With Congress continuing to consider various plans to reform the VA, the department has said that its own initiative, called MyVA, is producing measurable improvements for both veterans and the department’s own employees.
A report cited improvements since 2014 including in: the level of trust veterans have in the VA; the number of appointments completed; the processing time and accuracy of disability claims; wait times; veterans homelessness; and quality of care.
It noted that this year’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey showed gains at VA in overall engagement as well as in measures including the percentage who like their work, find it fulfilling and believe it’s important, those who look for ways to do better, those who believe their performance appraisals are fair, and those who believe they’ll be held accountable for their performance.
“We’ve abandoned the stifling atmosphere of rules-based cultures and embraced the tenets of a prin¬ciples-based culture grounded in values, sound judgment, and the courage to choose the ‘harder right instead of the easier wrong’,” the report said.
It also cited changes in top leadership at many facilities, a new “VA 101” training program to bring employees up to date on all the benefits and services the department offers, leadership training that has reached some 24,000 mid- and senior-level leaders and more than 100,000 employees overall, and incorporating private sector best practices.
