ARLINGTON, Va.—New analysis of data from a federal employee survey shows that the Office of Naval Research (ONR) placed fourth for innovation in the workplace out of 228 agency peers in a report by Partnership for Public Service, officials announced July 31.
“As a research organization that develops and sponsors science and technology for the Department of the Navy, we have long recognized that our people are our most important asset,” said ONR’s Director of Innovation Dr. Lawrence Schuette. “We strive to foster a culture of innovation. This survey shows that ONR employees feel empowered to innovate for the Navy and Marine Corps and is a critical measure of our organizational strength. We’re very pleased to see our employees rank us among the very best research organizations in the United States.”
For its latest report, “Achieving a Culture of Innovation,” the Partnership for Public Service and Deloitte examined data taken from the Office of Personnel Management’s 2011 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey to learn how the government and its workforce is responding to the need for change driven by budgetary constraints.
Based upon survey responses, the report categorized large and small agencies, and their subcomponent offices and departments, into rankings to show which ones stand as the most innovative government organizations.
ONR’s innovation score of 76.6 was an increase over the previous year’s tally in the “Agency Subcomponent” rankings, placing the organization just behind NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and the first-place tie between John C. Stennis Space Center and Goddard Space Flight Center.
“We’ll analyze the results more closely to see what we need to do to be number one,” said Schuette.
In the “Large Agency” category, the Department of the Navy ranked eighth out of 34 agencies with an innovation score of 65.6.
The Partnership for Public Service is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help improve the federal government through outreach and research efforts. It publishes the annual “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government” survey. In last year’s “Best Places to Work” survey, ONR ranked 29th out of 240 organizations—ahead of its Navy peers in the agency subcomponents category.