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For more than a decade, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) to full and part-time federal employees to measure their perceptions of whether, and to what extent, conditions that characterize successful organizations are present in their agencies. The goal of the survey is to provide agencies with information to build, strengthen and improve challenge areas. Senior leaders in the federal government use the FEVS as a management tool to drive change and increase employee engagement in the federal workforce.
FEMA values the input of all employees and pays OPM to administer the survey to FEMA Reservists, COREs, and Temporary-Full-Time employees. FEMA Reservists onboard since Oct. 30, 2017 will receive the 2019 FEVS on May 23. Completing the survey is voluntary, but participation is encouraged and valued.
FEVS does not provide identification of individual responses in any way and no identifying information will be used to match individual responses to employees. The survey has about 88 questions and takes approximately 20-30 minutes to complete. All eligible non-deployed Reservists can request compensation (not to exceed 30 minutes) to complete the survey. Deployed Reservists and all other FEMA employees may complete the survey during their regularly scheduled working hours.
To help you identify the survey when it arrives in your FEMA email inbox, look for an email from: USASurvey@opm.gov. The subject line of the email will be: FEMA 2019 Stafford Act Employee Viewpoint Survey.
The 2019 FEVS ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on July 5. OPM will send weekly email reminders until you complete the survey.
Please complete the survey when you get it. Your voice counts.
To view the data from past surveys, visit FEMA Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.
FEMA’s role in building a culture of preparedness includes all FEMA staff. While disasters can strike anywhere at any time, the upcoming start of the 2019 hurricane season reminds us it’s important that you are ready to deploy.
There are some actions you must take in order to ensure your deployment readiness.
First, make sure your information is up to date in the Deployment Tracking System (DTS). This information includes your name, address of record, incident management title, and unavailability dates.
If you determine that you have any circumstances that would impact your deployable status, discuss those circumstances with your cadre coordinator and supervisor. Update DTS as necessary.
Second, activate your Citibank Government Travel Card. If you have not yet activated your card, you must do so in order to be able to travel.
Most new Citibank government travel cards shipped as of Feb. 12, and should have arrived. If you’re deployed, and have not received your card, first please do your best to retrieve the card shipped to your home address. The anticipated date when you can start using your new Citibank government travel card is May 6. Cardholders should continue to use their JPMC travel card through midnight on May 5.
If you are not able to have your card delivered from your home address to your deployment address, take these steps:
- Make sure you verified your home address.
- Call Citibank Customer Service to verify your address/arrange shipment to your deployment location.
- CITIBANK -Customer Service -800-790-7206.
- Upon receipt of the card you must ACTIVATE IT. This verifies it has been received. NOTE: your Citibank card cannot be used until the GO LIVE date, May 6.
- For information and updates about the transition from J.P. Morgan Chase to Citibank, visit the FEMA Bank Card transition page.
Third, update your FEMA issued devices
Every employee has a responsibility to maintain their assigned FEMA devices, whether an iPhone, iPad or laptop. This maintenance includes installing updates once notifications are received on the device to comply with DHS 4300A: Sensitive Systems Handbook.
More helpful resources, including tips on family readiness are available in the SharePoint Deployment Toolkit.
And last, the time to prepare yourself and your family is before a disaster strikes.
An important part of preparedness is financial preparedness. A 2017 Federal Reserve report found 40% of adults would not have cash on hand if faced with a $400 emergency. Visit Ready.gov for financial preparedness tips, including planning, budgeting and saving for disasters and emergencies. Another critical part of financial preparedness is insurance. Those without insurance take longer to recover, and some may never fully recover. Take some time to review your personal or family’s insurance policies. Do you have the appropriate amount and type of insurance? Insurance is your first line of defense for disasters. Homeowner’s, flood, renter’s insurance can provide funds to start your recovery quickly.
For preparedness to many types of disaster, Ready.gov provides resources and tools, including family emergency plans and Ready Kids resources.
FEMA is proud to embrace and celebrate contributions from the many Asian American and Pacific Islanders in our Agency helping people before, during and after disasters.
During this month, we take time to honor the many cultures, traditions and history of the AAPI community. This year’s theme, “Unite Our Mission by Engaging Each Other,” reminds us to participate in civic engagement and empower leaders at all levels.
In 1978, Congress established AAPI Heritage Month each May. The month recognizes the first Japanese immigrants to the U.S in 1843, and the contributions of Chinese immigrant workers to the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.
The FEMA AAPI extends an invitation to people at HQ and in the Regional Offices to join the group for educational events, social gatherings and insights from members of the FEMA AAPI community. Email the AAPI FERG for more information or to join the group.
On April 11, Acting Administrator Gaynor hosted the 2018 Administrator’s Awards Ceremony.
Across nine categories, 21 teams and individuals demonstrate the best of FEMA and helped set the standard in helping people before, during and after disasters.
The awards recognize individual and team achievements during 2018. Through 70 declared disasters, including two of the strongest land-falling hurricanes/typhoons in history. In 2018, we witnessed the first Category 5 hurricane to hit the United States since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and one of the deadliest wildfires in the history of the state of California.
The innovation and leadership of this year’s award winners is an inspiration for all. We applaud the dedication and commitment of all our FEMA employees.
A description of the winners can be found in the Awards Ceremony program.
Photos of the event can be found in two folders in the FEMA Event Photo Library on SharePoint.
This month, the Reservist Advisory Board (RAB) reminds you of two important resources: one for managing your deployment duration and one to help you make the most of your resume.
The first item is “Instruction 122-1-1(a): Deployment of Employees to a Single Temporary Duty (TDY) Location Without Exceeding 50 Weeks to Maintain Their “Temporary Away” Status.” This set of instructions provides employees with clear guidance regarding limitations on the duration of TDY deployments to a single TDY location. FEMA manages and limits every employee’s extended TDY deployments to a single location to avoid the employees’ travel expense reimbursements from becoming taxable income.
Are you looking to change your Cadre, but need help polishing your resume? The second document, Resume Writing Tips, has a list of helpful Do’s and Don’ts, provides examples of resumes and shares helpful verbs to develop your best resume.
If you have questions for the RAB, send them to FEMA-RAB@fema.dhs.gov.
A Cadre Coordinator oversees all aspects of day-to-day cadre management including staffing, equipping, training, qualifying and performance of the cadre and its members. Here is a list of FEMA’s Cadre Coordinators:
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