Rewarding Innovation

The Homeland Security Department on Friday released the results of its 2009 annual employee survey, and while most employees noted overall satisfaction with their jobs, only one-third agreed that the agency rewards creativity and innovation.

For example, only 38 percent of respondents agreed that DHS rewards employees for innovative and creative ideas. The results show an increase over 2008, however, when only 30.4 percent of respondents agreed that creativity and innovation were rewarded.

In October, I reported that DHS planned to expand the Transportation Security Administration's interactive IdeaFactory across the entire department in early 2010. It will be interesting to see whether the departmentwide rollout of the IdeaFactory will boost the numbers of employees in the 2010 survey who believe that innovation is rewarded.

At the same time, I would not be surprised to learn that other federal agencies would face similar results if they questioned employees on how creativity and innovation are received and rewarded. Are creativity and innovation rewarded at your agency? Does the culture or generational divide contribute to the lack of rewards, or do other factors play in as well?