Federal Agency V

Agency V is one of the largest federal agencies with a workforce of over 300,000 employees and a FY16 budget of $169B. It serves approximately 8.7M federal and non-federal customers. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the organization’s offices and employees are geographically dispersed across all 50 states, plus the Caribbean and the South Pacific. Occupations range from highly specialized and technical to administrative and housekeeping.

Agency V is currently recovering from a front-page scandal that sparked several investigations, multiple Inspector General reports with negative findings, and numerous congressional hearings. The scandals have resulted in constant negative media attention and increased congressional scrutiny, which has been damaging employee morale. Following the previous Secretary’s resignation, a new Secretary has been appointed. She is eager to transform Agency V into a customer-focused organization and sees the connection between employee satisfaction and positive customer outcomes.

Deloitte, who has been supporting Agency V for the past several years and has expanded its reach to all service areas of the organization, has been brought on board to address the Agency’s employee engagement issues as the organization shifts to a customer service model and undergoes restructuring and culture change. Research indicates there is a strong correlation between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. As Agency V stands up a new customer service model, they desire a strategy to establish a culture of employee engagement that will drive strong customer service. Previous focus groups indicate that redistricting and reorganization of the Agency’s regions may be necessary. Agency V is eager to learn more about Deloitte’s approach for an engagement strategy and implementation plan. As the organization undergoes restructuring and a culture change during a volatile time, engagement tools and resources will be needed to equip leaders and supervisors with the skills needed to retain and attract the best talent. Key considerations: The majority of the workforce is unionized, actively taking part in five national unions. Agency V is under heavy Congressional scrutiny; Congress is demanding immediate action and seeks to see vast improvement to customer service within an aggressive two-year timeframe. A large population of the workforce is eligible to retire and most senior leaders have a military background. All workforce from senior leaders to frontline employees, from medical personnel to benefits officers, will be impacted.

Question 1 To begin an engagement strategy, how might you establish a baseline to measure employee engagement against? Example answer: A: Determine elements of employee engagement to take into account B: Decide how information on employee engagement might be gathered and quantified C: Benchmark similar external organizations All of the options above would be steps to establishing a baseline. A good answer will list elements of employee engagement that should be taken into account and suggest how one might gather or quantify that information. A great answer will go beyond listing elements of engagement and would take into account desired outcomes for benchmarking and/or tying in benchmarking customer engagement as well. Question 2 What characteristics would you look for in external organizations to use as potential benchmarks? Example answer: A good answer will identify other external organizations to measure Agency V against along with explaining the reasoning for the choices. A great answer will go beyond identifying external organizations and consider a variety of factors beyond more obvious choices (e.g., similar mission, number of employees) to think about other organizations that may be facing the same challenges, regardless of mission. Question 3 What are the various populations of the workforce and how would you engage them? Example answer: A good answer will identify the major workforce segments and differentiate sub-segments where applicable (e.g., unionized employees versus non-unionized employees). In determining strategies for engagement, a good answer will show you are thinking through how different populations might want to receive and give information. A great answer will show strategies that you will take into account concerns and questions the different populations may have. A great answer may also take into account the population segment’s power and influence as it relates to the effort and adjust the engagement strategy accordingly. Question 4 How will you use Deloitte’s relationship with, and institutional knowledge, of Agency V to develop your deliverables? Example answer: A good answer will show you have thought through types of information from other parts of the agency that could be useful in this case. A great answer will show you have thought through how this project could affect other Deloitte projects (even if that information may be unknown) and/or how stakeholders in this current case could be stakeholders for other Deloitte engagements as well. Throughout the case, be aware of the core request – relating issues and decisions back to the main client objective stated at the beginning. Also, think through all the considerations presented and prioritize which may most strongly affect Agency V’s employee engagement efforts.