3.3: Employee Engagement

Develop an infrastructure to stimulate and support employee execution of open government activities at all levels of the agency and reduce the barriers to innovation for employees

Other Information:

The National Archives is committed to developing an infrastructure to stimulate and support employee execution of open government activities at all levels of the agency as well as reducing the barriers to innovation for employees. Employee Viewpoint Survey 2010 - The Employee Viewpoint Survey 2010 is the first step to improving employee engagement. This survey was administered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) from February 8 to March 26, 2010. The results of this survey will create a baseline for improvements that will be made in the areas of employee engagement in open government activities. Advertised as "Own the Change," this survey is one opportunity for employees to be a part of making NARA a better place to work. The survey benefited from the direct support of the Archivist of the United States, David Ferriero. Through a video, online live webinar, and phone message to all employees, the Archivist has consistently told employees that he will be looking carefully at the results and wants to learn from employees' views. By improving the lines of communication within the agency, there has already been measured success, as more NARA employees participated than in previous surveys. Strategic Human Capital Plan - NARA's recently published “Strategic Human Capital Plan" highlights the human capital challenges facing NARA. These are * Changing benefits and demands of technology, electronic government and electronic records. * Assuming a leadership role in the management of electronic records. * Proliferation of Federal records. * Increasing demand for access and significant backlog of unprocessed holdings. * Customer expectations of online access to our holdings. * Concerns with regard to holdings security and continuity of operations, emergency preparedness, and recovery of records in the event of disasters. This plan is evidence of our commitment to building and maintaining the workforce needed to achieve mission success, both now and in the future. Our plan outlines five major goals with 25 supporting strategies and also capitalizes on the wide variety of programs, initiatives, activities, and tools already in place within NARA to address workforce recruitment, retention, and development. The plan sets an aggressive agenda to ensure that our workforce has the skills and competencies they need to excel and that our managers have the information and resources they need to foster excellence at all levels. It also will help NARA attract, develop, and retain a highly motivated, diverse, and talented workforce using the most innovative human capital policies, practices, and programs available. NARA’s Strategic Human Capital Plan is available at http://www.archives.gov/about/plans-reports/strategic-plan/human-capital/. Open Government Working Group - NARA's internal Open Government Working Group will look at a variety of ways to increase employee engagement and reduce barriers for innovation within the agency. These include: * Determining ways to recognize employees as valuable sources of ideas and innovation, by actively seeking their input and developing their buy-in on important initiatives. * Identifying, developing, and supporting champions for change across the agency. * Leveraging the interest and passions of employees to achieve our mission and vision, allowing for employees to spend a percentage of their time on "passion projects." - For example, Family Tree Fridays on the NARAtions blog (http://blogs.archives.gov/online-public-access/?cat=40) showcases the interests and subject matter expertise of NARA's genealogical reference archivists, and engages the community of genealogists in an interactive way, allowing for feedback and responses from NARA staff. * Strengthening 21st century skills among employees, including internal and external trainings (such as Web University Webinars). * Equipping employees with the technology they need to do their jobs. - Recently, the agency published guidance on using social media and made these tools available to staff. To see our current social media projects at http://www.archives.gov/social-media/. * Developing a professional network for NARA employees. - An application like NASA's Spacebook (http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/innovations/spacebook), would allow employees to collaborate across the many NARA locations nationwide.

Stakeholder(s):

• Employees


• Office of Personnel Management (OPM)


• Open Government Working Group

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

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