Fed workers’ morale tumbles
Agencies deal with Trump attack on U.S. bureaucracy
WASHINGTON — Job satisfaction tumbled this year at a majority of federal agencies, a survey released Wednesday showed — a sign of failing morale and performance at a time when the Trump administration has made pointed critiques about the bureaucracy and many of its missions.
After three years of steady improvement as the economy rebounded from the recession, the number of employees who would recommend their agency as a good place to work dropped at 60 percent of federal offices, the annual “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government” rankings found.
Less than 40 percent of agencies improved their ratings on the scorecard of job satisfaction at federal workplaces, compared with more than 70 percent in the Obama administration’s final years and Trump’s first.
This is the 15th government-wide survey of Cabinet and intelligence agencies and 415 smaller departments by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service and Boston Consulting Group. It was conducted from April through June, at the same time the White House was taking steps to make it easier to fire federal workers and restrict the workplace role of their unions.
Those actions, cited as efforts to make the workforce more responsive and efficient, capped more than a year of growing acrimony between Trump officials and the federal bureaucracy they oversee and have dubbed the “deep state.”
Trump’s tenure has been marked by labor-management battles, vacancies from ongoing hiring freezes, high turnover among political appointees in some offices and vacancies in others, and dramatically shifting missions.
“It’s a workforce that is not getting the leadership it needs to perform its best,” said Max Stier, the Partnership’s president and chief executive. “Employees believe their leaders are not listening to them.”
The Best Places survey shows some precipitous drops in the survey’s satisfaction ratings, which fall on a 100-point scale.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created under President Barack Obama to enforce consumer laws and protect the public from abusive practices by financial firms, saw its ratings plunge by 25 points. The drop-off came as Trump officials reined in its mission.
Just one-third of the employees at a small office at Health and Human Services that is fighting the country’s opioid crisis said they were happy in their jobs, a dive from half in 2017. Job satisfaction at the Export-Import Bank fell 18 points on the scale.
The Education Department, State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency — agencies that have seen staffing levels drop amid controversial leadership and changing priorities — saw their scores dive, as did the Agriculture Department. Employees gave the EPA’s senior leaders a score of 38 out of 100, a 7-point decline from last year.
And job satisfaction was down at three small agencies that deal with the rights of federal employees.
“Mr. Trump’s war on the hardworking public servants that keep our country safe and running is felt at nearly every level of our civil service, from emboldened managers making it harder for our members to do their jobs, to his war on rights in the workplace,” David Cox, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal workers, said in a statement. “It takes a toll on the worker and on employee morale.”
Several federal officials acknowledged that their agency’s falling scores did not come as a surprise, since Trump has made good on his vow to shake up government.
John Czwartacki, chief communications officer at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has seen an exodus of career employees, said that “this has been a tumultuous year of great change.” He called the employees “one of our most important stakeholders and their happiness is of utmost importance. The good news here is that we only have one way to go — and that’s up.”
Although the survey did not directly ask employees their opinions of Trump’s policies, the poor results reflect a lack of confidence in their agency’s leadership, Stier said.
This year’s rankings do not include a year-to-year comparison for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has struggled with turnover and political infighting in its top ranks. The agency did its own survey that measures feedback differently from the Best Places survey.
The government had bright spots this year. The Defense Department’s central offices were the most improved large department, edging up 2.1 points over last year to a satisfaction rating of 63.2 percent — probably a reflection of Secretary Jim Mattis’ leadership, Stier said.
The Small Business Administration, led by prowrestling executive Linda McMahon, saw its score improve by 2.6 points to 62.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, with steadily improving scores over six years, now ranks third-highest in job satisfaction among midsize agencies.
The top-ranked National Aeronautics and Space Administration held its spot among large agencies, with 81 percent of its workforce reporting satisfaction with their leaders, supervisors and general work experience.
But the drop in employee satisfaction poses challenges for the president as he runs for re-election in 2020 on curbing illegal immigration, a more businessfriendly government, tariffs and other policies.
Employee job satisfaction is “a very strong indicator of performance,” Stier said.
The rankings historically have been a road map for Cabinet secretaries and their deputies to assess the performance of managers, the treatment of whistleblowers, chances for advancement, work-life balance, recognition for good work and other metrics.
It’s a rich window into how employees view their jobs, leaders and the work environment.
After hitting a four-year low in 2014 after the recession and pay freezes, scores began to improve across government.
But the overall measure of employee satisfaction dipped this year by a little more than half a percentage point.
The percentage of employees who responded to the survey fell to 40.6 percent, close to 5 percentage points down from last year. The drop came even though all federal workers were asked to respond, down from a smaller sample.
Just 37 percent of employees said they believe the survey results will be used to make their agency a better place to work.
Agencies whose scores dropped cited a range of reasons, from a lack of leadership to shifting policies on telework.