Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
12/12/2014

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Chairman Peter Winokur said this week that he is disappointed the Board dropped to the bottom of this year’s list of best “small” federal agencies to work for, but reiterated steps the Board is taking to help improve employee morale and satisfaction. The Board was ranked 30th out of a list of 30 agencies by the Partnership for Public Service, earning a score of 33.8, down from a 2013 score of 45.5. The DNFSB came in 26th out of 28 in the area of effective leadership; 27th out of 28 in strategic management and performance-based rewards and advancement; and 28th out of 28 in innovation.

The Board’s ratings were based on information received during the 2014 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, which found an increase in staff dissatisfaction, hitting a four-year low. “I think we had seen the results of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. We saw that, in general, morale went down in the federal workforce, but the numbers … also indicated that the Board was declining at a faster rate than the general federal population was, so I knew we were going to vector down and there really weren’t that many slots left,” Winokur told WC Monitor. “And we ended up at the bottom, which, of course, is a disappointment to me.”

To help better understand employee concerns, the Board has brought in the Logistics Management Institute, which is expected to soon release its recommendations for improving the agency’s climate. “It’s going to provide, I think, more insight into what is going on at the Board and what needs to change to improve morale. They did listen very carefully, and I think they are making some very reasonable recommendations,” Winokur said. In addition, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Inspector General’s Office, which provides IG services for the Board, is moving forward with a Safety Culture and Climate Survey. “This is a much more detailed, broader range kind of activity,” Winokur said. “So it could do two things—it could actually provide new insight to the Board or it could maybe, depending on its timing, provide some kind of check about whether or not the Board is on the right path and moving in the right direction. Whether some of the changes, some of the fixes we’re putting in place, are actually working.”

FY15 Funding, Drop in Employee Cap Not Expected to Hurt Morale

Winokur said he does not expect two recent actions by lawmakers to further impact the morale of Board staff. The FY 2015 omnibus appropriations bill, details of which were made public this week, would provide $28.5 million for the Board, down $1.7 million from the Board’s FY 2015 budget request but a $500,000 increase from current funding. “I think, based upon our staffing right now and what we’re trying to do, that Congress has given us reasonable funding to do our job,” Winokur said. “I don’t think the level of funding we have is going to in anyway impact the Board’s ability to do its job or impact training we want to perform with the staff or opportunities we want to provide to the staff.”

In addition, the final version of the FY 2015 defense authorization bill, which has passed the House and was expected to pass the Senate late this week, would lower the Board’s employee limit to 130, down from the current limit of 150. According to Winokur, the Board’s staff is currently about 105 people, and the agency is looking to get up to around 120 in the near-term. “In the overall environment of the government, with sequestration and continuing resolutions and the fact they stopped us from hiring about a year ago for six months or so, it’s been challenging to get the manpower we need to do our job. So the 130 number to me still looks like it’s off in the distance by a few years, two or three years at least, before we can even think about getting to levels like that,” he said.