Commander delivers employee surveys' highlights

By Gina BaltruschNovember 22, 2019

Commander shares employee feedback
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. - Communication with the workforce was the hot topic at the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command's Nov. 18 Town Hall meeting.

AMCOM's Commander Maj. Gen. Todd Royar reviewed results from the command's input to the 2019 Federal Viewpoint Survey and the recent AMCOM Command Climate Survey. Survey participants highlighted several concerns about hiring and/or promoting the right people, on-boarding for new employees, leadership training, and telework and alternate-work-schedule opportunities. Based on the survey results, Royar presented a variety of initiatives designed to improve communications and workforce development.

Among the command's plans for improvement, Royar noted recent updates to the AMCOM newcomers' on-boarding program, additional leadership training and ensuring diverse hiring. He announced a telework policy update, which streamlines the request process by delegating approval authority to an employee's second-level supervisor.

In an effort to improve communications between AMCOM leadership and its workforce, Royar announced the start of a monthly AMCOM newsletter and an online "Suggestion Box." Royar also announced the start of monthly "Working Lunch with the Commander" events at which employees will have the opportunity to share ideas for improvement directly with him. The first Working Lunch is scheduled for Nov. 25, at 11:45 a.m. in the Sparkman Center cafeteria. Employees interested in improving AMCOM's awards and recognition program should attend, ready to contribute information and ideas, said Royar.

"Every one of you has better ideas than I do, because you're the ones who are doing the job," Royar told town hall attendees. He encouraged employees to bring their ideas to fix problems and/or make improvements to processes, programs and other aspects of the workplace.

The FEVS measures employees' perceptions of whether, and to what extent, conditions characteristic of successful organizations are present in their agencies. The survey serves as a tool for employees to share their perceptions in many critical areas including their work experiences, their agency, and leadership. Data results provide agency leaders insight into areas where improvements have been made, as well as areas where improvements are needed.

About 40% of civilian employees throughout the command (2,770 out of 6,947) participated in the annual FEVS survey conducted during May and June 2019.

In contrast to the FEVS which solicits input annually from across all federal agencies, Army unit-level command climate surveys collect input only from within a particular organization. Command climate surveys are typically conducted in military units soon after a new commander arrives, and yearly thereafter.

The results of anonymous input received help leaders assess the organization, identify strengths and opportunities for improvement in an effort to reinforce high performance and positive morale. In addition to the survey's multiple-choice questions, Royar said more than 550 pages of written individual comments submitted were read to identify common themes.

Results from the AMCOM command climate survey conducted during August and September 2019 showed about 25% of Soldiers and civilians assigned to AMCOM organizations (1,893 of 7,684) participated.