I CARE

VA Core Values describe how VA will accomplish its mission and inform every interaction with our customers. These Core Values are: Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect, and Excellence — better known as “I CARE.”

Our VA Mission and Core Values

Our Mission

Fulfilling President Lincoln’s promise to care for those who have served in our nation’s military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors.

“Our department remains fully committed to fulfilling the sacred obligation that we have to those who serve in uniform.” ~VA Secretary Denis McDonough

No organization can succeed without values to match its mission. Our mission is to care for those “who shall have borne the battle” and for their families, caregivers, and survivors. Our core values focus our minds on our mission of caring and guide our actions toward service to others.

Core Values

VA Core Values describe how VA will accomplish its mission and inform every interaction with our customers. These Core Values are: Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect, and Excellence — better known as “I CARE.” VA’s Core Values will continue to serve as the right guide for all our interactions and remind us and others that “I CARE.”

• I care about those who have served.
• I care about my fellow VA employees.
• I care about choosing “the harder right instead of the easier wrong.”
• I care about performing my duties to the very best of my abilities.

Nominate a VA Employee

We know many of our employees exemplify these values and deserve recognition. If you would like to nominate a VA employee for an I CARE certificate, please use our nomination form.

Established Ethics Directive

VA Core Values, Core Characteristics, and Customer Experience (CX) Principles — I CARE Core Values and Characteristics are codified in our VA regulations at 38 C.F.R. Part 0 and define the standards of ethical conduct and related responsibilities of all VA employees. These regulations include CX Principles — Trust, Ease, Effectiveness, and Emotion — as guiding principles for how all employees deliver services to Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors.

Core Values

VA’s Core Values of Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect, and Excellence define who we are as VA employees and how we will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors. They describe the organization’s culture and serve as the foundation for the way VA employees should interact with Veterans, fellow employees, and others outside the organization. I CARE Core Values and Characteristics are codified in our regulations at 38 C.F.R.Part 0.

• Integrity: Act with high moral principle. Adhere to the highest professional standards. Maintain the trust and confidence of all with whom I engage.
• Commitment: Work diligently to serve Veterans and other beneficiaries. Be driven by an earnest belief in VA’s mission. Fulfill my individual responsibilities and organizational responsibilities.
• Advocacy: Be truly Veteran-centric by identifying, fully considering, and appropriately advancing the interests of Veterans and other beneficiaries.
• Respect: Treat all those I serve and with whom I work with dignity and respect. Show respect to earn it.
• Excellence: Strive for the highest quality and continuous improvement. Be thoughtful and decisive in leadership, accountable for my actions, willing to admit mistakes, and rigorous in correcting them.

Core Characteristics

These define “what we stand for,” and what VA strives to be as an organization. They embody the qualities of VA employees to support VA’s mission and commitment to Veterans, their families, and beneficiaries. The Characteristics are Trustworthy, Accessible, Quality, Agile, Innovative, and Integrated.

• Trustworthy: VA earns the trust of those it serves – every day – through the actions of all employees.
• Accessible: VA engages and welcomes Veterans and other beneficiaries, facilitating their use of the entire array of its services. Each interaction will be positive and productive.
• Quality: VA provides the highest standard of care and services to Veterans and beneficiaries while managing the cost of its programs and being efficient stewards of all resources entrusted to it by the American people.
• Innovative: VA prizes curiosity and initiative, encourages creative contributions from all employees, seeks continuous improvement, and adapts to remain at the forefront in knowledge, proficiency, and capability to deliver the highest standard of care and services.
• Agile: VA anticipates and adapts quickly to current challenges and new requirements by continuously assessing the environment in which it operates and devising solutions to better serve Veterans, other beneficiaries, and Service members.
• Integrated: VA links care and services across the Department; other federal, state, and local agencies; partners; and Veterans Services Organizations to provide useful and understandable programs to Veterans and other beneficiaries. VA’s relationship with the Department of Defense is unique, and VA will nurture it for the benefit of Veterans and Service members.

Customer Experience (CX) Principles

We will provide the best customer experience in delivering care, benefits, and memorial services to Veterans, servicemembers, their families, caregivers, and survivors. The delivery of exceptional customer experience is the responsibility of all our employees and will be guided by our Core Values and Characteristics. Customer experience is the product of interactions between an organization and a customer over the duration of their relationship. VA measures these interactions through Ease, Effectiveness, and Emotion, all of which impact the customer’s overall trust in the organization.

• Ease: We will make access to VA care, benefits, and memorial services smooth and easy.
• Effectiveness: We will deliver care, benefits, and memorial services to the customer’s satisfaction.
• Emotion: We will deliver care, benefits, and memorial services in a manner that makes customers feel honored and valued in their interactions with VA.

We will use customer experience data and insights in strategy development and decision-making to ensure that the voices of Veterans, Service members, their families, caregivers, and survivors inform how VA delivers care, benefits, and memorial services.