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Updated January 20, 2001

Access Amercia

America Anywhere

Conversations with America

Downsizing

Employee Survey

Family - Friendly Workplace

Federal Blue Pages

Federal Communicators Network

Federal Executive Boards

Franchising

Hammer Awards

Hassle-Free Service

High Impact Agencies

Human Resource Management

Improving Travel Management

Information Technology

Managing for Results

Performance Based Organizations

Procurement Reform

Reducing Internal Regulations

Reinventing Support Systems

Reinvention Labs/Waivers

Reinvention Tools

Telecommuting

Time and Attendance

Transforming Organizational Structures

Work Environment

Media Coverage
5/5/00: Government Computer News: National Institute of Health Takes Attendance Online

3/31/00: Federal Agencies Pledge Changes Based on Employee Survey

3/31/00: Federal Computer Week: Feds Feel Job Satisfaction

3/31/00: GoveExec.com: Federal Employees Give Their Agencies Mixed Grades

2/27/99: GovExec.com: Civil Service Reforms May Include Buyouts, Pay Hikes



Reinventing the Federal Workplace
"We want managers and employees to work together to paint a clear vision and articulate a compelling mission supplemented with clearly understood goals and shared values upon which anyone in the organization from top to bottom can base an intelligent decision. This approach results in the empowerment of all employees -- managers as well as workers -- to innovate and ensure a high level of performance. It insures that everyone 'buys into' the vision and is part of the process for creating it, so that goals can be developed together."

--Vice President Al Gore, The New Job of the Federal Executive, March 29, 1994

Today federal workers are not only improving service to the American people, they are reinventing their workplace. In agencies where reinvention is taking hold, workers are freeing themselves from their rigid organizational "stovepipes." They are sharing ideas or partnering with their colleagues and counterparts in the next office, in the agency across town, in federal unions, in state and local governments, in the business community, and in nations around the world. They are reinventing government systems like procurement, managing for results, writing in plain language for themselves and the public, and delivering services online. They are not taking cover in their cubicles or hiding behind obtuse rules. They are having Conversations with America to learn what services Americans really care about.

New Workplace
In agencies where reinvention is taking hold, a new, flexible, family-friendly federal workplace is emerging, made possible by new technologies and a new trust in workers. Agencies are cutting their internal red tape, providing employee access to the Internet, and encouraging employees to work at home or in telecommuting centers. A smaller, empowered federal workforce is emerging, devoted to creating a government that works better and costs less and delivers results that Americans care about.

2000 Employee Survey: Reinvention Makes a Difference
Sixty-three percent of federal employees say they are satisfied with their jobs, according to the third annual survey conducted by NPR and the Office of Personnel Management. Food and Drug Administration employees gave their agency the most favorable rating. NASA, which was the most highly rated last year, and the General Services Administration also got high ratings. Navy had the greatest employee satisfaction increase from 1999. Some reinvention efforts have led to changes in employee views. For example, 8 percent more employees were aware that plain language was being used in their agency.

Transforming Entire Agencies
We need a well-prepared workforce and committed leadership because the current phase of reinventing government is the hardest. We are moving from creating "islands of reinvention" within agencies to transforming entire agencies where the public will see the difference. NPR is starting with "high impact agencies"--those that have the most interaction with the public and business. We already have some models. For example, the Veterans Health Administration, which administers the largest integrated health care system in the country, is reengineering every aspect of its operation. Guided by a "vision for change," VHA is undergoing a customer-focused, quality-based transformation. Some say the turnaround is one of the most profound of any organization in American history.

The Blair House Papers Are Reinvention Rules
President Clinton presented the "reinvention rules" federal workers learned in the earliest years of reinventing government to the Cabinet at the Blair House in January 1997. Vice President Gore told the Cabinet officials "they would know they had succeeded with reinvention when all the people in their departments understood the goals and values of the organization, and could use them to adjust quickly to changing circumstances."

How to Recognize Success
He also told them how federal employees would recognize success: "When they wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep right away, they will be thinking about how to do their jobs better. Where reinvention has taken hold, federal employees do that. Their faith in the system has been restored. Applied to every part of government, these ideas can do the same for America."

Thus, NPR's vision is America @ Our Best. And our goal is to restore the faith of the American people in their government and the people who serve them.

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