By Mary Rowe,

The survey team has been preparing many reports from the 2020 Practice and Compensation survey report. Here are the first two reports. Information is coming next about compensation. And more is coming about OO Practice in addition to the attached articles. Hi Colleagues, we enormously appreciate all who participated in the IOA survey by sharing your insights and information. Through your contributions, the world - and we - are able to understand the functions, boundaries, and impact of organizational ombuds (OO) with greater clarity. Thank you, thank you!

The first report helps provide information to a confused world about what OOs actually do and do not do - and how we fit into the whole world of all ombudspeople.

Report #1: What do Organizational Ombuds Do?

The second report provides one particular glimpse about OO effectiveness. Please imagine: just one or two of your most serious cases, might they “pay for” the costs of your office?  This report responds to several questions: 

• Do OOs deal with anything really important - what are the issues in the most serious cases? Are any of these issues common ones? How complicated are ombuds cases? 

• Do OOs exist only for complainers - from whom do you first hear about the most serious cases? And, 

• If OOs are confidential, how does the organization learn what they need to know about the most serious cases? How do OOs deal with these cases within the Standards of Practice? 

Report #2: Most serious cases 2020 and most common issues

Dear colleagues, thank you, thank you for being there. May you and all our colleagues stay safe and well. 

~ mary (on behalf of the Hedeen/Schneider/Rowe team in R&A)