The Foreign Service Journal, April 2012

56 F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 1 2 good/fair ratings, there does seem to have been a modest improvement during the previous six months in six of eight areas. We congratulate HR on its recent efforts and hope they continue. Agency Morale: The data speaks for itself: the agency’s poor morale rating has doubled. Morale has worsened froma 22 percent poor rating in the 2010 survey to a 41percent poor rating in the current sur- vey. An institution such asUSAIDcannot continue at this pace of decline if it is going to fulfill its mandate. Top leadership has to address many of the serious problems identified in this and other surveys such as “Best Places to Work,” which placed USAID near the bottom of comparable agencies. TheUSAIDAdministrator’s Perfor- mance: The unfavorable rating for Administrator Rajiv Shah (Question 35) increased from9 percent Poor in the 2010 survey to 21 percent Poor in the current survey. At the same time, 20 percent of respondents rated his performance as excellent, a rise of four percentage points fromthe previous survey. Fromthe com- ments submitted, it seems that many of the initiatives which are now being implementedmay have contributed to the poorer scores for the Administrator. Overall Working Conditions at USAID: The 2011 survey shows that 46 percent of employees feel that overall con- ditions of work are worsening (Question 36). This is an improvement over the pre- vious survey, but still shows that close to half of USAID FSOs are concerned that things are not improving. Concluding Analysis The survey has clarified several impor- tant issues: • Our FSO staff is younger and has dif- ferent needs than the traditionalwork force. •USAIDstill has away to go to achieve a diverse work force. • FSOs are very concerned aboutwork- life balance and take it into account when they decide whether to leave the agency. •AlthoughFSOs are verydedicatedand enjoy their work, morale continues to decline. • The Office of Human Resources is viewednegativelyby amajorityof employ- ees. However, recent improvements, in- cluding thenewStaffCareUnit, are encour- aging. The USAID membership, which is mostly pleased with AFSA’s work, clear- ly indicatedwhat theywant us to focus on: protecting the retirement package; equal- izing benefits with the State Department; preserving Overseas Comparability Pay; achieving fairness in assignments; and establishing an electronic voting system. Themost serious inequity continues to be USAID’s low entry-level salaries, which have negatively affected many new offi- cers. Wehope the agencywill respond to the needs expressed in this survey. A F S A N E W S Survey • Continued from page 55