Federal employees appear undaunted despite budget climate

Despite pay freezes and a general squeezing of the government workforce, the decline of governmentwide employee satisfaction revealed a new survey is mild. 

The Partnership for Public Service’s newly released 2011 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government shows a 1.5 percent decline in satisfaction and commitment -- from 65 to 64 out of 100, compared to 2010.

“The surprise was that it wasn’t a bigger decline given everything that’s going on with the brink of a possible shutdown, a federal pay freeze, an increase in antigovernment rhetoric before the next election and the discussion to take another whack at federal benefits,” said John Palguta, vice president of policy at the partnership.

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Several agencies also managed to buck the trend and rose significantly in employee satisfaction. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ranked highest on this year’s list, moving up two slots from 2010. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission came in as the second-highest ranking agency in employee satisfaction after holding the top spot for three consecutive years. The Government Accountability Office, which ranked second in 2010, placed third this year.

Palguta said he was especially pleased with seeing the inclusion of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on the agency subcomponent level. Part of conventional wisdom, he said, is that organizations that don’t have “sexy, high-grade jobs and technology like NASA” tend not to do as well with employee satisfaction.

Agencies that previously scored low on the employee satisfaction ratings have made efforts to respond to employee feedback and criticism, by substantive interventions and management initiatives, Palguta said. Employee satisfaction ratings are often tied to how engaged employees are with their agency: The more committed and satisfied employees are in their jobs, the more productive they are, he added.

“If you don’t like your job, you don’t like your boss, you think the organization is unfair, you may show up for the paycheck but you’re not giving your best effort,” Palguta said.

The agencies that saw employee satisfaction ratings drop the most this year were National Archives and Records Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Homeland Security.

But an agency’s low rankings do not always give the bigger-picture view of what goes in within an organization. NARA, for example, has been working to fix the problems that contributed to the low rankings but has going through a culture change after 90 percent of its senior executives left in the past year, Palguta said.

Top 10 best large agencies:

1. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
2. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
3. Government Accountability Office
4. Smithsonian Institution
5. NASA
6. Social Security Administration
7. State Department
8. Intelligence community
9. Office of Personnel Management
10. General Services Administration

Top 10 small agencies
1. Surface Transportation Board
2. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
3. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
4. Peace Corps
5. Farm Credit Administration
6. Overseas Private Investment Corporation
7. Federal Labor Relations Authority
8. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
9. National Endowment for the Humanities
10. Federal Trade Commission