Fed vs. Private IT Jobs

The private sector is still ahead of the federal government when it comes to employee satisfaction, particularly in areas like training, promotions and rewards, according to data from the 2011 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.

The survey, released last week, found that private sector employees are significantly more satisfied than federal employees with the training and advancement opportunities at their organizations. For example, 53 percent of private sector workers said they are satisfied with their opportunities to get a better job in their organization, compared to just 40 percent of federal workers. Sixty-five percent of private workers said they are satisfied with training programs, compared to 55 percent of federal employees, the survey found.

In addition, 71 percent of private sector workers said they feel encouraged to come up with new and better ways of doing things, compared to just 59 percent of federal employees.

To come up with the comparisons, the Office of Personnel Management took 14 questions from the 2011 federal employee survey and compared it with a set of private sector norms drawn from an average of data from large, primarily U.S. corporations.

Of the 14 questions, federal employees were ahead of their private sector counterparts in just one area -- the opportunity to improve their skills. Sixty-five percent of federal employees said they are given the opportunity to boost their skills, compared with 63 percent of private sector workers, the survey found.

Despite the differences in overall satisfaction from private sector vs. federal sector workers, only 45.3 percent of feds believe the results of the 2011 viewpoint survey will be used to make their agency a better place to work.