First Total Force Survey Results Released

From Chief of Naval Personnel Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Chief of Naval Personnel announced the results of the Navy's first ever Total Force survey March 23.

This initial survey was sent to roughly 45,000 active and Reserve Sailors, and civilian employees throughout the Fleet, with the goal of providing a baseline understanding of their perceptions on work-life quality and other hot button issues.

While the Navy has used surveys in the past to uncover perceptions in the Fleet, none were shared across the active, Reserve and civilian workforce or used similar questions to allow for useful comparison.

"The Navy Total Force survey has taken the best aspects of previous questionnaires and applied them to all elements of the Total Force," said Vice Adm. Mark Ferguson, chief of naval personnel. "In doing so, we can better understand how the entire team views their quality of life-work balance, job satisfaction and career intentions."

The survey was administered by the Navy Personnel Research, Studies, and Technology (NPRST) team from February to September 2010. NPRST was then tasked with compiling, and analyzing the results for senior leadership. Once completed, they were able to deliver a credible and valuable comparison tool.

Results of the survey among active and Reserve Sailors revealed consistent and positive results on key indicators such as job satisfaction, compensation, and intent to stay with Navy. When measuring career intentions, the survey found enjoyment of job and benefits such as retirement and healthcare to be top reasons to continue serving, while the frequency and duration of deployments were cited as top reasons to leave.

Among Navy civilians, they were found to report fewer problems in balancing their personal life with their career, but were also shown to be less satisfied than their uniformed counterparts in career progression.

"Overall, the survey showed the Total Force is satisfied with the quality of their service, their leadership, and their compensation," said Ferguson. "We view these results as a baseline to measure our future efforts to improve our quality of life programs. This will be our 'Total Force' starting point for the future."