The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) established the Employee Experience and Organizational Management Directorate under the Veterans Experience Office, recognizing the integral relationship between the customer and employee experiences. This new Directorate was formed in response to the Department’s commitment to improving their employee experiences. The team, under the leadership of Executive Director Airis McCottry Gill, has demonstrated an unparalleled commitment by the Department to positively impact the experiences of VA employees. 

 

The team is driving employee relations efforts within VA and across the Federal government through bold, innovative and culture changing initiatives, including the first ever Employee Journey Map (JM). They have taken the insights, gleaned from the JM and used it as a catalyst to work on projects aimed at improving key moments that matter for our workforce, including onboarding, career development, and diversity, equity, inclusion and access. 

 

The team is developing and implementing a measurement capability called Esignals that will be the near real-time feedback platform for capturing the voice of employees. Through this tool, the VA will implement quarterly pulse checks or “Beacon Metrics” which measures both employee trust and employee recommendation. As EX “thermometers,” they will be instrumental in alerting key stakeholders to bright spots or problems areas across the organization to further investigate.