Workplace environment trumps pay for federal workers

Federal employees were less satisfied with their salaries in 2011 than they were in 2010, likely due to the two-year pay freeze imposed by the Obama administration in 2010 and the threat of further cutbacks, according to a new report by the Partnership for Public Service.

The report, which is a snapshot of the Partnership’s larger Best Places to Work Survey and is based on data from the Office of Personnel Management’s 2011 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, found that federal employee satisfaction with pay was down 6.1 percent in 2011, from a score of 63 out of 100 in 2010 to 69.1 in 2011. Pay registered as the second largest decrease among employees in terms of satisfaction among workplace categories used in the survey, with only family friendly culture experiencing a bigger drop from 2010.

But while feds were less satisfied with their pay, that still takes a back seat to the role of strong leadership and meaningful work in their job satisfaction scores. The Partnership’s analysis found that leadership was about five times more important, while skills and mission match were roughly three times more important than pay.

“In short, pay matters and is a concern for federal employees, but meaningful work and leaders who empower and motivate employees have a bigger impact on overall job satisfaction and commitment,” the report states.

Higher-ranking professionals in the GS-13 to GS-15 positions registered the highest scores for pay satisfaction, with 74.1 percent responding positively. The average satisfaction for workers at all other pay levels, however, was only 58 percent. Members of the Senior Executive Service, Senior Leaders and Scientific Professionals, and employees in pay systems other than the General Schedule noted the largest decreases in pay satisfaction, with a 7.8 percent drop in 2011.

The top-ranked agency in terms of pay was the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which received a pay satisfaction score of 83.3 out of 100. This could be because FDIC, which is funded by fees paid by the banks it regulates, was not subjected to the federal pay freeze.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and NASA also had pay satisfaction rates above 70 percent, while OPM, the Environmental Protection Agency, General Services Administration, State Department and Small Business Administration had pay satisfaction above 65 percent. The lowest pay satisfaction was noted at the Homeland Security Department (56.8 percent), National Archives and Records Administration (54.7 percent) and Veterans Affairs Department (53.3 percent).

“Leaders may feel they don’t have much control over federal salaries, but they can influence other factors to make sure pay is not the tipping point that discourages workers,” the report states. “Creating a great workplace environment, in spite of tough economic times, matters now more than ever.”

How satisfied are you with your federal pay, particularly as IT workers, given that many of your counterparts in the private sector have seen modest but positive salary increases over the past couple of years? Is strong leadership and meaningful work more important to you than pay, as the Partnership’s survey suggests?