Playbook: Federal daily check-in survey | GSA
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Playbook: Federal daily check-in survey
Objective
Implement a daily check-in process to monitor employee occupancy at federal buildings. This will provide leadership with real-time data on capacity and ensure accountability as the workforce returns to the office.
Step 1: Identify an approved surveying tool
Choose a secure, approved tool within the agency for daily check-in. Options may include:
Microsoft Forms
Google Forms
Qualtrics
Agency-specific tools
Ensure the tool can integrate with your agency’s email and notification systems.
Step 2: Prepare an employee roster
Utilize an accurate and up-to-date roster of all employees, including:
Full name
Email address
Assigned duty station (federal building)
Supervisor information
Office code and 2-letter department ID
Ensure this information is updated weekly to reflect staffing changes.
Step 3: Design the daily survey
Keep the survey simple, asking only one primary question:
“What is your work location today?”
Provide the following options:
I am reporting to my assigned federal facility.
I am reporting to an alternative federal facility.
I am working remotely.
I am not working today.
The survey should automatically collect the employee’s email address and should be able to map their response to their other specific roster information.
Step 4:
chedule survey delivery
Send the survey every workday (e.g., 5 a.m.) via email to all employees.
Utilize automation tools to ensure consistent delivery and track response completion.
Step 5: Implement reminder notifications
If an employee has not responded by 12:30 p.m., send an automated reminder to all employees who have not responded.
At 3 p.m., if there is still no response, notify the employee’s supervisor with a request to complete the form on behalf of the employee.
These reminder notifications will help to ensure maximum compliance with employee responses.
Step 6: Data storage and management
Store all survey responses in a secure, centralized database (e.g., Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or SQL Database).
Include key fields such as employee name, response time, response selection, and assigned duty station.
Step 7: Generate daily summary reports
Develop an automated reporting system that generates a summary at the end of each day. Reports should include:
Total number of employees at each response status
Occupancy levels for each federal building
Employee no-response rate
Visualize data using charts or dashboards for clear interpretation.
Step 8: Provide leadership visibility
Deliver the daily summary report to designated leadership personnel via email.
Include occupancy trends and flag anomalies (e.g., underutilized space or low response rates).
Step 9: Implement long-term tracking and analysis
Store all daily responses to build a historical dataset.
Generate weekly or monthly summary reports to identify occupancy trends over time.
Provide insights to leadership for decision-making regarding workspace management.
Additional considerations
Data security: Ensure all collected data complies with federal privacy regulations.
Employee awareness: Provide clear communication about the purpose and importance of the daily check-in process.
Automation: Leverage tools like Google Apps Script, Power Automate, or similar to minimize manual effort.
The above steps are general guidelines for the implementation of a successful federal daily check-in process. This has been proven over the years to accurately monitor occupancy at agencies such as the General Services Administration.
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