Job satisfaction among federal workers declined for the first time in four years. Worries about pay and bosses are responsible for the dip, an annual survey shows.
Both political parties have been targeting government workers. President Barack Obama instituted a two-year pay freeze, and Republicans are pressing to reduce the size of government, which by definition means fewer federal workers.
The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government survey showed that 64 percent were satisfied with their work, down by 1.5 percent from the year before. Morale improved at just 31 of the 308 federal agencies, bureaus, departments, and offices surveyed, according to
The Washington Post.
“If you’re just taking money out of the system, you will clearly do damage to the system,” said Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service that publishes the survey.
However, Stier told the Post that federal workers are still more satisfied than when the survey began in 2003.
Offices with the highest ratings include the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Surface Transportation Board. Those with the lowest are the National Archives and Records Administration and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, according to the Post.
The rankings are based on information from more than 276,000 federal employees. The scores are arrived at by analyzing data collected in the Office of Personnel Management’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, the Post reported.
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