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Office of Human Resources

HHS Annual Employee Survey - 2007

In November and December 2007, The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) conducted its *Annual Employee Survey (AES). The results of the survey provide information for evaluating agency success in several key human capital areas including the strategic alignment of human capital with the Department's mission, leadership and knowledge management, performance management, and talent management. In an effort to better understand the views of its employees, HHS designed the survey to include the 45 questions required by the Office of Personnel Management as well as HHS-specific questions. The survey examined employee satisfaction and leadership and management practices that contribute to agency performance, placing a special emphasis on several HHS focus areas - performance management, security, and diversity management. Rather than surveying a representative sample of HHS employees, the Secretary invited all HHS employees to participate, resulting in a 7% increase in the number of respondents over the 2006 OPM Federal Human Capital Survey (FHCS).

At the Department level, of the 39 survey questions that matched those in the 2006 FHCS, 25 received more positive responses, 4 had the same positive response rate, and 10 questions had a lower positive response rate. The data indicate that HHS employees have a very high mission orientation, understand how their work relates to the Department's goals and priorities, like the work they do, and think that their work is important. More respondents believe that HHS is able to recruit people with the right skills and rewards creativity and innovation. In addition, more employees say that the workload is manageable, people cooperate to get the job done, and managers are better communicating the goals and priorities of the organization.

The results also indicate areas for improvement. One key focus area continues to be the implementation of the performance management and appraisal program. Employees also say that they would like to be more involved with decisions that affect their work, more should be done to encourage the use of Alternate Dispute Resolution to resolve workplace disputes and conflicts, and that they need to be better prepared for potential security threats.

HHS is continuing to review and analyze the data in order to address improvement areas and build upon the gains previously attained as a result of prior employee surveys and leadership initiatives. At the Department and Operating Division levels, we are sharing and discussing the results with employees, encouraging them to recommend and participate in activities aimed at creating an effective work environment.

We hope you will take a few minutes to review the data at the link below.

* The AES is mandated by Sec. 1128 of the National Defense Authorization of 2004 which requires agencies to conduct an annual employee survey, beginning in 2007. You can learn more on the general requirements of the AES on the OPM website at: http://www.opm.gov/surveys/.

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Last revised: April 11, 2008

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