DAHLGREN, Va. – How
did you get here? Is it hard work, opportunity, or just plain luck?
It’s a question that
people often ask Susan Tsui Grundmann, U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board
Chairman.
The new wave band
Talking Heads asked a similar question – "Well, how did I get here?"
– in their 1981 hit song entitled, “Once In A Lifetime”, named as one of the
100 most important American musical works of the 20th century by National
Public Radio.
“Engagement” answers
the question and it’s in the report, said Grundmann.
The presidential
appointee – speaking to an audience gathered at the Naval Support Facility
Dahlgren (base) theater to celebrate National Women’s History Month last month –
was referring to a November 2012 report that her agency prepared for the
President and the Congress of the United States.
According to the
report, “engagement” enables all employees to achieve greater opportunities and
success in federal government.
It would have
answered the question posed by the Talking Heads as well.
“What we find is that
engagement at work is key, and we define engagement as the heightened connectivity
to work that is beyond pay and benefit,” said Grundmann. “It is filled with
intangibles like communication, opportunity to succeed, and in our report we
found that there are six characteristics of engagement.”
The report –
entitled, “Federal Employee Engagement: The Motivating Potential of Job
Characteristics and Rewards” – cited six elements of employee engagement.
“Take a look at
these characteristics – reflect on how they work in your work environment,”
said Grundmann.
• Pride in one’s work and work
environment. “Do you find your work meaningful? Would you recommend your agency
or work unit as a good place to work?”
• Satisfaction with leadership. “Do
the organization’s leaders—from first-level supervisors to career executives to
agency heads—provide clear vision and sound direction? Are they good stewards
of the public interest and public employees?
• Opportunities to perform well at
work. “Do employees know what is expected of them, and have the resources and
support they need to succeed?”
• Satisfaction with the recognition
received. “Does your agency or work unit award excellence? Is that reward based
on performance, or is it based on favoritism which is a violation of a merit
principle.”
• Prospect for future personal and
professional growth. “Does your agency give employees an opportunity to
maintain and improve your skills?”
• A positive work environment with some
focus on teamwork. “Are employees treated with respect, do your opinions count?”
Is the workplace collaborative or competitive?
“This
report notes that success at work depends on many factors, and it’s not just
hard work,” said Grundmann. “The key we believe is being engaged at work. And
that means being present in mind, in body, in spirit, which is ever more
challenging when bonuses are capped and when there is more work being conducted
by fewer and fewer people. We found, however, that where there is engagement – that
heightened connection – the agency performs better, you feel better, and you
enjoy work. Engagement at its core is that sense of contribution to your work
and your work environment.”
Motivating
employees to perform at a high level and encouraging their engagement are
essential to an efficient and effective federal government.
“Having
skilled, engaged employees is more important than ever, especially in light of
austere fiscal conditions, budget constraints, impending retirements, and
public debate over the value of Federal employees and their work,” the report
states in its executive summary. “Previous Merit Systems Protection Board research
has shown the importance of employee engagement for several desirable
organizational outcomes, and has discussed the importance of supervisory
performance management practices for employee engagement.”
Building
on that research, the report focused on helping federal agencies, federal
managers and supervisors, and other stakeholders better understand how job characteristics
and rewards can support employee motivation and encourage engagement and
performance.
“What
we tell supervisors is that their job is not just to supervise subordinates,
but to empower the employees to do their job with dignity and with respect,”
said Grundmann. “Trust, engagement, and the pride in their own work does not
come from micromanagement – it comes from the contributions, decisions, ideas,
the sweat, and seeing how your contributions contribute to a larger reality. We
are all part of a much bigger picture.”
The keynote speaker also
discussed a report directly related to the 2016 theme for National Women's
History Month: "Working to Form a More Perfect Union: Honoring Women in
Public Service and Government."
This year’s theme
recognizes countless women who are often unrecognized and overlooked but have
"shaped America's history and its future" through their skills,
tenacity and leadership.
“We found some
ambitions and achievements have been achieved for women in federal government,”
said Grundmann, regarding her agency’s 2011 report to the President and the
Congress of the United States, called, “Women in the Federal Government: Ambitions
and Achievements”.
The report cited changes
within the federal government, reflecting diminishing differences between women
and men in important characteristics such as education and experience.
“That trend,
combined with a continued interest in career advancement among women in the federal
government, bodes well for future gains in the representation of women at the
highest levels of pay and responsibility, including the Senior Executive
Service,” according the report. “Much credit is also due to agency efforts to
recruit and advance women, to reduce the incidence of prohibited
discrimination, to provide greater flexibility in work arrangements, and to
focus on contributions and skills—rather than on indirect and unreliable
indicators of performance and dedication such as time spent in the office or
irrelevant factors such as marital status and family responsibilities—when
evaluating and promoting employees.”
The report’s
executive summary continued.
“Still, progress
toward full equality is not yet complete. Women remain less likely than men to
be employed in high-paying occupations and supervisory positions. That
reflects, in part, continuing occupational differences between women and men in
the federal workforce and the broader civilian labor force. Women have made
great strides in entering occupations such as physician and attorney, but
remain relatively scarce in fields such as law enforcement, information
technology, and engineering—fields important to the current and future Federal
workforce. Also, even within a given occupation, women often have lower
salaries than men, and those salary differences cannot be fully explained by
differences in measurable factors such as experience and education.”
Actions that
agencies and managers can take to further progress in the representation and
advancement of women and increase fairness for all employees include:
• Provide continuing
feedback and development to employees, so that employees understand and can
develop the competencies and behaviors that are important to job success and
career advancement;
• Improve the
recruitment, selection, and development of supervisors. Enhanced supervisory
effectiveness will create a cadre of supervisors who are better able to focus
on results, support work/life balance, and ensure fairness in work assignment
and other aspects of human resources management;
• Make informed and
appropriate use of both internal and external sources of talent. When used
appropriately, internal hiring can provide a “bridge” from technical, clerical,
or blue-collar occupations to professional and administrative occupations, to
the benefit of both agencies and employees. However, agencies should also
recognize that internal and external talent pools can differ in ways that have
significant implications for assessment, development, and advancement;
• Recognize, and
avoid reliance on, stereotypes and assumptions in day-to-day human resources
management. Agencies should consciously focus on ability and results, rather
than surface characteristics and impressions, when assigning work, allocating
developmental opportunities, and evaluating employee performance and potential;
• Remain vigilant
against sex-based discrimination, including sexual harassment, and ensure that
avenues for reporting and addressing such discrimination are accessible and
trusted; and
• Maximize
flexibility in work arrangements and job requirements. Flexible work
arrangements can help agencies attract diverse pools of qualified applicants,
retain employees, and sustain engagement without compromising teamwork and
productivity. Conversely, unnecessary inflexibility in matters such as
geographic mobility, work hours, and travel may result in the loss of highly
capable applicants and employees who have life/family responsibilities and can
find competing employers that are more accommodating.
For more
information, the two U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board reports can be
accessed on the web via the following links:
Federal Employee
Engagement: The Motivating Potential of Job Characteristics and Rewards: http://www.mspb.gov/netsearch/viewdocs.aspx?docnumber=780015&version=782964
Women
in the Federal Government: Ambitions and Achievements:
http://www.mspb.gov/netsearch/viewdocs.aspx?docnumber=606214&version=608056&application=ACROBAT