common sense would suggest that employees should have free access to their personnel office on any reasonable request. This is the first complaint of this particular kind that we have seen. Because the complaint does not contain identification of the employee or the agency involved, we obviously can make no inquiry about this particular case, although it is evidently in the Department of Defense. Regularly in our inspections of agency personnel programs we check on the processes of communication between personnel offices and supervisors and employees. We use several techniques to get information about the effectiveness of communication during our personnel management inspections. We select a sample of employees on a random basis for personal interviews with our inspectors, and supplement this with confidential questionnaires which go to a random sample of employees. We also make arrangements to notify employees about the visits of our inspectors and invite any employee who wants to discuss any matter or bring any information to the attention of the inspectors to have a personal and confidential interview. We also notify recognized employee organizations of the coming of our inspectors and we interview the representatives of all such organizations having formal or exclusive recognition. In Fiscal Year 1966, these contacts resulted in interviews with 7,489 employees and 1,265 employee organization representatives. During the same period, over 19,000 questionnaires were completed by employees and first-line supervisors. A more complete detailing of our procedures and the questionnaire used with employees is enclosed. In addition, I have included material on policy in this area. If we find evidence to indicate that employees are being prevented from having access on a reasonable basis to the personnel office, we promptly call this to the attention of the head of the installation and to higher headquarters to get corrective action. Most agencies' published policy on access to agency personnel offices generally makes clear that employees may communicate with the personnel office without serious restraint. Of course there may be problems in production shops where an employee cannot be excused at a particular moment or where he must seek permission to have access to a telephone. But, as I say, wherever we have found unreasonable limitations on excusing employees for this purpose we have seen to it that the agency corrects them. Nevertheless, I have asked my inspection staff to be especially alert to any regulation or practice in the Department of Defense or elsewhere that would unwarrantably limit employees' free access to their personnel office for legitimate information. Sincerely yours, JOHN W. MACY, Jr., Chairman. PROCEDURES FOR REVIEWING AGENCY EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATIONS DURING PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT INSPECTIONS Preinspection activity Inspection planning.—We make a review of a variety of material about the agency for leads to indicate the existence of communications problems. The material we review includes Prior inspection and compliance reports; Budget hearings, GAO audit reports, and Bureau of the Budget survey reports; Adverse action appeals and classification appeals from agency employees; Correspondence from employees, union representatives, members of Congress, and others; Agency personnel program statistics such as internal grievance procedure activity, employee turnover rate, etc. We take note of indicators of breakdowns in communication and during the inspection we probe further into this area. Inspection scheduling. Before each inspection we make sure that employees, and employee union representatives are notified of the pending inspection and that they know that Commission representatives will be available for confidential interviews to receive information about personnel matters. In our scheduling letter to agency installation heads we require that they notify employees and those employee organizations with which they normally do business where and how they may contact inspectors directly during the course of the inspection. During the inspection itself we check on the method the agency used to make this notification. On-site activity Coverage. During the inspection process a specific item of review is the agency's effectiveness in the communication of information. We look at agency communication channels, employees' understanding of policies which affect them, employees' understanding of what is expected of them, and the action management has taken to solicit and consider views of employees in the formulation and adjustment of policies and procedures in which they have an interest. Review methods.-To get at this evaluation of agency communications effectiveness we go through the following inspection procedures: We look to see that there is an adequate framework set up to make good communications possible by reviewing national and local agency policy issuances, communications media, and informational material. Most of the information, however, is developed through contacts with employees, employee representatives and supervisors through personal interviews and through questionnaires. Attitudinal questionnaires are completed by a cross section sample of supervisory and non-supervisory employees. In all cases, selection of the employees in the sample is made by the inspector. He uses organizational staffing charts, service record files, or any equivalent records and includes employees representing the major organizational units of the installation. He includes both employees who are relatively new to the Federal service as well as employees with substantial service. The sample consists of approximately 10% of the employees at the installation, a minimum of 35 to a maximum of 200 employees. Questionnaires are administered early in the inspection so that the information they provide can be used to probe deeper during interviews. Personal interviews to discuss personnel matters are conducted by the inspector with a cross section sample of employees. The size of the sample will vary depending on the type of inspection and the indicators provided by questionnaires and other sources. The number and variety of employees contacted are designed to assure that information comes from a cross section of the employee population. The Commission inspector makes the selection of employees. He takes into consideration The size and organization of the agency to include employees from many organizational segments; The nature and variety of work performed to include employees from various administrative levels, as well as management staff officials, employees at various grade levels and various lines of work: The length of service to include both new and long term employees and to include both recently appointed supervisors and others who have had long term supervisory responsibilities. POLICY Chapter 250 of the Federal Personnel Manual covers overall organization and administration of the personnel function within agencies. Included in this chapter are the following provisions which are particularly applicable to the subject of communication with employees: Subchapter 3. Guides for Implementing Personnel Management Objectives. 3-1. Introduction b. Employee role in program development. Essential to the effective operation of all personnel management activities are means for communication and employee participation in program development. This is conducive to meaningful interchange of information and ideas between individuals and groups at all organizational levels and helps to establish a mutually satisfactory working environment. 3-2. Formulating and issuing policy * b. Requirements. In recognition of the importance of the participation of Federal employees and employee organizations in the development and formula tion of personnel policies and matters affecting working conditions, effective administration requires: (1) Solicitation and consideration of the views of supervisors and other emeployees in the formulation and adjustment of personnel policies. (2) Consultation with employee organizations granted formal or exclusive recognition in the formulation and implementation of personnel policies and practices, and matters affecting working conditions. (3) Publication of the policies, with assurance that each employee is afforded an opportunity to inform himself concerning all policies that affect his employment. 3-7. Employee-management relations and employee services (a) Objective.—The objective of this activity is to provide, through effective employee-management cooperation, the most satisfactory and most productive relations possible between the management and the work force of an agency. It is essential to provide recognition of the human factor in achieving a high level of production by enabling employees to realize that their work is important to the agency, that their well-being is a matter of concern to their employer, their rights as individuals are respected, and their views on personnel policies and working conditions as expressed individually or through membership in employee organizations are solicited and fully considered. (b) Requirements. The effective administration of this function requires: (1) Movement of information and ideas from supervisors and employees up, down, and across the organization; participation by supervisors and employees, to the greatest degree practicable, in the formulation and change of policies affecting them in their work; and, whenever possible, prompt information about policies, procedures, changes, and developments pertaining to their jobs before they are made effective. (2) Protecting the rights of employees, to form, join, and assist any lawful employee organization, or to refrain from any such activity freely and without fear or penalty or reprisal. (3) Consulting, on appropriate matters, with recognized employee organizations. (4) Encouraging and assisting management and supervisory personnel to maintain harmonious relations with employees. (5) Anticipating, identifying, and when possible, eliminating major causes of actual or potential dissatisfaction. (6) Providing the means and the opportunity for discussions with individual employees in confidence in order to assist them to make a satisfactory adjustment to conditions which may affect adversely their performance or to correct deficiencies which interfere with the productive efficiency of the organization. (7) Giving encouragement to voluntary employee activities consistent with interests of the public service. (8) Meeting the reasonable needs of employees for services and assistance in matters that affect their well-being as employees of the agency. (9) Establishing and making known to employees reasonable requirements governing the obligations and conduct required of all employees. (10) Informing employees about their rights and privileges which derive from employment with the agency. (11) Maintaining simple and adequate methods, both formal and informal, for handling grievances and appeals in a manner that will provide fair settlement promptly as near as possible to the administrative level at which the difficulty arose, and insuring that employees are free from reprisals when they use these methods in seeking settlement of their difficulties. Inspectors are available during the inspection for interviews with any employee at his request. These interviews are entirely confidential. Inspectors contact each employee organization granted formal or exclusive recognition to seek out its views on employee-management cooperation, agency personnel operations, and other matters of concern to employees. Evaluation, reporting, and corrective action The indicators which signal the possibility of communication problems are pursued in-depth by our inspectors. Where they find evidence that management has been ineffective in its communications with employees, this is reported to the agency installation head both in an oral closeout discussion and in a written report, and corrective action is required. These deficiencies are also reported to higher agency headquarters. PERSONNEL SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE EMPLOYEE QUESTIONNAIRE This questionnaire is part of the Civil Service Commission inspection of personnel management in your agency. We selected your name from the files to tak the questionnaire, so that the inspectors could reach more employees than ther will be able to talk with in person. Please answer each question frankly. Your paper will not be shown to ig discussed with anyone in your agency; only the totals of all the questionnaire sheets will be made known. Read the answers to each question carefully, then select the one you belie is most nearly correct. In some of the questions, there is a line for you to write in your answer, if none of those provided is satisfactory to you. Space is avai able at the end of the questionnaire for you to explain any of your answers and to suggest ways of improving the questionnaire. For each question, mark the block opposite the answer you have chosen. Please answer each question unless the directions tell you to skip over it. Do not place your name or signature on this questionnaire 1. What is the classification of your job? A. WB (Wage board or ungraded) B. GS-7 or below (Classification Act, graded). C. GS-8 or above_-_ D. Other 2. When were you last promoted? A. Less than a year ago- B. Between one and three years ago.. C. More than three years ago- D. I have not received a promotion in the Federal service--- 3. How long have you been in your present position? A. Less than a year--- B. A year or more but less than three___. C. Three years or more but less than ten.. D. Ten years or more-- NOTE. Questions 4 and 5 are to be answered only by employees with under three years' experience on their present jobs. 4. When you started working in your present job, how did you learn about such things as job and work requirements, rights, and standards of conduct? A. I picked them up from my fellow employees-- B. My supervisor explained them to me-- C. My supervisor explained part, and someone else explained the rest of them D. Someone other than my supervisor explained them. E. 5. How did you learn how well you were doing when you were a new employee? A. My immediate supervisor discussed my work and performance with me B. Someone other than my immediate supervisor discussed my work and performance with me__ C. My supervisor, along with others, discussed my work and performance with me.. D. No one discussed my work and performance with me.. 6. How well trained are you to do your present job? A. I need further training to do some of the things my job requires.... C. Further training wouldn't help me do my present job much better_.. 7. How do you think further training would affect your chances for A. I cannot qualify for promotion without further training... B. Further training would give me a much better chance to get premoted Do not place your name or signature on this questionnaire—Continued C. My chances for promotion would not be helped much by further training D. 8. When you felt you needed off-the-job training, were you able to get it from or through your agency? A. I haven't tried to get any in the past two years_ B. I wasn't able to get any- C. I was able to get some that I needed. D. I got what I needed__ E. 9. Has the off-the-job training given or paid for by your agency during the the past two years helped you do your job better? A. I don't remember getting any training off the job in the past two years. B. I believe the training was useful.. C. I haven't noticed any difference_. D. The training had no connection with my job- E. 10. How do you find out what work you are supposed to do? A. I am supposed to know or find out for myself.. B. The supervisor gives me oral or written instructions or both_--_. C. The supervisor gives part of my instructions and others give me the rest D. Someone else gives me instructions_ 11. How do you normally first learn about changes in policies or regulations? A. The supervisor explains them__. B. Someone else explains them-- C. I have to find out for myself___ D. By written announcements, instructions, etc.. E. 12. How busy are you during an average workweek? A. I work hard at my job and have to put in a lot of overtime.. B. I worked hard at my job but rarely have to work overtime_. C. Some days I get more work than I can do, some days I don't get enough to keep me busy.. D. I have to scratch around for work to keep me busy-- 13. How much of the time are other employees kept busy during an average workweek? A. They work hard at their job and have to put in a lot of overtime____ D. They have to scratch around for work to keep busy 14. How do the people you work with get a job done? A. I work alone and seldom have people to work with me_. B. Everybody pitches in and works as a team__. C. Most people pitch in but some don't carry their share....... D. We have more trouble getting people to help than we should.. E. 15. How are employee performance evaluations generally handled in your work unit? A. The rating an employee gets seems to depend on how popular he is with the supervisor, rather than on how well he does his work... B. Everybody seems to be rated "satisfactory," whether he deserves it or not. C. Employees seem to be rated fairly, depending on how well they do their jobs--- D. I don't know- E. 16. When does your supervisor usually let you know how well you are doing on your job? A. He doesn't mention it unless I ask him__. B. He tells me only if I do something he thinks is unsatisfactory or outstanding 000 |