The Merit Systems Protection Board has said NASA’s new employee orientation process, especially the online system is uses to support it, is a contributing factor to the agency’s success retaining employees and one reason 83 percent of its workforce recommended the agency as a place to work in 2005.
MSPB said NASA’s web support for orientation integrates multiple internal agency processes into one tracking system.
Phase 1 consists of an intranet database that tracks prospective workforce gains, moves, and losses and assists in identifying needed job competencies.
That data is used to populate other agency databases such as one for HSPD-12 identity management, OPM’s eQIP and those for new employee computers, telephones, badges, etc., something MSPB said is a big time saver.
Phase 2 consists of post-selection and pre-entry information.
NASA also uses a checklist builder that new employees can use to construct personalized employee orientation checklists based on their locations and employment type.
The checklist identifies the forms the employee will need to complete and also information the employee should review, including information the employee’s family may need, MSPB said.
It said supervisors and agency mentors can also create checklists regarding their responsibilities for orienting new employees, and that the system augments a hands-on orientation process offered at each of NASA’s centers.
