The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has released results of the 2012 Employee Viewpoint Survey, deemed the largest administered since first launched a decade ago.
Results indicate the federal workforce remains resilient, hardworking, motivated and mission-focused amid many challenges. But they also reflect a dip in morale for the second straight year. Keep reading →
A new report reflecting the views of 55 top human capital officers in the federal government suggests that the degree of difficulty for federal managers trying to hire and retain the talent government needs to operate today is perhaps higher than ever. Intensifying budget pressures could, however, be the spark needed to reform a stranglehold of antiquated federal hiring and pay practices.
The severity of federal human resources challenges is hard to understate. Keep reading →
COMMENTARY: OPM’s newly issued “2012 Status of Telework in the Federal Government”
report contains new insights on telework, some good news, and at least one major issue that will require close oversight.
Despite the inability to accurately track trends over the previous years due to changes in how the data is being gathered and reported, it’s clear that the use of telework is increasing significantly and also being accepted as a normal and desirable business practice. Keep reading →
Data analytics are proving to be a powerful tool for improving the results of government program, according to a new report released today, “From Data To Decisions: The Power of Analytics.”
The report, which examines how several federal agencies used data, is a joint effort between the Partnership for Public Service and the Public Sector Business Analytics & Optimization practice at the IBM Center for The Business of Government. Keep reading →
Not long after Sheila Bair was appointed to chair the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 2006, senior officials at the FDIC sat down in a series of meetings to discuss what to do about a disturbing statistic.
“We couldn’t figure out why our agency was 25th in the rankings” of employee satisfaction, recalled Ira Kitmacher, manager for culture change and senior adviser at FDIC. Keep reading →
President Obama signed an executive order today directing federal agencies to limit the number of electronic devices issued to federal employees, expand their use of teleconferencing in lieu of travel and reduce the volume of documents the government prints each year.
Agencies have within 45 days to develop plans to reduce by 20 percent the combined federal spending associated with these and other expenses, including what agencies spend on vehicle fleets and the production of “non-essential items” for promotional purposes. Keep reading →
One of the most useful aspects of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey is the ability to look at trends over time.
This year, the conventional wisdom was that we would see a significant drop in federal employee satisfaction and engagement due to the current pay freeze, the threat of a government shutdown due to a lapse in appropriation that was pending at the time the survey was conducted, and the increase in negative public attitudes toward government and – by extension – toward government employees, and declining agency budgets. Keep reading →
A just-released survey of more than 266,300 federal employees reveals a remarkably positive workforce that, despite the prospects of shutdowns, pay freezes and benefit reductions, still views the federal government and the agencies employees work for as a good place to work.
A large majority of federal employees (85 percent) like the work they do. And as recurring evidence of what often separates public sector work from the private sector, 92 percent believe the work they do is important. Still, as the threat of budget cutbacks and uncertainty loom over federal employees working all over the globe, a substantial portion–nearly seven out of every 10 federal employees– say they recommend their organization as a good place to work. Keep reading →