The Foreign Service Journal, January-February 2015

48 JANUARY FEBRUARY 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL All Quiet on Set. Ready. Action? The results of the 2014 Employee Viewpoint Survey, as it relates to the Foreign Commercial Service’s new parent agency, Global Markets, are in. The news is not good. Indeed, they should be cause for concern. The U.S. Oce of Person- nel Management released its agency-level reports on Oct. 24. Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Ken Hyatt emailed them to employees a few days later. Hyatt stated that there was “no improvement in the International Trade Adminis- tration’s scores over last year.” That may be true. However, when comparing this year’s Global Market scores to last year’s Commercial Service scores, a dierent picture emerges. Negative ratings were up in more than half the 71 work- related categories surveyed. (Work-life balance results were roughly the same as last year.) Comparatively, only eight negative ratings went down somewhat from a year ago. The remaining 27 work- related survey results were, eectively, the same (within two to three percentage points) as last year. Negative responses increased most in the areas of dealing with poor performers and awards and recognition. By contrast, one area that drew an increased number of positive responses was oce- space improvements (noise levels, temperature, lighting, etc.). The area with the highest overall negative rating was “resources.” Fully 58 percent, (virtually no change from last year) responded that they still did not have sucient resources to get the job done. Two areas did see a sig- nificant increase in negative scores: whether employees felt a sense of empowerment and whether respondents believed the survey results will be used to make the agency a better place to work. This last data point is especially troubling, given the inspector general’s prelimi- FCS VP VOICE | BY STEVE MORRISON AFSA NEWS Views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the AFSA FCS VP. Contact: steve.morrison@trade.gov or (202) 482-9088 nary report on ITA consoli- dation. Fifty percent more respondents felt management would not successfully act on employee feedback than thought it would. As Ken Hyatt reported two years ago, there is “much room for improvement.”More recently, he has stated that “our future depends very much on what you think about ITA and how we go about accomplishing our mission.” Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Stefan Selig’s “Dare to Be Great” challenge is partly designed to help in that regard. The questions are, “Is it enough?” and “What’s next?” n DEADL I NE FOR NOMI NAT I ONS APPROACH I NG : CONSTRUCT I VE D I SSENT AWARDS Nominate someone—or yourself!— for an AFSACon- structive Dissent Award. The nomination deadline is Feb. 28 . AFSA proudly recognizes constructive dissent within the systemwith four separate awards: The W. Averell Harriman Award is for entry-level (FS-6 through FS-4) ocers; the William R. Rivkin Award is for mid-level (FS-3 through FS-1) ocers; the Christian A. Herter Award is for Senior Foreign Service ocers; and the F. Allen “Tex” Harris Award is for For- eign Service specialists. Recipients receive prize money and are honored at a ceremony in June in the Benjamin Franklin Diplomatic Reception Room at the State Department. For more details on the awards and to file a nomina- tion online, visit www.afsa.org/dissent. Please contact Special Awards and Outreach Coordinator Perri Green at green@afsa.org or (202) 719-9700 for more informa- tion. ANNOUNCEMENT DEADL I NES APPROACH I NG FOR AFSA YOUTH SCHOLARSH I PS The children of active duty or retired AFSA members can apply for college aid. Graduating high school seniors can apply for $2,500 aca- demic and art merit awards, while incoming/ current undergraduates can apply for need- based financial aid scholarships ranging from $3,000 to $5,000. The merit award program submission deadline is Feb. 6 , and the need-based finan- cial aid scholarship submission deadline is March 6 . Not all who submit an application will receive an award. Visit www.afsa.org/scholar for details, or contact AFSAScholarship Director Lori Dec at dec@afsa.org or (202) 944-5504. ANNOUNCEMENT