The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is a great place to work. The agency is a leader within the federal government in implementing "people programs" and providing myriad opportunities for personal and professional development. DISA offers a broad range of quality-of-life and training programs, and employee participation in these programs is supported by the agency's director, other senior leaders, and supervisors.

Quality-of-life programs include compressed work schedules, a physical fitness and "wellness" program, teleworking, recognition and awards programs, and an employee assistance program that provides free counseling on a short-term basis.

DISA offers a full range of training and leadership development opportunities, including:

• The Human Resources Competency Assessment and Survey System, which assists in identifying specific individual training needs.
  
• More than 1,500 computer-based training courses, many of which can be accessed 24 hours per day, seven days a week.
  
• Assignment rotation opportunities to expand individual experiences.
  
• A robust mentoring program.
  
• Agency-paid professional certifications and licensing, which may include payment of membership fees, fees for preparation for examinations, examinations, registration fees, and travel and per diem costs.
  
• Five in-house leadership courses.
  
• Executive Leadership Development Program.
  
• Competitive development and education programs that provide opportunities to complete undergraduate and graduate degree programs or special university training programs.
  
• Executive Speakers Forum.
  
• Technical Speakers Forum.
  
• Several in-house programs, such as the "This Is the Transforming DISA" course, time-management course, human resources management course for supervisors.

Programs such as these enable DISA to maintain a highly trained and skilled workforce of approximately 8,200 persons, of which 6,200 are civilians.

The DISA corporate strategy includes acquiring, developing, and keeping talent - a highly motivated team of skilled professionals with the agility, innovation, and the ability to consistently exceed our customers' expectations. Two of the nine transformational tenets that describe and drive the agency deal directly with employee well-being and workforce planning and with employee empowerment.

• DISA creates and fosters an environment to attract, develop, motivate, and retain people having the skills necessary to perform current and future DISA missions.
  
• DISA empowers employees with knowledge by fostering an information-sharing culture. We work collaboratively to ensure that intellectual assets, information, and data are captured, organized, shared, and reused throughout the agency to more successfully meet our organizational goals and customer requirements.

First-rate people make first-rate things happen!