Top Trends
Each year's Best Places to Work rankings provide a valuable snapshot of current conditions in our federal workforce. With five previous sets of rankings dating back to 2003, the 2011 report adds key insights into short- and long-term trends in workplace conditions both at the government-wide and agency level.
The government-wide 2011 Best Places to Work index score is 64 out of 100, a 1.5 percent drop from the 2010 score. Since 2003, the overall score is up 5.7 percent from 60.5.
Looking at individual federal organizations, only 31 percent saw their overall ratings increase in 2011 compared to 68 percent in 2010. More specifically, 22 percent of large agencies, 28 percent of small agencies and 32 percent of subcomponents enjoyed an increase.
Of the 10 workplace categories included in Best Places to Work, four improved slightly from 2010, while employees gave lower marks to agencies for the other six. Support for diversity showed the biggest increase, moving up just 1.5 percent from the worker perspective. Family friendly culture registered the biggest decline, 7.3 percent, followed by pay, which dropped by 6.1 percent. In 2010, satisfaction with pay had increased among federal employees by 4.3 percent.
For the sixth time in a row, Effective Leadership was the main influence of employee satisfaction and commitment in the federal workplace. Although federal employees graded their leaders a little bit higher — up 0.7 percent since 2010 — leadership continues to be one of the lowest-rated workplace categories with a score of 49.3 out of 100.
Out of all 50 questions asked as part of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey and used in the Best Places to Work rankings, the percentage of favorable responses significantly improved roughly one third of the time. Eighteen questions saw a significant decrease. The questions with the biggest drop were about employee assistance programs (elder and child care), satisfaction with pay, and having sufficient resources (people, materials, budget).
Biggest Movers
Among large agencies, the biggest climber in 2011 was the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which moved up from 3rd to 1st place in the rankings and improved its employee job satisfaction score by 8.5 percent. The other biggest gainer in the past year for large agencies was the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which raised its employee satisfaction score by 5.3 percent and shot up in the rankings to from 14th to 9th place.
Using 2003 as the benchmark, the Justice Department and the State Department have climbed the furthest. Justice has improved its score by 22 percent since our first rankings, but narrowly missed the top 10 this year. The State Department's score is up 19 percent since 2003, and it has been ranked as one of the top ten large agencies since 2005.
Among small agencies, the Selective Service System (+31 percent), the Federal Labor Relations Authority (+11.6 percent) and the International Boundary and Water Commission (+ 11.2 percent) improved their scores the most during the past year. The Federal Labor Relations Authority's improvement comes one year after it registered a record-breaking 250 percent increase it its employee satisfaction score.
There also were some dramatic improvements among agency subcomponents. Within the Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Mint increased its employee satisfaction score by 21.2 percent, while the department's Bureau of Engraving and Printing registered a 16.6 percent increase. The Office of Postsecondary Education, part of the Department of Education, improved by 20.8 percent in the 2011 regarding employee job satisfaction, but still ranked 239th out of 240 agency subcomponents.
A number of agencies experienced a decline in employee satisfaction, but some more than others. Among large agencies, the National Archives and Records Administration had the largest drop of 7.1 percent. It was followed by the Securities and Exchange Commission with a 5.9 percent decline, the third year in a row that the financial regulator has lost ground among its employees. Among the small agencies, the Federal Maritime Commission fell 18.8 percent while Office of the U.S. Trade Representative dropped 16.8 percent and was ranked last among small agencies.
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.
