Results of the 2014 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey

by Seth Sinclair

Every year, the Federal government surveys its workforce to measure Federal employees’ perceptions of whether, and to what extent, the conditions that characterize a successful organization are present in the agencies they work for.  The results of the survey provide managers throughout the government with insight into the challenges they face in leading their organizations, and help them make their organizations a better place to work.

“We believe this survey is one of the most valuable tools OPM provides to agencies,” says Katherine Archuleta, Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).  “It helps agency leaders know and understand their employees, even at the department and office level.”

The results of the 2014 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) are now out (read them yourself at www.fedview.opm.gov), and, to few people’s surprise, employee satisfaction and commitment have decreased since the last survey—in 64 out of 64 questions.

Nearly 400,000 federal employees, working at 82 different agencies, responded to the 2014 survey between April and June 2014—fewer than half of all employees.  At a briefing on the survey, Archuleta told reporters “we have to remember that this has been a very difficult time for federal employees.  It’s going to take time for them to recover from an extended period of sequestration, furloughs, and a government shutdown.”

Only 56.9 percent of federal employees were satisfied with their jobs in 2014. compared to more than 70 percent of private sector employees—and only 38 percent had confidence that anything would be done with the survey results.

Sixty-two percent would recommend their organization as a good place to work, continuing a downward trend since 2011, and only 55 percent were satisfied with their organization overall.  Finally, only 38 percent of employees said that their senior leaders generated high levels of commitment and motivation.

It’s not a pretty picture—and results for a number of federal agencies were significantly worse than the norm.  When morale is low, employees are not engaged.  They don’t feel a responsibility for the success of their organization.  Quality suffers, and tension keeps people from doing their best work.

On December 23, Archuleta; Shaun Donovan, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB); Beth Cobert, OMB’s Deputy Director for Management; and Meg McLaughlin, Deputy Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office issued a memorandum to the heads of all executive departments and agencies, titled “Strengthening Employee Engagement and Organizational Performance.”

In it, the signatories referred to the results of the latest FEVS, and stated that the Obama Administration “is committed to improving employee morale, but there are no single solutions to improvement.  Rather, it will take actions at all levels of the organization to achieve our improvement targets.”

They suggested “simple fixes” like celebrating successes and increasing partnership conversations with unions, and “more challenging solutions” such as regular and meaningful performance discussions with supervisors and managers.

The memorandum charged every federal agency to identify a senior accountable official responsible for ensuring the agency’s commitment to improving employee engagement.  They also charged every agency to review, by January 31, 2015, the agency’s progress on employee engagement and its focus on these issues.

By 2016, all SES performance plans must include a measurable component related to action planning or results to improve employee engagement.  Every agency must incorporate engagement into their annual human resources performance plan, as well.

“This has been a very big focus across the administration,” Cobert told the Washington Post.  “It is something we talk about at virtually every President’s Management Council Meeting.  It is something the President talks about and stresses at cabinet meetings.  I know this is something the most senior levels care about.”

In subsequent posts, we’ll make some recommendations to the new “senior accountable officials” on what might be done to improve morale.  Since this is a coaching blog, though, you can be sure that one of our recommendations will be to increase and improve the level of coaching throughout the federal government!