Organizational Climate Assessment Statement of Work.docx

The Department of Transportation Volpe National Transportation Systems Center Organizational Climate Assessment Statement of Work

PR#: V1502001

The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) employs a staff of approximately 580 federal employees who work across all modes of transportation and collaborate with local, state, and federal agencies, academia, and industry. Volpe’s mission is advancing transportation innovation for the public good. The Department of Transportation’s strategic goal for Organizational Excellence, “Strengthen our world class organization. Advance the Department’s mission by establishing policies, processes, and an inclusive and innovative culture to effectively serve communities and responsibly steward the public's resources.” The mission of this project is to create a workplace that values and supports a people-centered culture and promotes a healthy organization.

Task (a):

The contractor shall measure the organizational climate of the Volpe Center by conducting an Organizational Climate Survey (OCS). The purpose of the OCS is to serve as an internal, employee assessment to help guide the implementation of appropriate and realistic activities, policies, practices, and procedures to reach the Volpe Center’s goals.

The primary objectives for the OCS include:

· The measurement of organizational climate at the Volpe Center,

· The measurement of diversity, equity, and inclusion, employee engagement and job satisfaction, and

· Identification of the Volpe Center’s policies, practices, and procedures that can be improved based on OCS data.

Organizational climate refers to the interpretative frameworks shared by employees regarding the priorities of their organization. Employees develop these organizational perceptions as a result of their attempts to make “sense” of the policies, practices, and procedures endorsed and enacted in an organization. The scope of the OCS includes measures of the organizational climate indicators below:

· Climate for Leadership: Assesses whether leaders have good working relationships with employees, as well as the extent to which leaders are trusted by employees.

· Climate for Diversity: Refers to the extent that the organization has policies, practices, and procedures that encourage diversity of ideas, values, and experiences.

· Climate for Justice: Refers to the degree to which the organization has policies, practices, and procedures that treat employees fairly and justly.

· Climate for Innovation: Refers to the extent to which co-workers encourage each other to share and come up with innovative solutions. This also refers to the extent to which employees feel comfortable suggesting innovative ways to conduct branch work.

· Climate for Psychological Safety: Refers to the degree to which an organization or teams therein encourage employees to freely share opinions with each other and with management. An organization with a climate for psychological safety provides a safe environment for self-expression.

· Climate for Teamwork: Refers to the organization’s policies, practices, and procedures that emphasize the importance and usefulness of teamwork.

Task (b):

The contractor shall execute a plan to conduct the OCS with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, employee engagement and job satisfaction. The scope of work consists of:

1) Conducting an employee survey to gauge the current organizational climate:

a. Prior to launching an employee survey, the contractor shall hold a meeting with Volpe Center management. The purpose is to identify the “as-is” (where Volpe Center is currently) and the desired “to be”. This will involve reviewing artifacts (e.g., past employee surveys, diversity assessment or audits, suggestions made through feedback or anonymous suggestion box, etc.) and developing a survey project plan.

b. Based on meetings with the Volpe Center, the contractor shall develop survey questions. These questions will be a combination of multiple choice and would be in the appreciative inquiry form (open-ended questions). The goal is to also have employees provide recommendations, as well as identify what’s working well within the Volpe Center. The contractor shall use the appreciative inquiry model for these surveys, so employees are able to provide answers to the questions and their recommended changes. This is opportunity to bring the whole organization together based on great ideas to improve.

c. The contractor shall also develop a communication/engagement plan. The plan will include an introduction email to be sent out to employees informing them of the survey and letting them know that the survey responses are completely anonymous. The communications plan with also contain an email to be sent out to employees during survey collection period, and a thank- you email to be sent at the conclusion of the survey period.

d. The contractor shall use Survey Monkey as the survey tool. The survey shall for two weeks, sending out reminders every three days to those who have not responded to the survey.

2) Provide a comprehensive, but concise, executive summary report with all response data within 30 days after survey close date for employees.

a. Within 30 days after the survey has closed, the contractor shall provide an executive summary, along with a PowerPoint briefing, outlining the survey results. There will be no personal identifiable information in the summary or briefing.

b. According to employee survey standards, a 50-60% response rate is average, 60-70% is above average, and anything above 70% is exception. The contractor shall continuously monitor survey response rates and send emails to those who have not responded. If, at the end of the two-weeks survey period, the response rate has not reached 60%, the contractor shall extend the survey by a week.

3) Assist Volpe Center management in seeking additional information and feedback for potential improvement actions through employee focus groups.

a. Focus group are an integral part to survey research. The contractor shall conduct a series of focus groups.

b. Each focus group should have between six to nine attendees. Supervisory and non-supervisory employees should not be in the same focus group. Each focus group will be an hour.

c. Based on focus group data, the contractor may be required to also conduct one-on-one interviews with a select number of employees. Preferably employees who work in different sectors/units/offices within the Volpe Center.

d. Provide timely results, within 30 days of survey close date for employees, detailing what drives engagement at the agency to enable a focused approach to an action plan based on measured results.

e. In addition to preparing a presentation for Volpe Center Management, the contractor shall prepare an action plan to be shared with employees. Timely feedback is essential for change; therefore, it is important to let employees know, “we heard you,” and “here’s our plan of action.”

f. The action plan will be based on measured results. Those measured results may include turnover rate, employee net promoter scores, internal promotion rate, and ongoing engagement survey results (using the initial employee engagement survey as the benchmark.

Deliverables

Below is the proposed OCS project timeline (September 2022 – February 2023)

· Data Review: the contractor shall conduct an in depth understanding of the organization’s current state.

· The contractor shall conduct a full data analysis.

· The contractor shall review work practices and structures, workplace and workforce data, and previous survey results.

· The contractor shall review existing policies and procedures September 30, Initial report of findings from the organizational diagnosis

Survey.

Communication /Engagement Strategy for survey launch

· The contractor shall create a Customized Recommendation/Action Plan

move forward.