OPM Federal Human Capital Survey

07/15/2008

7/15/08: NTEU received a letter from Linda Springer, Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), notifying the union that OPM will be administering the Federal Human Capital Survey (FHCS) to employees in the federal workforce. The tentative administration date is August 11–September 12.

Participants in the survey include 450,000 full-time, permanent employees from the President’s Management Agenda agencies and approximately 60 small/independent agencies. This will be the fourth time OPM has administered the biannual survey.

The survey is intended to measure employees’ perceptions of whether, and to what extent, conditions that characterize successful organizations are present in their agencies. Agency samples are randomly drawn from OPM’s Center Personnel Data File. Some agencies have chosen to survey their entire population.

NTEU is supporting this survey. We encourage SEC employees to participate if asked. The survey is voluntary and OPM has assured us that responses of individuals will remain confidential.

This data is compared across agencies and has been helpful in identifying problem areas in NTEU-represented agencies. The data is shared with Congress and used as the basis of such projects as the Partnership for Public Services’ “Best Place to Work in the Federal Government” rankings. NTEU National President Colleen Kelley often finds the survey results useful when she testifies before Congress to highlight morale and staffing problems in agencies.

If you receive the survey, please take the time to take it. NTEU will put your candid feedback to good use. Thanks.