee survey as follows:

“USPS will conduct its next Postal Pulse employee survey from Tuesday, May 14-Friday, June 14.

The survey measures engagement — employees’ involvement, enthusiasm and commitment to their work. USPS uses the feedback to improve its workplaces.

The survey, which takes about 5 minutes to complete, consists of 13 questions and a comments box that employees can use to offer feedback in their own words.

Bargaining employees will receive the survey at home and at work, while non-bargaining employees can complete the survey via email on a secure site run by Gallup, the organization that conducts the Postal Pulse.

Additionally, all employees can take the survey on LiteBlue.

Although the Postal Service provides employees with multiple options to participate, only the first survey received by Gallup for each employee is counted. Gallup doesn’t share individual employees’ responses with USPS.

The Employee Engagement LiteBlue page has additional information.

The APWU explains why employees should not participate in surveys, focus groups, or other management efforts to improve engagement: “And now, in 2019, the survey is being pushed immediately before the APWU will begin interest arbitration with the Postal Service to establish a contract.  There is more than a good chance that the results of this survey will be utilized, as has been done previously, in interest arbitration against you.  The Postal Pulse and any initiatives to get you to participate are not in your best interest. Participation in these programs will not fix the issues.”