Focus on the results you believe are of particular
   importance to your agency

Compare your agency results to overall survey results.

If results are available for subcomponents within your 
   agency, compare them to each other and to the overall 
   agency average.

Compare your agency to other agencies with similar 
   missions and workforces.

Track your agency’s results over time to determine whether 
   progress is being made on specific survey items and overall.

Use the survey results as one source of information for 
   tracking your agency’s progress under the Human Capital 
   Standards for Success. 

Be sure to probe for what lies behind the survey results.

For further assistance in analyzing your survey results,
   contact your agency’s Human Capital Officer.

Focus on the results you believe are of particular importance to your agency. There is no formula or statistical model for determining which survey results are most important. Your data will show whether a response to a particular question is statistically different from the overall survey average. But since most results in the FHCS are statistically significant because of the huge sample size, this is not particularly helpful. Instead you must rely on your knowledge of your agency’s strategic human capital plan and the assistance of your OPM Human Capital Officer to identify the really important results.

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Compare your agency results to overall survey results. Identify whether your agency exceeded or fell below the overall survey average for each question. Look for items that are either farther below or farther above the average of other agencies. Look also for patterns of either higher or lower results relating to the particular Standards in the Human Capital Standards for Success, such as Strategic Alignment or Performance Culture.

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If results are available for subcomponents within your agency, compare them to each other and to the overall agency average. Again, look for relatively high and low items for each subcomponent compared to the others and for patterns that may indicate broader strengths or weaknesses in the various dimensions of human capital.

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Compare your agency to other agencies with similar missions and workforces. No two agencies are alike, and differences in workforce and mission have an important impact on survey responses to many types of questions. Comparing your results to similar agencies will neutralize some of these differences and better enable you to understand your results and how to use them to improve human capital management. In other words, you can learn more about your relative strengths and weaknesses by comparing yourself to true peers.

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Track your agency’s results over time to determine whether progress is being made on specific survey items and overall. Especially for large agencies, results are not likely to change very much over a year or two, but will change as conditions change over the longer term. Having established the 2002 FHCS as the baseline, OPM plans to continue to administer the survey on a regular basis.

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Use the survey results as one source of information for tracking your agency’s progress under the Human Capital Standards for Success. The survey was designed to support the Human Capital Standards for Success as they existed at the time the survey was developed in 2002. In fact, several survey questions relate directly to Critical Success Factors that have been identified subsequently in the Human Capital Assessment and Accountability Framework (HCAAF). 

The four Standards listed below were already in place when the survey was created and have a section of the survey directly identified with them. In the case of Leadership and Knowledge Management, the Standard was originally identified as two separate dimensions of human capital and has two sections in the survey.

Strategic Alignment – Questions 1–6
Talent – Questions 7–16
Leadership and Knowledge Management–Questions 17–30 & 
   45–50
Performance Culture – Questions 31–44

Additional questions in the Personal Experience and Job Satisfaction sections of the survey also relate closely to certain standards. For example, Question 65 relates closely to the Performance Culture standard.

Although they do not have directly corresponding sections in the survey, the other two standards can also be assessed using survey results. The standard for Workforce Planning & Deployment was developed after the survey and does not have its own section. However, there are a number of survey items that can be used to assess progress under this standard, such as Questions 11, 15, 46, 48, and 55. The standard for accountability underlies all the other standards and also did not have a particular section of the survey dedicated to it. However, certain items such as those relating to collecting information on work unit performance (Question 6) or personal accountability for achieving results (Question 39) bear particularly strongly on accountability.

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Be sure to probe for what lies behind the survey results. Survey results are vital because they provide statistically valid information about what employees think. But they don’t explain why employees respond to questions as they do, and the reasons will not always be clear to you as you analyze the results. That is why survey data should be used with other information when assessing the state of human capital management in your agency. For example, personnel data such as turnover rates or performance rating distributions may shed light on employee perceptions. Or, you may need to use other tools such as focus groups to fully understand what is going on.

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For further assistance in analyzing your survey results, contact your agency’s Human Capital Officer. Your OPM Human Capital Officer is closely familiar with the survey and your agency’s results. He or she can be helpful in interpreting what the data on employee perceptions mean and how they can be translated into action to improve human capital management in your agency. He or she also has access to experts at OPM who can help you address difficult questions of statistical interpretation or methodology. 

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