[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 125 (Thursday, June 30, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39096-39098]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-13988]
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GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
[OMB Control No. 3090-XXXX; Docket No. 2022-0001; Sequence No. 11]
Information Collection; Generic Clearance for the Collection of
the Government-Wide Pulse Survey
AGENCY: Office of Shared Services and Performance Improvement, Office
of Government-Wide Policy, General Services Administration (GSA).
ACTION: Notice of request for comments regarding a new request for an
OMB clearance.
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SUMMARY: GSA is coordinating the development of the following proposed
Generic Information Collection Request (Generic ICR): ``Generic
Clearance for the Collection of the Government-wide Pulse Survey'' for
approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act. This notice announces that
GSA intends to submit this new collection to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for approval and will solicit comments on specific
aspects for the proposed information collection.
DATES: Submit comments on or before August 29, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments identified by ``Information Collection 3090-
XXXX Generic Clearance for the
[[Page 39097]]
Collection of the Government-wide Pulse Survey'' to http://www.regulations.gov.
Submit comments via the Federal eRulemaking portal by searching for
``3090-XXXX Generic Clearance for the Collection of the Government-wide
Pulse Survey''. Select the link ``Comment'' that corresponds with
``3090-XXXX Generic Clearance for the Collection of the Government-wide
Pulse Survey''. Follow the instructions provided on the screen. Please
include your name, company name (if any), and ``3090-XXXX Generic
Clearance for the Collection of the Government-wide Pulse Survey'' on
your attached document. If your comment cannot be submitted using
regulations.gov, call or email the points of contact in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document for alternate
instructions.
Instructions: Please submit comments only and cite ``Information
Collection 3090-XXXX Generic Clearance for the Collection of the
Government-wide Pulse Survey'', in all correspondence related to this
collection. Comments received generally will be posted without change
to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal and/or business
confidential information provided. To confirm receipt of your
comment(s), please check www.regulations.gov, approximately two-to-
three days after submission to verify posting.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Trey Bradley, Program Director,
Strategic Data Initiatives, Organization, at telephone 202-716-6410 or
via email to [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Purpose
GSA's Office of Shared Solutions and Performance Improvement
(OSSPI) improves mission delivery and implementation of the
Administration's priorities by bringing the government together to
drive innovation, foster collaboration, and shape effective policy.
Working through its three functional areas of Executive Council
management, Shared Services, and the President's Management Agenda
(PMA) team, OSSPI's vision is to be a trusted partner delivering on the
Administration priorities by unifying the government as one Federal
enterprise.
Because of our PMA responsibilities, GSA played a key role in
FY2022 governmentwide pilot managing a series of Pulse surveys--
described in greater detail below.
As the Federal workforce adjusts to the post-Pandemic environment,
we have a unique, time-sensitive moment to rigorously learn about what
enables Federal employees to thrive--informing our strategy for decades
to come on the future of work.
Better understanding what employees need to do their job and
supporting them in this can result in improved mission delivery and
experience of our customers, a fundamental principle the private sector
has believed in for decades. A central management survey approach and
service will provide information to improve Federal employee experience
and mission delivery.
Pulse surveys also provide a much faster turnaround time for the
analysis of government-wide survey data--making data available for
decision making within weeks (or even days), not months, of survey
implementation to deliver more actionable information. In addition,
these Pulses are short, discrete surveys, minimizing burden on Federal
respondents.
Given the large scale of the planned pulse surveys, we can build a
``test and learn'' approach to these pulses. For example, in the pilot
we used A/B testing to see whether different framing or the ``sent
from'' branding affects response rates and answers.
As the effort moves into its second year, the data will be an
important source of information for the PMA and the Government-Wide
Learning Agenda and will identify government-wide issues and priorities
and support agency action planning.
Thought leadership for this effort will be provided by OMB, OPM,
GSA, and the Harvard University's People Lab. The work will be executed
by OSSPI staff and colleagues in GSA's Office of Evidence and Analysis,
supplemented by contractor support.
We plan to continue the Pulse initiative that began as a
government-wide pilot in FY2022. These ``pulse'' surveys are short
surveys asked at regular cadence to enable comparison and in
collaboration with the 24 CFO Act Agencies to generate actionable data
within a short turnaround time on some timely, cross-cutting questions.
We will conduct a series of pulses with both trended and unique
questions. Some of the unique questions, as indicated above, will be
designed for A/B testing.
These questions will be related to the President's Management
Agenda or the Government-Wide Learning Agenda. For example, during the
pilot, questions covered three themes:
(1) Employee engagement (presenting questions that are highly
predictive of turnover and burnout)
(2) Reentry (understanding expectations and concerns about the return
to office plans)
(3) Equity and inclusion (including understanding current support
systems and pain points)
Here are other specifics around how we plan to share the data:
The items and the results of the items will be made
publicly available for Federal agencies to assess their scores to
identify areas for improvement;
The general public, including researchers and the media,
will also have access to this information;
The collections are voluntary;
Access to completed surveys will be limited to GSA and OPM
staff and contractors who are involved in collecting and/or preparing
the information for further analysis at OMB and distribution to other
agencies:
Information is only shared for the for the whole
population and for certain subgroups. Neither federal agencies nor the
public will receive data by subgroups that could be used to identify a
specific individual or a person's specific response to a survey
question.
The Agency has established a manager/managing entity to serve for
this generic clearance and will conduct an independent review of each
information collection to ensure compliance with the terms of this
clearance prior to submitting each collection to OMB.
Survey information will be collected through web surveys. The
survey population is civilian federal employees of the CFO Act
Agencies. The survey is voluntary.
The government-wide Pulse surveys occupy an important niche for
Federal data collection efforts. They are distinct from the other
government-wide survey efforts, which are typically multi-year efforts
with fixed content. Pulse surveys are more agile with questions that
can be tailored to issues relevant to the PMA and the Government-wide
Learning Agenda and evolve based on conditions on the ground. Moreover,
to our knowledge, none of the CFO Act Agencies are currently conducting
Pulse surveys to inform agency learning agendas, so the Pulse
represents an important source of information for them. The pulse can
also act as an early warning signal on critical issues (e.g., reentry,
diversity, burnout).
This survey only applies to the CFO Act Agencies. Moreover, the
Pulse surveys are short (approximately three or four questions) and
consist of three pulses conducted throughout the fiscal year.
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Without pulse surveys, it will be difficult to measure changes
employee sentiment on critical PMA issues in a short time frame. Having
three pulses allows us to trend questions as conditions change.
Technical experts will review and approve the survey content.
Some questions may be asked that are of a personal or sensitive
nature (e.g., questions on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and
Accessibility).
B. Annual Reporting Burden
Respondents: 367,000.
Responses Per Respondent: 1.
Total Annual Responses: 3.
Hours per Response: 0.0106 (38 seconds).
Total Burden Hours: 11,621.67.
C. Public Comments
GSA invites comments on: whether this collection of information is
necessary, whether it will have practical utility; whether our estimate
of the public burden of this collection of information is accurate, and
based on valid assumptions and methodology; ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
ways in which we can minimize the burden of the collection of
information on those who are to respond, through the use of appropriate
technological collection techniques or other forms of information
technology.
Obtaining Copies of Proposals: Requesters may obtain a copy of the
information collection documents from the Regulatory Secretariat
Division by calling 202-501-4755 or emailing [email protected]. Please
cite OMB Control No. ``3090-XXXX Generic Clearance for the Collection
of the Government-wide Pulse Survey'' in all correspondence.
Beth Anne Killoran,
Deputy Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-13988 Filed 6-29-22; 8:45 am]
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