The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will be conducting the 2010 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) at the SEC from February 8, 2010 through March 19, 2010. I strongly encourage you to take a few minutes to complete this survey. The results will help shape the Union’s dialogue with SEC management on your behalf regarding a wide range of issues such as merit pay, telework and flexible work schedules. 

What Is the FEVS?

As you may already know, OPM’s survey is a tool that measures federal employees’ perceptions of whether, and to what extent, conditions characterizing successful organizations are present in the agencies surveyed. Among other things, the FEVS typically surveys employee personal work experiences and job satisfaction and also an organization’s performance culture and leadership. The results are also used to rank federal agencies on a “Best Places to Work” list, which is closely watched within the federal government.

This important survey provides a unique opportunity to speak directly to SEC management on important issues such as whether promotions and performance awards are based upon merit, whether performance reviews are constructive and helpful, whether supervisors clearly define expectations and whether employees have adequate personal input into the decisions that affect their work lives every day. The survey affords you an opportunity to provide constructive criticism regarding the SEC’s management culture. Do SEC leaders generate high levels of motivation? Are you satisfied with your office’s policies and procedures? Do your senior leaders engender a high level of respect?

 What Happened with the 2008 Survey Results?

As you may recall, the last FEVS survey (then called the Federal Human Capital Survey), which was conducted in the late summer of 2008, saw the SEC drop from a high position on the “Best Place to Work” list out of the top ten altogether. The 2008 survey did generate favorable results in connection with issues that the Union has been able to negotiate with the SEC, such as improvements to employees’ work-life balance (through telework, alternative work schedules, etc.). However, it also generated consistently unfavorable responses in connection with a wide range of other items that relate to the SEC’s management structure, the level of autonomy provided to the front-line staff, the SEC’s performance culture and the quality and integrity of SEC leadership. Some have suggested that the 2008 survey’s results were colored by the 2008 financial crisis, but in fact the survey was taken before the SEC received a firestorm of criticism related to that crisis and the Madoff fraud.

Over the summer, the Union worked with the SEC’s Office of Human Resources to respond to the 2008 survey results by organizing agency-wide focus groups designed to further expand upon those results with an eye towards developing an action plan to make critical improvements at the agency. We know from our participation in these focus groups that employees took them very seriously and raised a number of important issues and concerns.

This focus group effort, however, has stalled. It received a critical blow when the Enforcement Division refused to allow its staff to participate in the focus groups, which effectively silenced the voices of nearly half of the agency’s employees. Furthermore, although management was briefed on the focus group results weeks ago, the SEC has failed to comply with the Union’s request for a similar briefing. As far as we can tell, the SEC has yet to develop a clear program to respond to the 2008 survey, other than to call for more “town hall meetings” and launch an employee newsletter.

Conclusion

With so much unfinished business stemming from the 2008 survey, we hope that management will respond more adequately to the 2010 Survey. Notwithstanding that, we strongly encourage you to complete this important survey. For many of you, it will be your sole opportunity to convey directly and anonymously to the SEC’s senior leadership, without fear of reprisal, whether you are satisfied that the SEC has a performance culture that encourages you and motivates you to perform to your potential.