SpectrumTalk

Why Didn't FCC Want Its Employees Polled
on Their Satisfaction?

In a way, this post is about "non-news": the FCC's nonparticipation in the Office of Personnel Management's Federal Human Capital Survey 2006. This survey is not the product of some liberal think tank but rather a commendable Bush Administration initiative that "that measures employees' perceptions of whether, and to what extent, conditions characterizing successful organizations are present in their agencies."

The list of participating agencies shows the whole Executive Branch and a plethora of small independent agencies ranging from the 3000+ employee Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to the small and obscure Marine Mammal Commission. (I note that the little known American Battle Monument Commission, that has a few employees in neighboring Suresnes maintaining a WWI and WWII military cemetery visible from my living room, did participate.) FCC did not participate in the previous 2004 survey either. (The first survey took place in 2002 and seems to have disappeared from the OPM website. However, that first year no small agencies were included.)

OPM describes the survey as follows:

"The Federal Human Capital Survey is a tool that measures employees' perceptions of whether, and to what extent, conditions characterizing successful organizations are present in their agencies. The first administration of this ground-breaking survey in 2002 set a baseline for ongoing assessment in the Federal Government. It was conducted again in 2004 and 2006. The survey:

• Provides general indicators of how well the Federal Government is running its human resources management systems.
• Serves as a tool for OPM to assess individual agencies and their progress toward "green" status on Strategic Management of Human Capital under the President's Management Agenda.
• Gives senior managers critical information to answer the question: What can I do to make my agency work better?"

So why didn't FCC participate? Were the employees too busy? I doubt it since repeatedly employees tell me they aren't doing much because they are waiting for leadership from the "8th floor" to tell them what to do and have been told not to take initiative. Are they too busy in training? No, the training budget has been decimated so that couldn't be the answer. Were they afraid that the survey was stacked against small independent agencies? Well, the slightly larger NRC has proudly announced that it "is tops in two indices, Talent Management and Leadership & Knowledge Management. (NRC) is second in the Job Satisfaction Index and fourth in the Results-Oriented Performance Culture Index." So it looks like small independent agencies could fare well.

Could it be that the "8th floor" did not want public disclosure of an objective independent survey of how FCC employees felt on issues such as how their fellow workers cooperate to get the job done; how their work relates to the agency's goals and priorities; and the overall quality of their work group’s products?

I hope that the trade press asks FCC management to explain their nonparticipation. I hope that the "8th floor" gets curious also. I will gladly post any explanation received from FCC.