"Unprecedented in the Department's history" is what long-time employees say about HUD's Organizational Assessment Survey (OAS). Every employee in every part of the Department has the chance to give his and her honest opinions - in complete confidence - and help identify and correct problems in the system, or give a higher rating to the things that work well�but there are just five days left to act.

The survey is being conducted for HUD by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and it basically provides a six-point system to register your level of Agreement or Disagreement with issues that involve your HUD workplace. The easiest way to take the survey is over the Internet on OPM's secure website - HUD employees can find a direct link to the survey, as well as a login name and password, on the main page of HUD@Work, HUD's internal Intranet.

Once you have your login name and password, you can take the survey from any computer - in the office or at home, during the day, or after work (please note: while you can take the survey from any computer, you cannot access HUD's internal Intranet from a computer that is not connected to HUD's network). The survey has about 140 multiple choice questions and can be completed in 20 to 30 minutes, but you may stop at any time to save your work and finish the survey later. Your participation is entirely voluntary, but expressing your opinions - for better or worse - will help the Department improve every employee's satisfaction with their HUD workplace.

Secretary Martinez and Deputy Secretary Jackson strongly encourage you to take part in the survey because they believe that employee satisfaction is critical if we want to give our best service to the American people. The opinions expressed in the survey will be taken seriously, but you must participate if you want your opinions to be counted. If you don't participate now, you'll never know the difference your opinions could make.

Notices and information about the workplace satisfaction survey have been widely distributed through email, posters, on HUD's internal Intranet, and the Daily Focus, and the survey has been available to all employees since Thursday, March 7th - but as of Friday, March 22, only 28 percent of HUD employees have registered their confidential opinions. Do you want your opinions to help shape the Department? Then act today - the survey ends this Friday, March 29th.