ARLINGTON, Va. — The Air Force is preparing to begin its 2003 Air Force Climate Survey by expanding its potential audience to include all of the more than 700,000 individuals who get paychecks from the service.
When the Air Force began its Climate Survey in 2002 by separating work-related issues from its Quality of Life survey, the new questionnaire included only active-duty airmen and appropriated-fund civilians — an audience of some 420,000 people, Lori Marcum, the survey’s team leader, said in a Monday telephone interview.
This year, survey officials at the Air Force’s Manpower and Innovation Agency at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, also want to hear from the Reserve, Guard, nonappropriated fund civilians and students in a temporary-duty status, adding more than 300,000 potential takers to the poll’s roster, Marcum said.
The point of the survey is the same as the reason for adding more potential takers, Marcum said: “To give everyone [in the Air Force] a voice in targeting areas for improvement and creating positive changes.”
The survey will run from Oct. 1 to Nov. 23 and covers 13 different categories, all of which are designed to measure a person’s satisfaction with his or her job.
The survey will include about 100 questions on resources, core values, leadership, supervision, training and development, teamwork, participation and involvement, recognition, unit flexibility, general satisfaction, unit performance outcomes and job enhancement, she said.
The survey uses a scale of 1 to 6, from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” There also is an optional section in which poll takers can write comments.
Officials estimate that filling out the survey will take about 30 minutes.
The survey will be available at https://afclimatesurvey.af.mil, which will not have restrictions that prohibit access from outside the workplace, because “some people might want to take it at home,” Marcum said.
Survey officials are also supplying the survey on computer disks and local area networks so that commanders in the Reserve or Guard, or whose units are deployed, can install the query on a computer that can then be made available, she said.
There are safeguards installed in the design of the poll that are designed to guarantee survey takers will remain anonymous, Marcum said.
Results will be released in February, Marcum said.
Commanders down to the squadron level will have the chance to see how their workers rate their workplace, and unit members can see the results of their own surveys.
But because the survey “is not a report card or a witch hunt,” commanders and unit members may receive a report only for the unit to which they are currently assigned, Marcum said.
Air Force-wide tabulations, however, will be available to all survey-takers.
For more information on the survey, go to https://afclimatesurvey.af.mil. The new survey, however, won’t be posted on the site until Oct. 1.
2002 feedback spurs changes
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — The manpower and organization office has a higher headquarters list of actions taken across the service based on 2002 survey feedback.
Changes were implemented from squadron to headquarter levels.
Many of the recent changes implemented at Pacific bases focused on recognition, morale building and communication. They include:
Kadena Air Base:The 18th Wing created an internal recognition program called the “Golden Tooth Award” to recognize those who embody the dental clinic’s “esprit de corps.”Misawa Air Base:The 35th Fighter Wing started an annual awards ceremony recognizing quarterly military, civilian, local national and volunteer award winners.Yokota Air Base:The 374th Medical Group enhanced group and squadron commanders’ calls with skits, game show formats and interactive technology to make them more entertaining and informative. The 374th Operations Group addressed leader mentoring by revamping its flight commander-training course and providing more access to wing senior leadership during the class.More than 65 percent of active-duty airmen and civilians completed the survey in 2002.
Yokota’s participation rate was 84 percent last year, tops in Pacific Air Forces and fourth overall in the service, officials said.
— Jennifer Svan
