# Presentation: 768176

## Human Capital Employee SurveyNational Leadership Team MeetingJanuary 19, 2006

**Frank Clearfield and the Human Capital Strategic Planning Team**

## Presentation Outline

- Design and methodology
- Background characteristics
- Findings
- What this survey tells us

## I. Design & Methodology

## Survey Design

- Web survey, December 5 – 20, 2005
- Forced answers and open ended questions
- Publicized survey through several all-employee e-mails sent through the Chief’s mailbox and my.NRCS
- 7,754 respondents equals 65% of workforce

## References and Comparison

- 1999 NRCS All Employees Survey, (N=749)
- 2004, Federal Human Capital Survey (N = ~ 148,000 Federal employees)
- NRCS, Strategic Human Capital Plan 2004-2008
- ICAMS and National Financial Center, 2004
- Current NFC data

## Likert Scale

| Strongly Agree

 1 |       Agree

          2 |      Neutral

         3 |  Disagree

4 |   Strongly
    Disagree
   5 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |

***A Likert scale is based on ordinal numbers; one number is relatively higher/lower than the next***
***The lower the mean/average, the more positive the total response***

## How good a job is the agency doing developing the leadership skills of our mangers and leaders?

**Mean = 3.2**
**20% positives**

## II. Background Characteristics

## Work Location*

*******NRCS employee data is from ICAMS and NFC (May, 2004)**

## Ethnicity/Race*

*******NRCS employee data is from NFC, 2003**

## Grade

***NRCS employee data as of 9/30/05**

## Years with Federal Government

***NRCS employee data is from ICAMS and NFC (May, 2004)**

## Age

## Gender

## Supervisory Status

## Other characteristics

- Married						75%
- Spouse employed
- Full time					53%
- Part time					12%
- Number of Children
- Zero						26%
- Average number of children			2.4
- Elder Care (parent/relative)		18%
- Disability						 5%

## Accommodation for Disability

**N = 365**

## III.  Findings

## Satisfaction & Goals

## How satisfied are you with your job?  

## Satisfaction with job (positive responses)

-   _Organization/Sector_	  	_Percentage_
- NRCS, 1999					66.5
- Federal government, 2004 		67.6
- Private sector, 2003			73.8
- Survey						79.3

## Satisfaction

- 	        	_Statement_		             _Mean_
- Feeling of personal accomplishment	2.1
- Satisfaction with pay				2.5
- Recognition & rewards based 		3.0
- 		on merit
-  Like the kind of work I do 			1.8

## I like the kind of work I do

**88% positive responses**

## Career Goals – desired number of advancement levels

- Contented					20%
- Ambitious (1-3 levels)			60%
- Super-ambitious (4 or more
- Levels)						20%

## Activities to reach your career goal (two choices)

- On the job training				28%
- Formal training					26%
- Leadership development program	18%
- NRCS “detail” outside your state		17%
- Earning graduate degree			10%
- NRCS “detail” within your state		  9%
- Other 						12%

## Job Skills

## “Individual” and “agency” job skills

_**Individual **_**	****	****	****	****             **_**Mean**_
- Comfortable with skills I have*		2.4
- Given opportunity to improve skills	2.7
_**Agency**_**	****	****	****	****	****      **
- Job skills to fulfill mission*			2.7
- Agency need new specialties 		2.7
- Work force has knowledge & skills	2.6

## Work force has job-relevant knowledge & skills necessary to accomplish organizational goals  

**Positives:**
**2004 ****	****–       73.7%**
**Survey****	**** –      53.5% **

## Agency (open ended responses)

- _Technical skills_ – (~66%) have appropriate skills but not enough people; traditional technical skills, especially engineers; GIS/GPS; others named distinct specialties
- _Business skills_ – (~33%) leadership & management; communication skills; contracting & administration; marketing, sales, public relations; administrative support – data entry
- _Basic skills_ – lack ag & field experience

## Individual Skills (open ended responses)

- Array of computer skills & training from word processing to Toolkit to Protracts to GIS
- Management, leadership, supervision, dealing with stress, organizational skills
- Communication, conflict management & dealing with difficult people

## Specialties that need strengthening

- _1999_
- Pest/nutr mgmt spec
- Env. specialists
- GIS
- Computer science
- Engineering
- Agronomy
- Ecology
- Facilitation/com
- Soils

- _Survey_
- GIS
- Engineering
- Env. specialists
- Agronomy
- Pest/nutr mgmt spec
- Computer science
- Sustainable development
- Soils
- Public affairs, marketing, communication/fac

## How good a job is the agency doing developing the leadership skills of our mangers and leaders?

## Performance

## Performance (agency)

- 							      _Mean_
- Agency has clear vision		2.7
- Agency’s red tape hinders me
- 		achieving goals 			3.6
- Informed about agency
- 		performance				2.8

## Performance (individual)

- 							       _Mean_
- I receive daily feedback		2.6
- Supervisor helps overcome con-
- 	straints that hinder me			2.6
- Appraisal is fair reflection of per-       formance					2.5

## Appraisal is a fair reflection of my performance  

**Positives**
**2004 –     67%**
**Survey – 61%**

## Partners

## Partners perform percentage of job

- 							    _Average_
- Conservation Districts			4.3
- Other Federal employees		4.7
- State agency employees		4.8
- Temporary employees			5.3
- TSP						5.3
- Earth Team Volunteers			5.4
- University personnel			5.4

**1 – 7 scale**

## What partner groups should be more involved in your work?

- 					    _Percent_
- Conservation Districts			44
- Other Federal employees		23
- State agency employees		19
- University personnel			15
- TSP						14
- Temporary employees			11
- Earth Team volunteers			10

## Training

## Training 

- 					    			      _Mean_
- Value of training through computer	3.1
- Satisfied with training received for
- 	 your present job	 				2.8
- Agency devoted enough resources	3.2

## Over last 3 years, the agency has devoted enough resources to effectively train employees

**Positives: **
**1999    – 26%**
**Survey – 31%**

## Do you have a current Individual Development Plan?

## Percent of IDP completed

## Hiring, Retention, & Diversity

## Biggest problem hiring new people

- 						       _Percent_
- Agency lacks good hiring strategies	19
- Agency lacks competitive pay scales	14
- Agency is unknown by young people	12
- Mobility						10
- Agency doesn’t have enough interns
- and students					  9
- Red tape						  6
- Other						 11

## Retention (open ended)

- Competitive salary & paying people according to work performed
- Promotion based on merit
- Recognition & awards based on merit
- Conservation focus, not program focus
- Better supervisors, managers, leaders

## Diversity

- 						           _Mean_
- Important to have diverse workforce	2.3
- Good job recruiting diverse workforce	2.6
- Good job retaining diverse workforce	2.7
- Advancement same regardless of
- 	race, religion, culture, sex or ethnicity	3.2

## Mobility

## Mobility

- 						           	          _Mean_
- Promotion without moving 			2.6
- Promotion-in-place				2.8
- Moving package include assist-
- ance with spousal job placement		2.4

## How mobile are you?

## How many times have you moved? 

## Retirement

## How long before you plan on retiring? 

**5 yrs or less = 24%**

## Type of Retirement System  

## Rating* of retirement components

- 						            _Mean_
- Thrift savings plan account		2.6
- Annuity						3.2
- Health insurance				3.2
- Life insurance					3.8
- Spousal retirement benefits		3.8
- Long term care insurance			4.2
- Social security					4.7
- Dental insurance				6.0

***7 point scale**

## Would you accept a retention bonus to work an additional year? 

**Mean = 2.0**

## Would you:

|  | Yes | Maybe | No  | More Info. |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Consider job sharing | 44 | 25 | 17 | 15 |
| Consider being a paid annuitant | 39 | 32 | 15 | 14 |
| Consider being an earth team volunteer | 15 | 39 | 42 | 4 |

## IV. What this survey tells us

## The survey says....

- Employees are satisfied with their job, pay, & like the kind of work they do
- Employees are unhappy with the recognition & reward system
- 4/5’s of the employees are ambitious and most of these employees are mobile

## The survey says....

- Employees would like to see some areas of leadership improved
- Agency needs improved leadership development programs
- Agency needs training for existing leaders
- Training continues to be a problem
- Resources not devoted to training
- Employees favor OJT, formal training, details
- Employees do not favor computer training
- Over 1/3 do not have an IDP

## The survey says....

- Work force supports diversity, but sees problems with recruiting, retention, and advancement
- Ways to retain employees:  meritocracy; offer good training; improve agency supervisors, leaders & managers; supply field with more equipment, staff, & tools; less time with computer & more field time (hire data entry people)

## The survey says....

- Employees more comfortable with their own skills, than they are with agency’s knowledge and skills
- Employees see new hires divided into traditional technical specialties and business skills (communication/common sense, contracting/admin, marketing, sales, PR, & admin support, data entry)

## The survey says....

- Particular specialties topping list:  GIS, engineering, environmental specialists, agronomy, pesticide/nutrient management specialists
- Employees favor their own & supervisor’s performance over the agency’s performance
- Rate agency performance relatively low regarding red tape, vision & feedback

## The survey says....

- Districts, Federal and state agencies are used as partners and they should be even more involved than they are currently
- TSP’s and temporary employees are not envisioned as being heavily involved
- Mobility doesn’t seem a large problem, but there is support for assistance in the areas of spousal job placement

## The survey says....

- If 25 percent of employees retire in the next five years, this is an obvious problem
- Because of satisfaction with job & the type of work, there is flexibility in maintaining the workforce
- Retention bonuses
- Job sharing
- Paid annuitant
- Earth Team

## Recommendations

- Provide field employees help on data entry tasks so they can have more field time for conservation planning.  Temporary employees, volunteers, and TSP’s could be enlisted to assist in these tasks.
- Recruiting for diversity should mirror our changing customer base and the demographic composition of America.

## Recommendations

- While considering race, gender, disability and ethnicity, the agency should concentrate on an array of needed specialties including GIS, engineers, environmental specialists, agronomists, and pesticide/nutrient management specialists.

## Recommendations

- Agency leadership/supervisors should base performance ratings solely on achievement and merit.
- Agency should improve leadership/management development and training programs.
- Provide more feedback to employees concerning the agency’s performance.

## Recommendations

- Agency should steadily devote resources toward training.  Computer training should be used selectively.  Employees prefer localized training such as OJT & formal training, as well as details.

## Recommendations

- All employees should have an IDP that is reassessed annually and progressively implemented.
- Training topics should not only focus on technical topics, but also the area of business skills.
- REDUCE bureaucratic red tape as it unnecessarily complicates agency processes and work flow.

## Recommendations

- Develop a job placement assistance program for spouses of relocated employees.
- Develop a wide selection of dental insurance programs for current and retired employees.
- To maintain the services of prospective retirees, implement flexible programs including retention bonuses, job sharing, paid annuitant (ACES), and Earth Team.

## Handout for the state conservationists 

- Retirement plans
- Activities to reach career goals
- Partners performing % of job
- Partners should be performing % of job
- Current IDP
- % of IDP Implemented

## Next Steps

- Place the results on the web; publicize and link through my.NRCS
- Results include:
- Executive Summary, percentile responses for each question, PowerPoint, and open ended responses
- Responses by ethnic/racial group and gender
- Responses, as appropriate, by other background characteristics, (field/non-field, supervisor, grade, marital status, etc.)

- Thanks to the Human Capital Strategic Planning Team, Kevin Brown, and Kevin Boyle
-  Contact Information:
- _[frank.clearfield@gnb.usda.gov](mailto:frank.clearfield@gnb.usda.gov)_
- 336-370-3336