NASA and the Commerce Department are among the best places to work in government, while the Department of Homeland Security is among the worst, according to a new report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Best Places to Work in the federal government 2014 rankings by the Partnership for Public Service ranked agencies of all sizes as well as their components by overall satisfaction scores, and ranked them accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The State Department and the overall intelligence community are also among the top in satisfaction scores for large agencies, while the Army and the Veterans Affairs Department join DHS as the lowest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Surface Transportation Board are the highest-rated among mid-size and small agencies, while the Housing and Urban Development Department and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board are the lowest, according to the rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the morale problems that have plagued agencies for years are still affecting how federal employees see their jobs and causing satisfaction scores to plunge. In 2013, the overall satisfaction score was 57.8 but fell nearly 1 percent to 56.9 in 2014, according to the report. In contrast, the average private sector employee satisfaction score grew 1.3 percentage points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The drop in satisfaction is also the fourth straight year of drops, falling from a high of 65 in 2010. The drop is largely fueled by a dramatic loss in faith and trust of senior leaders, which fell three points to 42.4, the lowest score for senior leaders in the history of the Best Places to Work rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Max Stier, the president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, said federal employees have raised a number of important concerns about their workplace that requires immediate action by federal managers to improve morale and restore faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The Best Places to Work results also illustrate the need for fundamental management reforms across government to ensure that agencies can effectively meet the needs of the American people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall 43.1 percent of agencies and sub-agencies were able to improve their scores over last year, while 55.8 percent saw a decline. That is an improvement over 2013, when only 24 percent of agencies raised their scores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lara Shane, the vice president for research and communications, said the highest-ranked agencies use negative feedback to improve their workforce, engage employees and recognize hard work. She said while agencies can’t control overall pay raises or budgets they can show employees their contributions are valued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Federal employees don’t feel empowered, that’s a problem, and they don’t feel rewarded for doing good work,” Shane said. “If agencies make a sustained effort and they prioritize these issues they can move the needle, and I think that’s incredibly powerful.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said while every agency is different those that performed poorly in satisfaction scores need to work harder to communicate with their employees and engage them. Managers need to make it clear that they are willing to be open to employee ideas and even to bad news or negative feedback about projects or programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You want to foster an environment where you let it be known that you want to hear bad news. That is a harder leadership quality to foster,” Shane said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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