The results are in! NASA has been named the Best Place to Work in government in the large agency category for the third year in a row. Here’s the link to see the full results.
Those who work at NASA know it’s a great place to work. We are the world leader in space exploration and cutting-edge science missions and contribute to the economic vitality of our great nation. We challenge our employees to carry out missions that benefit humankind. What job could be better than that?
Just this past week, the entire world watched as Orion, the spacecraft in which we’ll travel to destinations in deep space, took flight for the first time and performed nearly perfectly on every leg of its 60,000 mile journey to simulate a lunar reentry and splashdown safely in the Pacific Ocean. We’ll continue to learn from all the data this important test flight gave us about avionics, the heat shield, and other systems. It was a critical step on our journey to Mars, and I want to thank the Orion team and the entire workforce that was cheering it on. It was an incredible example of the things NASA can do, because we do share a fantastic place to work and a dream for improving life for everyone on the planet.
This past Saturday, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft came out of hibernation for the final time and began to ready itself for its historic encounter with Pluto next July. After almost nine years of flight, New Horizons is literally on Pluto’s doorstep – on schedule, in good health, and on course. We look forward to the spacecraft’s arrival at Pluto. It’s another example of NASA reaching for big goals and raising the bar of human achievement. This year also continues to be an incredible year in Earth Science, with three missions launched already, another coming up this month and another slated for January.
Technology drives exploration and this year among our many Space Technology highlights, we flew an experiment that will help us understand future entry descent and landing technologies. This Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator demonstrates the transformative capabilities and cutting-edge technologies that are being developed, tested and flown today.
This year, NASA also announced our partners for launching astronauts from commercial vehicles by 2017, and our commercial cargo partners continued to work hard resupplying the station and bringing it science experiments as well – helping us to reach the incredible milestone of 14 years of continuous habitation aboard the International Space Station.
NASA aeronautics is with you when you fly, and this year continued to make progress in developing the next generation of air transportation systems (NextGen).
NASA looks forward to even more success in 2015. There are still a lot of places to go, and there’s no doubt we will reach new destinations in the solar system and continue to make the technological breakthroughs that inspire future generations.
Congratulations NASA
NASA. is. amazing!
NASA is also not very diverse.
When someone makes a broad-based statement like that Richard, it’s helpful to know the basis on which the person has based such an opinion.
Why I Would Not Work at NASA or Google
There has been a lot talk lately in the engagement space about how NASA and Google are the best places to work in the public and private sectors. NASA was hailed as the best place to work in the federal government for the last 3 years by the Partnership for Public Service based on its Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings. Google made Glassdoor’s 2015 Best Places to Work List in the USA and UK.
What is the secret sauce that make NASA and Google the greatest shows on earth-high levels of engagement.
Certainly, NASA and Google should be congratulated on creating workplaces where their employees bring high levels of discretionary commitment to their work every day. Great bosses, super benefits, cultural fit, mission, work life balance, plush offices and enviable retirement packages make Google and NASA privileged places to work. On the other hand, let’s not get carried away. Lurking in the background of these great places to work is the statistical fact that shows a disturbing amount of bias and exclusion at these organizations.
NASA and Google are essentially male, white dominated organizations. According to the latest data from the Office of Personnel Management, males make up 64.7% of the NASA workforce and whites constitute 73.7% of NASA employees. Google according to their latest Equal Employment Opportunity-1 Report did not fare much better. At Google, males compose 79% of their workforce and whites represent 72% of their total employees.
What is so amazing about Google is they break the mold for the business case for diversity. They are making money without a diverse workforce. Who said to be profitable you have to look like your customer. Google as reinvented this business model. They have said loud and clear, if you build a better mousetrap the world will beat down your door to buy it regardless of what your workforce looks like.
A disturbing trend is developing as NASA and Google prop themselves up as model workplaces. Want a great workplace? Hire only people that look like you, talk like you, act like you or graduated from the same college as you. Who needs diversity much less inclusion? Anyway, inclusion is a too much work and messy. I will take my chances with building an organization around people who have something in common.
Imagine if you are a person of color or a woman at NASA and Google. How would you answer these questions as posed by thought leaders, Kecia Thomas and Mauricio Valasquez?
• Are people like me represented in leadership?
• Does my leadership have the best interests of people like me?
• Can I make an individual mistake without it being attached to my group?
• Can I speak with someone in leadership and feel confident they will understand my uniqueness?
• Can I seek information without being labeled needy?
Imagine if you were a black woman at NASA and Google, would you feel pressured to straighten your hair? If you were an American Indian, could you feel free to speak out against Indian mascots? If you were Asian, could you avoid the stereotype of Information Technology geek? If you were Hispanic, could you get the organization to do more outreach to underrepresented communities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields? If you were a woman, would you feel comfortable talking to your male colleagues about what it means to be a mother?
It is complicated question. Does engagement need inclusion? Does inclusion need engagement? I will let you decide. But for this American Indian, I will take disengaged organizations who are working on inclusion over engaged homogenous institutions every time. At the end of day, you have to ask yourself. Would you rather work for a country club? Or would you rather work for an organization that is trying to look like the rest of the world?
If you are still in doubt and looking for answers, don’t worry, you can always google it.
Let me know if you want anymore documentation.