Methodology
The Partnership for Public Service created the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings to provide a comprehensive rating of employee satisfaction across federal government agencies and their subcomponents.
The 2011 Best Places to Work rankings include 308 federal organizations (33 large federal agencies, 35 small agencies and 240 subcomponents). Large agencies are those organizations with more than 2,000 full-time, permanent employees. Small agencies are those with at least 100, but fewer than 2,000 full-time, permanent employees.
The vast majority of the data used to develop these rankings was collected by the Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS). The FEVS was conducted April 4 through May 31, 2011, and administered online to 540,727 full-time, permanent executive branch employees. This web-based probability sample was supplemented by a paper version for a small number of those without Internet access and the results have been combined. The survey was completed by 266,376 federal workers, for a response rate of 49.3 percent. Participating agencies comprise 97 percent of the executive branch workforce. The Best Places to Work rankings also include responses from about 10,000 additional employees at eight agencies who were surveyed at the same time and had a response rate of more than 50 percent. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Government Accountability Office, Smithsonian Institution, Farm Credit Administration, Millennium Challenge Corporation, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, Peace Corps, and Army Audit Agency provided data from their own surveys. In addition, the rankings incorporate responses from employees of the Intelligence Community, which conducted its own similar surveys, but did not report the number of respondents due to classification restrictions.
The OPM data were weighted to represent all federal employees covered by the survey, accounting for probabilities of selection, as well as demographic characteristics such as age, gender, race, supervisory status and agency size. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level for results based on the entire employee sample. The margin of error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples.
The Best Places to Work statistical model, developed with CFI Group in 2003, is based on the same methodology used in its American Consumer Satisfaction Index. The Best Places to Work index is calculated by the percentage of positive responses (Strongly Agree/Agree or Very Satisfied/Satisfied) to three workplace satisfaction questions and is weighted according to a proprietary formula developed in conjunction with Hay Group in 2007. The workplace environment scores are calculated by averaging the percentage of positive responses in ten categories, including effective leadership, employee skills/mission match, pay and work/life balance. A regression analysis is then performed to determine the categories with the most influence on the Best Places to Work satisfaction score.
Trend data are displayed from previous Best Places to Work rankings as well as additional information on agencies, demographics and tools to build your own analysis.
The Partnership would like to thank OPM for its excellent administration of the FEVS survey, without which the rankings would not be possible.
| # | Index | Sub Index | 2010 Survey Question |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | Best Places to Work Index | I recommend my organization as a good place to work | |
| 69 | Best Places to Work Index | Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your job? | |
| 71 | Best Places to Work Index | Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your organization? | |
| 30 | Effective Leadership | Empowerment | Employees have a feeling of personal empowerment with respect to work processes |
| 63 | Effective Leadership | Empowerment | How satisfied are you with your involvement in decisions that affect your work? |
| 17 | Effective Leadership | Fairness | I can disclose a suspected violation of any law, rule or regulation without fear of reprisal |
| 37 | Effective Leadership | Fairness | Arbitrary action, personal favoritism and coercion for partisan political purposes are not tolerated |
| 53 | Effective Leadership | Leader | In my organization, leaders generate high levels of motivation and commitment in the workforce |
| 54 | Effective Leadership | Leader | My organization’s leaders maintain high standards of honesty and integrity |
| 61 | Effective Leadership | Leader | I have a high level of respect for my organization’s senior leaders |
| 64 | Effective Leadership | Leader | How satisfied are you with the information you receive from management on what’s going on in your organization? |
| 43 | Effective Leadership | Supervisor | My supervisor/team leader provides me with opportunities to demonstrate my leadership skills |
| 44 | Effective Leadership | Supervisor | Discussions with my supervisor/team leader about my performance are worthwhile |
| 47 | Effective Leadership | Supervisor | Supervisors/team leaders in my work unit support employee development |
| 52 | Effective Leadership | Supervisor | Overall, how good a job do you feel is being done by your immediate supervisor/team leader? |
| 4 | Employee Skills/Mission Match | My work gives me a feeling of personal accomplishment | |
| 5 | Employee Skills/Mission Match | I like the kind of work I do | |
| 11 | Employee Skills/Mission Match | My talents are used well in the workplace | |
| 12 | Employee Skills/Mission Match | I know how my work relates to the agency’s goals and priorities | |
| 13 | Employee Skills/Mission Match | The work I do is important | |
| 79 | Family Friendly Culture | Telework | |
| 80 | Family Friendly Culture | Alternative Work Schedules (AWS) | |
| 81 | Family Friendly Culture | Health and Wellness Programs (for example, exercise, medical screening, quit smoking programs) | |
| 82 | Family Friendly Culture | Employee Assistance Program (EAP) | |
| 83 | Family Friendly Culture | Child Care Programs (for example, daycare, parenting classes, parenting support groups) | |
| 84 | Family Friendly Culture | Elder Care Programs (for example, support groups, speakers) | |
| 70 | Pay | Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your pay? | |
| 15 | Performance-Based Rewards and Advancement | My performance appraisal is a fair reflection of my performance | |
| 22 | Performance-Based Rewards and Advancement | Promotions in my work unit are based on merit | |
| 31 | Performance-Based Rewards and Advancement | Employees are rewarded for providing high quality products and services | |
| 32 | Performance-Based Rewards and Advancement | Creativity and innovation are rewarded | |
| 65 | Performance-Based Rewards and Advancement | How satisfied are you with the recognition you receive for doing a good job? | |
| 67 | Performance-Based Rewards and Advancement | How satisfied are you with your opportunity to get a better job in your organization? | |
| 21 | Strategic Management | My work unit is able to recruit people with the right skills | |
| 27 | Strategic Management | The skill level in my work unit has improved in the past year | |
| 29 | Strategic Management | The workforce has the job-relevant knowledge and skills necessary to accomplish organizational goals | |
| 57 | Strategic Management | Managers review and evaluate the organization’s progress toward meeting its goals and objectives | |
| 34 | Support for Diversity | Policies and programs promote diversity in the workplace (for example, recruiting minorities and women, training in awareness of diversity issues, mentoring). | |
| 45 | Support for Diversity | My supervisor/team leader is committed to a workforce representative of all segments of society | |
| 55 | Support for Diversity | Managers/supervisors/team leaders work well with employees of different backgrounds | |
| 20 | Teamwork | The people I work with cooperate to get the job done | |
| 26 | Teamwork | Employees in my work unit share job knowledge with each other | |
| 58 | Teamwork | Managers promote communication among different work units (for example, about projects, goals, needed resources) | |
| 1 | Training/Development | I am given a real opportunity to improve my skills in my organization | |
| 2 | Training/Development | I have enough information to do my job well | |
| 18 | Training/Development | My training needs are assessed | |
| 68 | Training/Development | How satisfied are you with the training you receive for your present job? | |
| 9 | Work/Life Balance | I have sufficient resources (for example, people, materials, budget) to get my job done | |
| 10 | Work/Life Balance | My workload is reasonable | |
| 42 | Work/Life Balance | My supervisor supports my need to balance work and other life issues. |
The Best Places to Work rankings — the most comprehensive and authoritative rating of employee satisfaction and commitment in the federal government — are produced by the Partnership for Public Service.
