Survey to measure ESC employee engagement

  • Published
  • By Kevin Gilmartin
  • 66th Air Base Group Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Is the Electronic Systems Center work force fully engaged? That is what a new survey will measure when it is conducted by ESC's Personnel and Manpower Directorate March 2 through 16.

A random sampling of ESC employees will receive the survey at Hanscom and at geographically separated units. ESC employees at Air Force Materiel Command bases will receive an e-mail with a link to the survey, while those at bases hosted by other commands will receive an e-mail with a Word document attached. The survey is confidential. All identifiable information on participants will be scrubbed.

Engagement refers to a high level of motivation to perform well at work combined with a passion for the work, according to the Merit Systems Protection Board.

"Employees are engaged when they are absorbed intellectually and emotionally in their work and vigorously invest their best efforts to achieve the outcomes needed by the organization to achieve its goals," the MSPB wrote in a July 2009 report.

"An employee engagement survey allows us to measure the ESC employees' commitment, motivation, sense of purpose and passion for the work and organization," said Col. Mark Spillman, ESC vice commander. "This baseline engagement survey will provide valuable data, and subsequent surveys, conducted about every 18 months, will help us identify trends. I encourage everyone who receives the survey to complete it and help us gather this valuable data."

The survey will consist of about 45 locally-developed statements in the categories of work environment, supervisor, organization and work. Responders will answer on a scale of one to seven ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Examples of statements include "I look forward to going to work every day," to "My supervisor cares about me as an individual."

According to MSPB, the top drivers of engagement are pride in one's workplace, satisfaction with leadership, opportunity to perform well at work, positive work environment, satisfaction with recognition received and prospects for personal and professional growth.

Once the survey results are compiled, Manpower and Personnel members will be visiting program executive officers and the air base group commander to review the results from their organizations and assist in developing action plans.

"We recognize that there have been other surveys in the past months, including the Unit Climate Assessment and the Community Assessment Survey, but this one is different," said Maureen Remeika of the Manpower and Personnel directorate. "This should take only about 15 to 20 minutes to complete, and will help us measure employee engagement and identify new ways to improve in that area."