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Wing Climate Assessment survey begins Oct. 1

  • Published
  • By By Larry Sullivan
  • 43rd Airlift Wing Equal Opportunity Office
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  The new 43rd Airlift Wing Climate Assessment begins Oct. 1. 

Since commanders are very interested in the morale and perceptions of the personnel under their command, the climate assessment survey acts as a tool for commanders to gauge human relations elements within their wing.
 
All installation assigned personnel, military and civilian appropriated fund and non-appropriated fund employees have an opportunity to take this survey, express their concerns and views and therefore be an integral part of the success of their wing.
These climate assessment surveys are used to get a feel for how things are going throughout the wing. The same rules apply in terms of survey questions, anonymity, rules of engagement, method of survey, and process of analysis and assessments.

The following statements are concerns people have expressed when it comes to taking these surveys:

The boss will know what I said. False.
The boss does not receive names of individuals who take this survey.

They can figure out who took the survey. False.
No one, including the commander, has access to any data that reveals the identity of the person taking the survey. No names are requested or made a part of the survey. Personal identification is not made a part of the survey.

They will know who I am by the demographic information. False.
The demographics are designed to prevent identification. The reason for demographics is to determine demographic groupings (i.e., race, gender, rank). A grouping must be larger than five people in order for the survey to note the number surveyed.
For example, if there are five people of one racial group in the unit, the survey will automatically mask the number of people from that racial group from being displayed in the survey by the group. 

However, the grouping will be a part of the overall survey number, but there is no way for anyone to determine who (by race, gender or rank) took the survey or how a particular question was answered. 

Answers are factored into the overall pie chart in a final report which includes all responses. No individual response is linked to a particular individual.

They will know I took the survey by my password to the survey. False.
Everyone has the same password and accesses the Internet link to take the survey. The survey can be accessed at work or from home. 

The survey is controlled through a database maintained at the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla. DEOMI cannot be contacted to see who answered what question. All information is kept confidential.
The commander's intent for the survey is complete honesty from his personnel. Leadership strives to ensure the work environment is conducive to mission accomplishment without the burden of discrimination or harassment. 

The UCA final report is provided to the commander only and he decides who else should read the report. The commander then determines when and how the results of the survey are presented to Wing personnel. 

Normally, a general overview of the results are presented; however, the amount of detail presented is the commander's decision. For the sake of anonymity, the equal opportunity staff usually recommends a general overview of the entire survey as opposed to specific comments. Maintaining anonymity of the survey is critical to the credibility of the process. Commanders take the survey seriously since it gives them a picture of the stability of their organization. 

I just took a Climate Assessment Survey. Why do I need to take another one?
Some squadrons recently conducted Unit Climate Assessments, but those surveys differ in perspective. This survey looks the same, but the focus is on the wing as a whole.
Col. James Johnson, 43rd Airlift Wing Commander, is interested in the human relations climate on our base, especially due to actions concerning the Base Realignment. He encourages everyone to be honest and voice concerns. It is extremely important for all military and civilian employees to address their concerns and make them known.
The survey begins Oct. 1 and lasts for one month. 

The survey is for all active duty military and civilians (including NAF) on base.  For more information, call 394-2273/2274/4490 and speak with an Equal Opportunity staff member.