SURVEYED EMPLOYEES AGREE: CAO IS A "HIGH PERFORMANCE" ORGANIZATION
March 13, 2008
Washington, D.C. – After canvassing over 500 CAO employees, the Center for Talent Services of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued the results of its 2008 Organizational Assessment Survey (OAS). The CAO scored favorably in all 17 performance categories and bested all of the organizations surveyed in the past two years in three critical areas: “Customer Orientation,” “Supervision” and “Innovation.”
The survey, which was administered in early January and consisted of 123 questions, aimed to capture the opinions of CAO employees about whether the organization functions successfully. As an example, respondents were asked if they would agree that: employees receive training and guidance in providing high quality products and services to customers; there is trust between employees and their supervisors; or if risk-taking is encouraged without fear of punishment for mistakes.
OPM then analyzed the survey results and submitted suggestions to the CAO as to how the data could help improve the organization. In the coming weeks, the CAO will examine those recommendations and develop action plans to begin making improvements.
On Monday, March 10, Brigitte Schay, Director of the Assessment Services Branch in the OPM’s Center for Talent Services, presented CAO Daniel P. Beard with a Certificate of Excellence for setting benchmarks.
“Doing well on the OAS means you are a high-performance organization,” said Schay. “More specifically, doing well on the OAS means you have engaged employees who are satisfied with their jobs, responsive to customer needs and expectations and committed to the organization’s mission.”
These results also mean the organization’s leadership is providing employees with the necessary resources to do their jobs, communicating expectations and encouraging employee involvement to make continuous improvements, Schay added.
Schay explained that in addition to being the top performer in three categories when compared to other organizations, the ratings of CAO employees improved dramatically in four categories since 2002: Diversity (11 percent), Work/Life Balance (12 percent), Customer Orientation (13 percent) and Work Environment (21 percent).
Even the areas in which the CAO scored lowest were all at or above average in comparison to other organizations. Most showed marked improvements since 2002, with additional gains over the past two years.
The survey also measured Leadership and Quality, Training and Career Development, Fairness and Treatment of Others, Communication, Employee Involvement, Use of Resources, Rewards and Recognition, Readiness to Reshape Workforce, Strategic Planning and Performance Measures.
“This award, and the survey results on which it's based, tells me we’re an organization that is on track, and improving every day,” said Beard. “I am not surprised our results are so high because we all have worked hard to improve them since the day I took this office; Washingtonian magazine was right in naming us one of their 2007 Best Places to Work.”
About The Performance American Consortium:
The Performance America Consortium is a working group of federal, state and local government agencies coordinated by OPM. This consortium is similar to other Fortune 50 company consortia that promote the use of common organizational assessment approaches and the sharing of data among companies.
The Performance America Consortium was formed by OPM in response to such initiatives as the Government Performance and Results Act with the aim of helping agencies measure and improve organizational effectiveness. The President's Management Agenda and related human capital management initiatives can also be addressed with the organizational assessment and improvement efforts supported by the Consortium.
Performance America Consortium conducts annual conferences and offers government organizations at all levels an effective forum for discussing organizational successes and challenges, sharing strategies that work and benchmarking results against other high performing organizations.
Jeff Ventura
Director of Communications
Office of the Chief Administrative Officer
United States House of Representatives
202-226-5680
202-360-0450 (BlackBerry)
