defense-survey.com is an independent organizational climate assessment service. It is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any government agency.
Defense Organizational Climate Assessment

Know the climate of your organization before it becomes a problem.

DOCA is a confidential, research-based survey that measures the factors most closely tied to readiness and retention — cohesion, leadership, fairness, prevention climate, and well-being. Results come back to leaders as a unit report they can act on within days of the window closing.

72
Items across 10 sections
18
Average minutes to complete
5
Minimum responses to report a group
72hr
Typical report turnaround

What the assessment measures

Each section maps to a climate factor with an established link to unit performance. Factors are scored independently so leaders can see exactly where a unit is strong and where it is drifting.

  • Organizational Commitment & EngagementPride in the organization, job satisfaction, and stated intent to remain.
  • Unit Cohesion & TeamworkTrust between members, shared workload, and confidence in the unit's ability to perform.
  • Leadership & SupervisionClarity of expectations, quality of feedback, fairness, and the presence of passive or corrosive leadership behavior.
  • Communication, Resources & WorkloadWhether people have the information, manning, equipment, and time the mission requires.
  • Fairness, Inclusion & Equal OpportunityDistribution of assignments and recognition, perceived favoritism, and sense of belonging.
  • Harassment & Misconduct Prevention ClimateWhether standards are enforced, training is credible, and members would intervene.
  • Reporting Climate & RetaliationConfidence that a report would be handled properly and without professional cost.
  • Well-Being, Stress & ReadinessWork-life balance, exhaustion, help-seeking stigma, and safety follow-through.

How it works

From request to report in under two weeks, with no local survey administration burden.

  1. A leader registers the organization

    The commander, director, or a designated administrator defines the roster boundary and the survey window, and the window is registered with the survey portal.

  2. Members are invited to the survey portal

    Personnel go to the survey portal, enter their work email address, and are sent their own survey link. Responses are anonymous and can be completed on any device.

  3. The window closes and results are aggregated

    Responses are rolled up to the unit level. No subgroup with fewer than five respondents is reported separately.

  4. The leader receives the report

    Factor scores, favorable-response percentages, comparison against prior cycles, written comments, and a recommended action list.

  5. Findings are briefed and an action plan is set

    Guidance and a briefing template are provided so results reach the people who took the survey — the step most often skipped.

Built around confidentiality

People answer honestly only when they are certain the answers cannot be traced back to them. Three controls make that credible.

No identifiers in the results

Climate results carry no name, employee number, or contact information. Your invitation identifies your unit so responses land in the right report — never the individual who sent them.

Small-group suppression

Any demographic breakout with fewer than five respondents is suppressed and rolled into a larger category before a report is generated.

Comments are screened

Written responses are reviewed and any text that would identify a specific person is redacted before the report reaches leadership.

The survey is not a reporting channel

Because responses are anonymous, a survey answer cannot start an investigation or trigger a response to an individual situation. If something needs action, use one of the channels listed on the Resources page.

Your unit's window may be open now

The survey is administered on the DEOCS survey portal. Enter your work email address there and the portal will send you your survey link.

Go to the survey portal