REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- Army Materiel Command federal civilian employees can take the annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey through June 25.
FEVS is a government-wide, non-attributed survey that offers Federal employees a means to provide their perspective regarding critical work-life areas. At AMC, FEVS serves as a tool for employees to share their perceptions in many critical areas including their work experiences, the Army, and AMC leadership and for the Office of Personnel Management to take measure of the responses to determine whether, and to what extent, AMC is successful in the management of its civilians.
Every civilian employee will receive an e-mail with a survey invitation and link. The survey should take 20 to 25 minutes to complete. For those employees who do not regularly access computers, resources will be made available to take the survey.
The Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey was first administered in 2002 as the Federal Human Capital Survey, and then again in 2004, 2006 and 2008. The FHCS was renamed the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey in 2010 and revised to focus more on actionable items. Starting in 2010, OPM began administering the FEVS annually and since 2018, every federal employee is invited to participate.
"This year, just as last year, the sample for the survey is 100 percent of the workforce. Every civilian employee should get an invitation to complete the survey," said Max Wyche, AMC Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel.
Last year 31 percent of the AMC workforce, enterprise-wide, participated in the survey - an increase of 9 percent from 2018, said Wyche. Overall Army Employee Engagement Index score was 67.9 percent and 67.6 of all federal employees took the survey.
The survey is anonymous. Leaders have no visibility into individual responses and results are compiled and issued by OPM.
The results of the survey come out from OPM in late summer/early autumn and from those statistics, AMC will determine what is working best and what needs addressing.
"Last year, the responses with the most positive results at AMC were: 'I am held accountable for achieving results;' 'I understand how my work relates to the AMC's goals;' and 'My supervisor treats me with respect,'" said Wyche. "The responses which needed improvement were: 'Pay raises depend on employee performance;' 'In my work unit, steps are taken to deal with poor performers;' 'Promotions are based on merit;' and 'Awards depend on how well people perform their jobs.'"
AMC takes these results seriously and began addressing these shortfalls, Wyche said. The Executive Deputy for the Commanding General's office is updating the performance award policy, drafting a revised promotion policy for headquarters and working on improving engagement for all AMC employees around the globe.
Based on feedback provided on the 2018 FEVS, AMC has made management changes; for example, the Headquarters, AMC Performance Awards Policy was updated to ensure awards are granted on the basis of merit to those employees who meet the criteria, and action has been taken to enhance AMC Line of Effort 3 -- Soldiers and People -- initiatives to include Mindset of Leadership training for Supervisors and the workforce, and updating the HQ AMC Acculturation Program.
"When we get the results of this survey, there will be town halls to discuss them," said Wyche. "The results of the survey will be integrated directly back into our line of effort AMC-wide. We want to make a better work environment and make sure people's needs are being met. No matter how difficult the task, our strategy is to begin to address the issue -- we can overcome any challenge if we are aware of it," said Wyche.
Margaret Weichert, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management stated in a letter to the federal workforce, "The 2018 FEVS results are especially critical as we strive to make our government more effective, efficient and accountable to American taxpayers. We take seriously our responsibility to make data-driven decisions that result in long-term success. We will look at underlying causes behind employee perceptions in order to replicate those that lead to positive responses and reshape the issues behind the negative observations."
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