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Overview and Summary

April, 2000

Sponsored by the Strategic Planning and Accountability Deputy Chief Area

Compiled by North Carolina A&T State University Applied Survey Research Laboratory and the NRCS Social Sciences Institute

This study measured Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) employees’ perceptions of the impact of agency changes on the workplace environment, customer service, bureaucratic burden, and employee empowerment. This assessment will be a baseline for NRCS to measure success and to determine needed improvements, now and in the future. To this end, a scientific methodology was used to ensure that the survey produced objective results. This survey is compared with a 1998 survey of 48 Federal agencies; the NRCS survey used approximately 30 of their questions for comparison purposes. Also, four of the questions have been used regularly in the private sector. The survey, conducted in August of 1999, was sent to 1,000 NRCS employees and is statistically valid.

General Findings

The data revealed that NRCS employees rated most favorably the dimensions of diversity, balance between work/personal life responsibilities, teamwork, leadership, quality of the workplace, customer orientation, and strategic planning. They gave a neutral rating to training and innovation and rated least favorably program administrative demands, involvement in agency change, communication, use of resources and performance measurement. These findings are discussed further by placing these broad results under three categories: "positive," "split findings," and "needs improvement."

Positive Responses

Employees gave the agency very high marks regarding diversity, which includes respect for differences, people with disabilities, and promoting diversity in the workplace.
NRCS teamwork received very high marks.
The employees felt their own customer orientation is high and they felt they understand the expectations of their managers regarding customer service.
Respondents rated the workplace high in terms of flexibility, assistance, supervisors, and quality of work. They also responded that they are satisfied with their job.
Employees responded that agency strategic planning goals are coordinated, integrated, and measured.
Respondents felt they understand the roles and responsibilities of the agency’s technical roles and positions.
Employees favorably rated the NRCS leaders as well as their immediate supervisors.

Split Findings

There were mixed signals concerning training. Respondents felt they have received the necessary training to do their jobs and to provide good customer service. However, over the last three years, respondents felt the agency has not devoted enough resources to effectively train employees and they cited the need for more training when new technologies and tools are introduced.
Employees had split opinions about the timeliness of communication issues that affect their jobs, budgets, and downsizing, but most are generally satisfied with the information their local managers provide to them.
Stress from the job rather than from their supervisors was a concern for 44% of the respondents. However, they mostly felt they are able to balance their work and personal life.
Regarding low income and minority customers, employees felt they have clear direction, flexibility with policies and rules, and effective training. They also rated the agency positively with respect to progress in changing employee attitudes toward providing assistance to these groups. However, employees viewed their workload as a major barrier in working with low income and minority customers.
When asked about the system for evaluating individuals or team members, they gave mixed marks for performance recognition and the reward process. They are unclear about the definition of "good performance," yet some do feel satisfied about the recognition they personally received for doing a good job.
They felt quality assurance systems focus on correction rather than prevention, but were reasonably comfortable with outcome/result measures used to assess overall agency performance.

Needs Improvement

Just about everyone felt administrative demands on the field are increasing. The amount of work interferes with providing high quality service and products. Employees reported they have too many interruptions, excessive administrative demands, and unnecessary rules/regulations.
Employees do not feel creativity and innovation are rewarded by the agency.
Employees responded mostly negatively or neutrally to questions about communication between various levels of the organization. More specifically, employees viewed coordination as problematic between, on the one hand, state offices, the national office, regional offices, and institutes, and, on the other hand, the rest of the agency.
Respondents were concerned about administrative convergence, managers’ responsiveness to concerns about organizational change, and the benefits they derive from organizational change.

Comparison of NRCS Responses with Outside Organizations

Other Federal Agencies

In December 1998, the Office of Personnel Management, Merit Systems Protection Board, and the Federal Aviation Administration conducted a survey of 48 agencies that measured reinvention initiatives and organizational change. The NRCS East Region piloted an early version of this survey. We used this survey as a gauge.

NRCS employees reported higher levels than other agency employees for cooperation, teamwork, respecting and valuing differences in individuals, supervisor support for family/personal life responsibilities, participating in cross-functional teams to accomplish objectives, their opinions being valued, work flexibility, and training on serving customers.
NRCS employees compared similarly with other Federal agencies with respect to teams accomplishing goals, rewards for working in teams, establishing effective organizational work groups by supervisors, satisfaction with involvement in decisions, recognition for doing a good job, creativity, and highlighting reinvention as an important agency priority.
NRCS employees compare less favorably with other agencies regarding electronic access to information; service goals that meet customer expectations; well-defined systems for linking customers' feedback and complaints to persons who can act on the information; defining "good performance;" managers' communicating the organization's mission, vision and values; and receiving training needed to perform their jobs. The data clearly show that NRCS needs to address access to electronic information by employees, particularly those in the field, and create a responsive system of customer feedback.

Other Federal Agencies and the Private Sector

The data show NRCS employees were more positive than employees from other Federal agencies, but less positive than the private sector regarding satisfaction with their immediate supervisor/team leader and the overall quality of work being done by the work group. However, in terms of job satisfaction, NRCS employees had higher satisfaction levels than both the private sector and other Federal agencies, but were slightly less satisfied than both sectors with the recognition they receive.

Specific Findings

The research team statistically controlled background information to sort out specific differences among variables. This section highlights some of those differences.

Field staff felt more positive than non-field staff about: their skills, knowledge of the mission, working in teams, diversity, job satisfaction, recognition, agency training, and quality assurance and feed-back systems.
Field staff felt reducing administrative demands on them and removing unnecessary rules and regulations could improve their quality of work. They also felt electronic access to information should be improved considerably.
Females responded significantly more positively than males on 12 questions, including working together in teams, electronic access, and serving customers in a timely fashion.

Lower graded employees and those with less Federal service are consistently more positive than higher graded employees with more Federal service. One exception is grades "10 and under," who feel they are under a lot of stress.
Nonsupervisors have problems with stress; agency communications; rewards and recognition being based on merit; and lack of reward for creativity/innovation.
Minorities are consistently more positive than non-minorities about the agency with two exceptions: diversity (but they are still positive) and they felt training on working with low income and minority farmers has not been provided.
Supervisors disagree that they receive assistance from other levels of the agency.
Regions: the East, Midwest, South Central and Southeast responses are generally more positive; the Northern Plains and the West are consistently more negative.
Communication and coordination problems exist between the agency employees and regional offices, National Headquarters, institutes, and state offices.
National Headquarters (NHQ) employees are more positive about their workload burden, their electronic access, and training when new tools are introduced.
NHQ employees are significantly less positive than non-NHQ employees about their opinions counting in the workplace; policies/programs promoting diversity; their supervisors supporting family/personal responsibilities; job satisfaction; understanding of mission, vision, values; and recognition being based on merit.

Recommendations

Reduce excessive administrative demands being placed on the field. Reducing the field’s administrative workload could help improve the agency’s outreach efforts with low-income and minority customers.
Allocate adequate resources toward training, especially when new tools and technologies are introduced.
Institute an effective communication process that improves the timeliness and completeness of information, especially information concerning pending organizational changes.
When possible, remove the middle person and use the Internet to get administrative information and technology directly to employees.
Market the organization internally, especially NHQ, regions, institutes, and state offices.
Improve electronic access for the field.
Clearly define good performance.
Use the existing award system to distribute a variety of monetary and non-monetary rewards for both individuals and teams. Positive reinforcement works, but only when the award system is fair.
Since employees have a high respect for their immediate supervisors, ensure that awards are given by their supervisors or at the closest level possible.
Encourage creativity by developing a series of awards for creativity and innovation. Again, if possible, empower local supervisors to be responsible for handling these awards.
Have some of the quality assurance system focus on prevention.
Improve/create a localized system for linking customer feedback and complaints to employees who can act on the information.
NRCS employees like working in teams. When appropriate, create teams, especially at field levels, and include female employees on these teams.
The West and Northern Plains regions need to investigate why their employees are consistently more negative than the rest of the agency and act on the findings.
Take advantage of the positive feeling toward NRCS’s leadership by having agency leadership "speak" more often and more directly to employees.
Offer two types of job-stress reduction classes: (1) to supervisors on how their behavior induces stress on employees they supervise and (2) to lower graded, non-supervisors on techniques to reduce stress.