Launching Your Federal Career
Looking to launch a federal career or simply unhappy with your current agency?
The majority of new employees under the age of 30 report high levels of satisfaction at most federal agencies, with the Veterans Affairs Department, Nuclear Regulatory Commission and NASA topping the list, according to a new report by the Partnership for Public Service and Deloitte.
The latest Best Places to Work in the Federal Government snapshot analysis, which is based on the Office of Personnel Management 2010 employee survey, notes that the governmentwide satisfaction index score for employees under age 30 is 75 percent, 10 points above the score for employees of all ages employed for any length of time. Out of 26 agencies, four scored below 70 percent, the report notes.
"OMB estimates that 60,000 federal workers are set to retire by year's end," the report states. "To prevent a brain drain of highly skilled and educated employees, the government must work to attract young talent into its ranks and be seen as a great place to build a career."
More specifically, satisfaction among new employees under age 30 was highest at Veterans Affairs (90.3 percent), NRC (88.8 percent), NASA (87.5 percent), the General Services Administration (84.1) and Social Security Administration (83.6).
The lowest satisfaction levels among employees under 30 were at the Housing and Urban Development (47.6 percent), Education (64.3 percent), Army (68.9 percent) and Agriculture (69.1 percent) departments, the Partnership and Deloitte found.
Still, there is a gap in satisfaction levels between new employees and those with longer tenure at most agencies, suggesting a need for agency leaders to understand and address it with targeted strategies, according to the report. The widest disparity is at the VA, where there is a 27-point drop-off in satisfaction between new employees (90 percent) and the workforce as a whole (64 percent).
From 2006 to 2009, more than 100,000 people under age 30 started a federal career, and with the potential departure of large waves of retirements in the coming years, agencies must find effective ways to attract and retain the next generation of workers, the report states. Employee survey results indicate that effective leadership is most key to keeping satisfaction levels high, the Partnership and Deloitte found.
"Given the state of today's economic climate, along with likely government budget cuts and hiring freezes, it becomes even more crucial to engage this emerging group of government professionals, particularly as they begin a federal career," the report states. "Agencies now are challenged with developing and retaining these workers to ensure that they will rise through the ranks to become leaders themselves."