SEPTEMBER 6, 2016, WASHINGTON – The deadline is fast approaching for service members to participate in the 2016 Workplace and Gender Relations Survey.
Selected active-duty service members have until Sept. 28 to take the online or paper survey. The survey’s results will inform the Defense Department’s future prevention and response efforts, Defense Department spokesman Eric Pahon said.
The congressionally mandated survey is conducted by the Defense Manpower Data Center as part of a biennial cycle of health and resilience surveys outlined in Title 10 USC 481. Its results will provide information on service members’ experiences of unwanted, gender-related behavior.
Results will be briefed to service leadership, DOD leadership, the DOD Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office and Congress, Pahon said.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
“We know everyone gets a lot of requests to take surveys, but this is one that makes a very big difference. The secretary of defense, the service secretaries, Congress – and even the president himself – see the overall results of this survey,” said Dr. Nate Galbreath of the DOD SAPRO.
“Much of the legislation that Congress has passed over the past few years to address sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military has grown out of the feedback that people share with us,” Galbreath added. “If there is ever a survey that lets your voice be heard, it’s this one.”
The survey is voluntary and completely confidential. Active-duty service members can check to see if they have been chosen to participate at http://www.dodsurveys.mil/
The final report will be released as part of the 2016 SAPRO Annual Report in spring 2017.