Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey provides path toward a better tomorrow

Courtesy Photo | Visit https://youtu.be/Xo046UGMc3g to watch Col. Karl Jansen talk about the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey results.  

ST. PAUL, MN, UNITED STATES

06.08.2021

Story by Patrick Moes 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District

The results are in for the annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.

Building on previous accomplishments, the St. Paul District continued its success in ensuring maximum participation of the annual survey after 352 St. Paul District employees or nearly 75% of the district, according to Col. Karl Jansen, St. Paul District commander. Despite a slight decrease from the 2019 participation rate, Jansen said he was impressed by the 2020 results and stressed that they were still among the highest participation rates within the Corps of Engineers.

“Overall, we have a fantastic organization and continue to trend upwards in almost all [Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey] areas,” Jansen said. “I’m very confident that we will again be named a USACE best place to work again this year, for the sixth year in a row.”

The 2020 survey was slightly different from previous versions due to several questions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Around a dozen standard questions were removed to accommodate the new questions. The removal and addition of new questions had a bearing on the historic results when compared year-to-year, but Jansen said the results collected from the changes expressed optimism that the district is on the right path. He said the question that provided the greatest increase in positive responses from last year was “My supervisor is committed to a workforce representative of all segments of society.” Jansen said the district’s positive responses toward the question increased by 8% in the 2020 survey results from 76 to 84%. He said the increase is an indicator of the district’s renewed commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Despite a somewhat stagnant survey response rate of about 50% favorability toward thinking that the survey results will yield positive change, Jansen said he’s committed to implementing effective strategies to build a better, more robust workforce. “I’d like everyone to know that you have my personal commitment, and that of our senior leaders, to take these results of this survey seriously and to make genuine efforts to keep [the St. Paul District] a great place to serve.”

One of the areas where the district has enacted tangible reform because of recent survey results is the launch of the of the St. Paul District’s People First initiative, which is intended to build a more holistic environment for the workforce. The vision of the district’s “People First” plan is to build and maintain capable and cohesive teams who deliver our program of today while preparing for an uncertain future. Jansen said the plan provides for more interactive collaboration within the workforce and stressed the importance of employee engagement using the recently developed MS Teams People First conversation option via the Microsoft Teams People First site. “This is a venue to crowd-source ways that we can all take action to stay engaged, boost our health and wellness and foster a diverse, inclusive and cohesive team,” Jansen said.

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• Date Taken: 06.08.2021
• Date Posted: 07.02.2021 13:55
• Story ID: 400320
• Location: ST. PAUL, MN, US