Commissaries connect employee well-being to customer satisfaction

  • Published
  • By Kevin L. Robinson
  • Defense Commissary Agency
FORT LEE, Va. --  The Defense Commissary Agency says employees who feel their workplace concerns matter to leaders will better serve their customers. That's after approximately 70 percent of its workers participated in the 2012 Organizational Assessment Survey.

The survey, conducted every two years by the Office of Personnel Management, helps agencies evaluate their performance, focus on training and improvement and benchmark progress with other commercial and federal agencies.

DeCA's response to this year's survey was nearly triple that of the previous one - the employee participation rate leaped from 24 percent in 2010 to 68.1 percent in 2012. The surge of respondents impacted employee satisfaction numbers that improved in the 12 areas that measure the agency's working culture.

These results validated the agency's ongoing efforts to improve its working culture and deliver better customer service to its patrons, said Joseph H. Jeu, DeCA director and CEO.

"We value our employees' views and recognize that our workforce is the foundation we build upon to deliver the commissary benefit and support the 21st century total force," Jeu said. "The OAS results show that we are making steady progress at improving our employees' working environment."

Of the 12 core areas or "dimensions" that evaluate an organization's performance, DeCA improved its numbers from 2010 across the board. For 2012, the agency met or exceeded the median benchmark in nine areas: customer orientation, innovation, flexibility, strategic management, communication, supervision, resources, training and rewards. It came up below the median in teamwork, ethics and employee support.

Noting the below-median ratings for the three areas, Jeu said the agency's ultimate goal is to lift all of its scores above the median benchmark line. "We have more to do as we strive to make DeCA the best place to work in the DOD," Jeu said.

The current boost came thanks to a two-year "Get Well" campaign that increased the flow of employee ideas for improving their work environment, spurred innovation and communication, emphasized greater recognition of performance and expanded training opportunities, said Vicki Archileti, the agency's chief of performance.

"OPM was very impressed with our results. They said they'd never seen an organizational assessment survey response rate go from 24 to 68 percent in a two-year period," she added. "As we prepare for the next survey in 2014, we want to keep raising the bar to improve the agency for our employees; that, in turn, will translate to a better benefit for our customers."