![](media/image1.jpeg){width="3.9118055555555555in"
height="2.4479166666666665in"}

***Co-Chairs:***

***Alma L. Lee, President, AFGE-NVAC***

***Labor Co-Chair***

***Meghan Serwin Flanz, DAS for LMR***

***Management Co-Chair***

**January 8, 2008**

**[Welcome and Introductions]{.underline}**

Meghan Flanz and Alma Lee welcomed the group. The NPC members present
were:

Susan Anderson

Ann Converso

Meghan Flanz

Alberta Franklin

Elaine Gerace

Rosell Knight

Alma Lee

Claudia Moore

Christine Polnak

Robert Redding

Alice Staggs

Richard Thomesen

Bruce Triplett

Dick Wannemacher

Bill Wetmore

James Whitson

**[Looking Ahead]{.underline}**

The NPC discussed the pros and cons of having meeting sessions last two
or three days. The group decided to try alternating meetings with a
two-day session to be followed by a three-day session and so forth.
During the three-day sessions the NPC will tour the VHA, VBA and/or NCA
facilities in the area where the meeting is held. During two-day
sessions, the agenda may not allow time for tours.

The NPC also discussed the status of the Secretary's Labor Management
Award application process. Thus far, LMR has only received two
applications as well as one request for an extension. The NPC decided to
extend the application period until March 31, 2008 but to take into
consideration whether an applicant had met the original deadline when
evaluating the applications. LMR will provide additional information
about the award to the Administrations and the Unions for dissemination
through their own communication channels. In addition, the application
period extension will be broadcast on Hey VA as well as on the Leave and
Earning Statements.

Alma asked a question about the status of the Partnership Primer on 38
USC 7422 matters. Meghan said she thought the Primer was rescinded by
the Department. Alma asked how the Department could suspend something
that was signed by the NPC. Meghan is going to pull the paperwork for
distribution.

The NPC discussed possible locations for the April meeting. The group's
first choice was Phoenix, with St. Louis as a back-up. The dates will be
April 7-11^th^ with travel on the 7^th^ and 11^th^.

Alma asked about VHA's limitation on lodging and meals and incidental
expenses for NPC meetings, and in particular asked signed the memo
setting that limitation. Meghan agreed to forward a copy of the memo to
Alma.

**[Pay Caps for Nurse Anesthetists & Pharmacists]{.underline}**

Donna Schroeder informed the Council that pay caps for nurse anethetists
and pharmacists are set by 38 U.S.C. 7451 and 7455. VHA is working with
OMB on a legislative proposal to raise the caps, but no legislative fix
is in place yet. When asked whether pharmacist grades could be raised to
get around the pay caps, Donna said that it is not appropriate to change
grade to address a salary issue. She stated that this is a long-standing
issue and they are seeking relief.

**[Nursing Issues Update]{.underline}**

Rosell Knight reported on behalf of the Office of Nursing Services.

Rosell reported that Dr. Kussman has signed a memo that makes three
changes to VHA Handbook 5005 as it relates to Title 38 appointments
which will expedite hiring of clinical staff. Any bargaining obligations
must be fulfilled before these changes can be implemented. The changes
are:

1.  VA Handbook 5005 Part II, Chapter 3, Section B, paragraph 15 which
    would allow primary source verification electronically from State
    Licensing Boards with printed electronic verification as evidence of
    licensure.

2.  VA Handbook 5005 Part II, Chapter 3, Section B, paragraph 4 would
    give local facilities the discretion to decide how many references
    are required prior to appointment. Three references are still
    required but only one reference is required prior to appointment and
    the remaining references must be provided within 90 days after
    appointment. If the applicant is a prior VA employee, references
    from the previous two VA facilities (or the past ten years) must be
    provided.

3.  VA Handbook 5005 Part II, Chapter 3, Section B, paragraph 3, allows
    on-line verification of transcripts.

Next Rosell reported on 36/40 Alternative Work Schedules for nurses.
This work schedule presents challenges in terms of time-keeping, but has
been addressed at least temporarily through a November 16^th^ patch.
When a nurse's 36/40 tour spans two administrative work weeks, the
current PAID system may issue an overpayment. Waivers for repayment of
these overpayments may be granted in limited circumstances. OHRM just
sent an email out indicating they are working on a policy re-defining
the administrative work week, which should remedy the overpayment
situation. Several Labor Partners responded that AWS has not been used
at most facilities as a retention or recruitment incentive. Ann Converso
indicated that publishing the potential for these AWS and then not
implementing them lowers employee morale. Bruce Triplett indicated that
the 36/40 AWS is not appropriate for every work unit and is also
expensive, so the big picture at each facility must be considered.
Rosell will try to provide information in the April meeting as to how
many facilities are using the 36/40 AWS and also attempt to get
information from the nurse execs regarding best practices.

Rosell also reported on Professional Standards Boards for LPNs. Three
VISN-level LPN boards have been established to consider requests for
reconsideration submitted by LPNs whose facility-level boards have
denied promotion to GS-6. A VACO LPN board will do requests for
reconsideration for employees not promoted to GS -7. The VISN level
boards address the following locations: (1) East Coast (Mountain Home,
Tenn.) board covering VISNs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9; (2) Central
board (Ann Ardor, Mich.) covering VISNs 10, 11, 12, 23 (the old 13 and
14), 15 and 16, and a(3) West Coast board ( Phoenix, AZ.) covers VISNs
17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22.

Rosell also reported on pilot testing of a standardized Fall Risk
Assessment and Post-Fall Notes. The pilot is scheduled to begin in
January 2008 at 23 facilities and will last approximately 6 weeks. This
pilot merely standardizes how information on patients' fall risks is
collected and doesn't add new requirements.  The purpose of
standardizing the template is to allow the data to be rolled up
nationally so trends can be assessed and addressed at the national
level.

Five Federal Recovery Coordinators have been hired and placed at
military facilities with plans to hire five more. Their function is to
coordinate between VA, DOD and HHS to allow veterans who receive care
and/or benefits from more than one agency to have a single point of
contact coordinating their care. The Coordinators will monitor care
provided at the facility level but will not make specific decisions or
recommendations about treatment plans.

With respect to the VA Nursing Academy, VHA Office of Academic
Affiliations is preparing the announcement for proposals to be submitted
for funding for four additional partnerships to begin in 2008-2009
academic year.

Rosell also reported on the status of the Travel Nursing Corps. The
Corps has hired its first nurse, who is working at the Phoenix VAMC, and
is planning to hire 3-5 more nurses in January '08. The program will be
based in Phoenix. The nurses will have some say in where they want to be
assigned but facilities' needs will also be a factor. In order for
retired nurses to work in the Travel Nursing Corps without adverse
impact on their retirement pay, a dual compensation waiver must be
granted from OPM.

The announcement for the Secretary's Award for Nursing Excellence has
been national disseminated.

**[NCA Updates]{.underline}**

Dick Wannemacher gave the NCA update. First, Dick reported that that NCA
had the highest score in customer satisfaction for a federal agency or
private corporation in a 2007 survey conducted by the American Customer
Satisfaction Index, with a rating of 95 out of 100, and 98% of
respondents reported that NCA served their loved ones in a respectful
way. NCA also received a 95 in the last survey conducted in 2004.

Dick reported the following statistics for NCA Operations in FY 2007:
100,185 interments, 359, 530 headstone and marker requests processed,
423,143 Presidential Memorial Certificates mailed, nearly 2.8 million
gravesites maintained by 1527 FTEs at 157 properties. Currently 65
cemeteries are open, 21 for cremation only and 39 are closed. NCA has
requested \$508 million budget for FY 2008, \$167 million for major
construction. This is for six new cemeteries in Bakersfield, CA;
Birmingham, AL; Columbia, SC; Jacksonville and Sarasota, FL and
Philadelphia, PA., as well as expansion of Fort Sam Houston National
Cemetery in San Antonio. Currently, NCA's busiest cemetery, in
Riverside, CA, averages 33 burials a day. There are 24 million veterans
in the US. In 2008, NCA projects we will lose more than 682,000
veterans.

Between 2005 and 2010, NCA projects that 20 new state veterans
cemeteries will be built, complementing 11 new national cemeteries to be
built in the same time period. Once these open new cemeteries open, 90%
of America's veterans will reside within 75 miles of a veterans
cemetery. Since August of 2005, five new national cemeteries have
opened. They are located in PA, MI, GA, CA and FL.

Since 1973 the VA has provided more than 9.5 million headstones and
markers.

Of the 846 soldiers who have died during OEF and OIF and are buried in
veterans cemeteries, 699 are buried in national cemeteries (457 in
Arlington) and 147 in state veterans cemeteries. NCA has furnished 2932
headstones and markers for veterans of OEF and OIF.

**[Project HERO (Healthcare Effectiveness through Resource
Optimization)]{.underline}**

Greg Eslinger of VHA's Chief Business Office addressed the NPC on
Project HERO. This is a demonstration project designed to allow the VA
to buy patient care services more cost-effectively when the VA cannot
provide the care itself internally.  While the main objective of the VA
continues to be to provide in-house care, when the care must be
purchased, Project HERO allows VA to contract with provider networks
that are contractually obligated to meet VA's qualitative care standards
and to provide VA with the information necessary to document the care
provided in patients' VA medical records.  This allows veterans access
to a network of pre-qualified and credentialed providers.  The Project
HERO pilot program involves VISNs 8, 16, 20 and 23, which encompass 25%
of all veterans in the U.S. and 30% of all purchased care within the VA
system. 

The VA will purchase care in the areas of mental health,
medical/surgical, diagnostic, dialysis, and dental care, but ONLY when
VA staff cannot provide the service.  Each VISN or VAMC can purchase
these services.  This will improve specialty services to veterans in
underserved areas.  Currently if a veteran is referred to a specific
doctor, that doctor must be credentialed and privileged.  The network
will provide this service under the Project HERO contract.  In the
majority of the contracts the rates are lower than Medicare.

Under this program, VA has contracted with Humana Veterans Healthcare
Services for medical services and Delta Dental Federal Services for
dental services. 

A governing board has been formed to oversee this pilot and ensure that
all veterans are getting high-quality care as well as communicate the
activities and status of Project HERO to the VISN teams.  The contracts
cannot be changed without approval of the governing board.  A contract
administration board will be established to provide guidance concerning
changes to the scope of the contract.  The cost, volume and type of care
will be monitored. Quality of care will be measured and the contract
providers must provide information monthly.  There is also an auditing
process in place.  There will be monthly, quarterly and annual reports. 
There will be a hotline number and the number and type of complaints
will be tracked. The quality of care will be evaluated based on
secondary sources and this information will be reported annually. 
Project HERO is also considering distributing local surveys to report
veteran satisfaction with the service provided by non-VA providers.

The networks have strict timelines to report clinical information to the
VA which differs with the type of care (i.e. urgent or routine) so that
the information gets into the patient records at the VA.

After the Project HERO presentation, the NPC toured the Audie L. Murphy
VA Medical Center.

**[January 9, 2008]{.underline}**

The day began with a tour of the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. The
NPC was joined by Mr. Michael W. Hager, Assistant Secretary for Human
Resources and Administration. The tour was very informative and the
cemetery was beautiful.

We returned to the Medical Center for lunch and met with some of the
local union officers to discuss issues and provide advice on the
partnership process. The AFGE locals agreed to participate in mediation
and work out some internal issues.

**[Permanent Change of Station (PCS) Calculated Lump Sum (CLS)
Program]{.underline}**

Rodney Wood, Director of VA's Financial Services Center, addressed the
NPC on the topic of the PCS CLS program. The VA
currently processes about 1,000 PCS per year.  Congress established the
Governmentwide Relocation Advisory Board (GRAB) in 2004 to look at how
PCSs are accomplished with emphasis being placed on human capital. Under
the current system, the employee who makes a reimbursable PCS move must
keep receipts of all reimbursable expenses, complete and submit expense
reports, and incur the cost prior to receiving reimbursement.  The
Agency must review the claim for accuracy and completeness and then
approve payment.  The CLS, which is entirely voluntary on the part of
the employee, provides an option for a more streamlined process.  The
options for PCS are explained to the employee by the employee\'s
relocation counselor.  If the employee elects the CLS, he or she will
receive an upfront calculated lump sum for his/her house hunting trip,
en route travel, miscellaneous expenses, temporary lodging and
withholding tax allowance.  This figure is based on a VA-determined
calculation, which takes into account the number of dependants that
accompany the employee on the move and the distance between old and new
duty location.   No receipts or expense reports are required; the
employee's only responsibility is to be at work on the first duty day at
his or her new job.  If the employee spends more than the CLS payment,
he or she is responsible for the overage.  If the employee spends less
than the CLS, he or she keeps the extra money.  This program is
authorized by Public Law 105-264 and by GSA regulations Currently six VA
employees process the PCS paperwork and implementation of this program
will not eliminate any jobs.

**[Management Analysis/Business Process Reengineering
(MA/BPR)]{.underline}**

Aubrey Weekes came to provide an update on MA/BPR. The initial study
phase of the program was completed at the end of 2007. The Laundry and
Food Services teams project the potential for a \$77 million savings
over five years without termination of a single employee. Nationally
these teams are looking at over 170 ways to improve operations. This
will give the Agency a most efficient template in case we are ever
approached about competitive sourcing.

The next steps are to distribute Statement of Goals document to VISN
Leadership stressing the need to work with local unions on
implementation; transition the pilot studies into
operation/implementation of their designs, assess and revise the program
in anticipation of full rollout; and rollout the program in 2008.

Chris Polnak indicated that she had yet to be invited to attend any
local leve meetings about this program. Aubrey indicated that VISN
leadership had been instructed to include the local unions in the
implementation phase. He will send out an email to the VISN 2 person
reiterating this and will copy Chris on this email. He will also get the
word out that any changes happening at more than one location must go
through LMR to ensure the appropriate union notifications are made at
the national level. Bill Wetmore asked about the implementation date and
if this would have to be delayed while bargaining was done. Aubrey
responded that the next phase is implementation which includes all
notification and bargaining. The NPC members suggested changes to the
Statement of Goals document which made it clearer that the NPC had not
endorsed this program. A copy of the revised document is attached to
these minutes.

![](media/image2.wmf)

**[VHA Update]{.underline}**

Vivieca Wright reported on recent activities in VHA. She reported that
VA's new Secretary, Dr. James Peake, has identified as key issues the
VBA claims backlog, rural health services provided through CBOCs,
outreach and Vet Centers), and care for returning OEF/OIF veterans.

Vivieca reported that suicide prevention remains a continuing priority.
A new suicide prevention hotline is up and running and facilities are
looking again at suicide risks within their physical plants to ensure
that there is a safe environment for patients. This will involve a
comprehensive review to make sure all items on the risk assessment
checklist have been completed and set up an on-going review process.

The VA Office of the Inspector General completes Combined Assessment
Program (CAP) reviews of VA Medical Centers on a regular basis and has
recently posted CAP review reports for the Manchester, NH VAMC; the
Greater Los Angeles VA Health Care System; the Erie, PA VAMC; the
Philadelphia VAMC; the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System; the Sioux
Falls VAMC; the Durham NC VAMC; and the Hines IL VAMC on its website
(www.va.gov/OIG). .

Dr. Steve Brown from Nashville is working on the Compensation and
Pension (C&P) examination certification test, which providers must
complete to qualify to perform C&P exams. This is to insure consistency
in the exams.

**[Office of Resolution Management Update]{.underline}**

Rosa Franco and Tracy Therit presented an update on activities within
the Office of Resolution Management (ORM). Ms. Franco's presentation
focused on two of the four ORM Strategic Goals, Early Resolution and
Process Improvement. This is the first time in ten years that these
measurements have been this high and it is due to the partnership
between labor and management in this area. While informal contacts with
EEO managers have increased, the good news is that the resolution rate
at the informal phase has also incrased. ORM has also brought its
investigation times down, with the processing time from the filing of a
formal complaint to the completion of the investigation now averaging
178 days. This is down from a high of 204 days in FY 06.

Tracey Therit thanked the NPC for its letter of support for the ADR
program. All three Administrations and CO increased the percentage of
cases in which ADR is offered as well as the percentage of cases in
which the parties elect to participate in ADR.. When people elect to use
ADR, more than half of the cases result in a resolution of the dispute,
withdrawal of the complaint, or the complainant declines to proceed with
a formal complaint.

ORM implemented its new ADR Tracker System on October 1, 2007. This
system tracks the use of ADR both within and outside the EEO process and
interfaces with the EEO tracking system.

ORM is working to improve the VA's Mediator Certification Program by
better defining the initial and continuing training programs and
experience requirements. ORM also wants to provide incentives for
certified neutrals. An ADR Awards program has been developed to
recognize the ADR accomplishments of individuals and programs. The draft
award criteria are going through the concurrence process and ORM hopes
to have the awards in place in time to give awards for FY 08 ADR
efforts.

ORM is also working to increase ADR choices and make sure the programs
address the needs of the people involved. A continued emphasis is to
increase the use of ADR prior to or in lieu of the EEO process. ADR
education continues to be a focus as ORM works to increase understanding
and acceptance of ADR. A suggestion was made to plan a national ADR
conference and perhaps to address the VISN Directors' conference in DC.

**[January 10, 2008]{.underline}**

**[VA Handbook 5005 re: Backdating Promotions]{.underline}**

Kent Wellman of the Office of Human Resources Management spoke via
telephone about a proposed change to the Title 38 portion of VA Handbook
5005 that will allow for retroactive promotions if a promotion
recommendation is administratively delayed beyond within 90 days of the
employee's anniversary date. Alice Staggs pointed out that this has been
a priority for UAN since 2003 and asked for a timeline for completing
the policy change. Mr. Williams indicated he would try to get something
out in the next six weeks and would provide a status update at either
the next NPC meeting in April or on an NPC conference call.

**[VBA Update]{.underline}**

Jim Whitson gave the VBA update.

First, Jim reported that Mike Walcoff has been promoted to Deputy
Undersecretary for Benefits as Ron Aument has retired.

Next, Jim reported on OEF/OIF claims processing. VBA currently has
approximately 400,000 benefits and compensation claims pending, of which
60,000 come from OEF/OIF veterans (which represents 12-15% of the total
claims inventory. A total of 451 of these cases are the seriously and
very seriously injured which are the highest priority. Of those, 150 are
original claims and 301 are claims from OEF/OIF veterans who are
currently getting some benefits but are seeking an increase. All of
these are being case-managed beginning at the military treatment
facility. The DOD case manager interacts with the VA Case Manager and
stays in contact with the vets. The goal is to complete the application
for benefits prior to discharge so that the claim can be processed upon
separation from the military. The OEF/OIF cases are given priority at
the RO. Most are assigned to a team that takes the claim from entry,
set-up exam and rating.

For veterans who are about to be discharged from military service,
applications for benefits are completed 60-120 days prior to separation.
These claims are rated only in Salt Lake City (SLC), UT and
Winston-Salem, NC for claims in the US. The concept is that upon
separation VBA can activate the claim and the veteran will begin to
receive benefits without delay. Last year 40,000 claims were processed
this way. VBA is also experimenting with paperless transactions because
the process now involves huge amounts of paper and is a storage and
retrieval nightmare.

Next Jim addressed the topic of consolidation of telephone work,
education and pension claim processing. In the past every VARO has
handled its own call volume but VBA is now consolidating telephone work
into 8-9 call centers. The call centers will be manned by employees
working under a GS 7-9 Phone Agent position description. Having the call
centers handle phone inquiries will free others to just process claims
and VBA hopes to have the call center consolidation complete by the end
of the year. VBA is also negotiating moving all education toll-free
calls into one office. There are three pension centers (Philadelphia,
Milwaukee and St. Paul) and by the end of the year all pension claims
will go to these centers, freeing up other VAROs to just do claims
processing.

Fiduciary Hubs are being piloted at the Salt Lake City RO. VBA monitors
the court- or VA-appointed fiduciaries for incompetent vets by doing
accounting and field audits. This has been done at 58 offices but VBA is
piloting consolidation of the fiduciary auditing function. There is no
plan beyond the pilot and VBA has hired temporary employees to do the
work. The work is being monitored by SLC supervisors so employees
wouldn't have to move but are just supervised by someone else. The PD
and workload would remain the same.

Next, Jim addressed the Disability Evaluation System Pilot. When an
in-service disability occurs, the military determines if the service
member is fit for duty. If not, the service member may be eligible for
disability retirement. The difficulty is that these veterans then come
to the VA and often receive a disability rating which may be different
from the assessment provided by DOD. This pilot was developed by VA in
cooperation with DOD in an effort to reconcile the conflicting
disability rating systems. If an individual is eligible for
consideration, the VA will get the veteran's service treatment records
from DOD and will coordinate with DOD to do a single disability rating
exam. VA would do the rating of record and send it to DOD. If the
individual is separated, the VA's rating is the rating of record and the
veteran's compensation eligibility would flow from that rating. If the
pilot is successful, these claims may begin processing at Baltimore and
Seattle by mid-year. This would not result in more work for VA employees
and would give the raters a better package for a claim they would get
anyway.

Next, Jim addressed recruitment and training. He reported that VBA added
1800 employees in FY 2007, and plans to add more, mostly in Compensation
and Benefits as VSRs at the GS 7 with promotion potential to GS 11.
These new employees go through an active centralized three-week training
program that must be done within 30 days of hire. There is a full array
of other training as well. VBA is also looking at setting up a Training
Officer position (GS-12) at each RO.

Bill Wetmore asked about VSR training and Mr. Whitson explained the
process for both VSR and RVSRs.

There was a question about Nurse Practitioners doing C&P exams. Rosell
Knight responded that Nurse Practitioners can do these exams under the
oversight of a doctor but must be certified and credentialed to do so.

**[VHA Smoke-Free Workplace Initiative]{.underline}**

Kim Hamlett-Berry, Ph.D., Director, Office of Public Health Policy and
Prevention, telephonically briefed the group on this initiative. Many VA
facilities have long-standing policies allowing in-door smoking that
have been in place since the 1990's. By law, facilities must have
designated patient smoking areas, and most facilities have employee
smoking areas that have been established as a result of collective
bargaining. In 2006, the US Surgeon General issued a report concluding
that there is no risk-free level of exposure to second hand smoke. A
number of studies that have found significant decreases in hospital
admissions for heart attacks in communities that have implemented
smoking bans in public areas. A Directive is currently in the VHA
concurrence process that would attempt to significantly decrease
exposures to second-hand smoke in the VHA while still complying with law
and collective bargaining obligations. This Directive would direct
facilities to close existing indoor smoking areas and cease sale of
cigarettes to patients at the Canteen. The Directive would also reduce
the number of outdoor smoking shelters whenever possible, would
designate separate outdoor smoking areas for patients and employees, and
whenever possible would ensure that smoking facilities are not located
within 35 feet of entrances to facilities. The cooperation of the Union
was requested as Unions have historically played a national leadership
role in promoting the health and safety of all workers.

**[NCA AES]{.underline}**

Ronald Cheich reported on the 2007 NCA AES. The survey was conducted
from July 16 through August 20, 2007. Fifty seven per cent of employees
responded. The majority responded on paper but NCA is working on a way
to provide computer access for respondents this year. The AES measures
job satisfaction, organizational assessment inventory and culture.

Job satisfaction is the discrepancy between how much a person has
compared to what they think it should be. This is measured at the
individual level using thirteen different items. A score of 3 is
considered good. Twelve of the thirteen measures ware above three. The
remaining item, opportunities for promotion, is where NCA is looking to
improve. Overall job satisfaction is very high and there is a strong
link between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Only MSN 1
(3.51) and MSN 3 (3.93) are below a score of 4. The NCA national average
was 4 on a 5 point scale. The conclusions drawn from the AES are that
the employees like the quality and type of work, and do the work well.
The opportunity for promotion was the lowest job satisfaction dimension.
This is difficult to fix because NCA is a small organization but we do
strive to promote from within. We are working on training programs to
cross train employees

Organizational Assessment measures the employee's perception of
workgroup conditions. The workgroup is identified on the AES instruction
sheet. There are a total of 31 questions measuring 19 factors on a scale
of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). All 19 factors were
above 3. The NCA national average is 3.68. There is substantial
variation both nationally and within each MSN. The lower scores were in
the areas of innovation, job control and psychological safety. In
general, the ratings increase for employees in higher levels of
supervision.

Culture measures the employee's impression of the work culture of the
organization. There are four elements, group, entrepreneurial,
bureaucratic and rational. The national averages are as follows; group
culture - 3.21, entrepreneurial -- 2.87, bureaucratic -- 3.51 and
rational -- 3.35. Meaningful differences exist between MSNs as well as
individual cemeteries.

The next steps are to complete the feedback sessions in CO and the MSNs,
disseminate the results, develop goals and action plans and follow up
using performance measures.

## [2008 All Employee Survey]{.underline}

## Sue Dyrenforth, VHA National Center for Organization Development, presented a report on the 2008 All Employee Survey (AES) group by telephone. Dr. Dyrenforth started by letting the group know that the 2008 AES will be done in April. This year's survey repeats all the same questions as last year's; in fact, the questions have not changed since 2004 so responses can be compared from year to year. The 2006 AES was available electronically, on paper and using voice recognition software, and had a response rate of 70.16%. In 2007 the AES was administered using the same three response methods and the response rate was 76.2%. Dr. Dyrenforth believes the response rate is this high because employees see their responses making a difference.

For the 2008 AES, the timeline is as follows: Notification will be
provided to the national Unions by January 21. AES coordinators will
update mapping in February. Marketing will begin by March 15^th^ and the
survey begins April 21, 2008. Paper responses will be offered but must
be completed by May 1^st^ to facilitate data analysis. The survey ends
May 12, 2008. The data will be analyzed and scrubbed by June 16^th^,
presented to the National Leadership Board on June 19^th^, and presented
to the VISNs beginning June 23, 2008.

The results of the AES will be disseminated broadly to staff so
employees are aware of goals, plans, and status of the specific topics.
Dr. Dyrenforth's office is developing an action plan based on past AES
results.

The Civility Scale from the VHA AES was measured pre and post Civility
Respect Engagement in the Workplace (CREW). There is relationship
between civility and employee satisfaction. The Civility Scale measures
how people treat each other in the workplace.

OPM conducted a survey to assess employee satisfaction, leadership and
management practices. 1000 VA employees were randomly selected to
participate. The results will be shared by February 15, 2008. This will
allow VA to compare our results with other government agencies.

The current plan is to have only two National Surveys per year, the AES
and a "grab bag" which will encompass any other national surveys.

There was a concern expressed that the AES results and related action
plans were not being communicated to staff. Dr. Dyrenforth stated that
she would reiterate to leadership the requirement to communicate this
information to all staff.

**Meeting adjourned shortly before noon on January 10.**