The nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service and management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) released the full 2022 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings and data. A key finding from this year’s study showed a decrease in federal employee engagement and satisfaction for the second year in a row.
Engagement and satisfaction had a 1.1-point decrease from 2021, with a score of 63.4 out of 100. This comes after a 4.5-point drop the previous year. While employee engagement is important, it’s not the only issue that the federal government is facing. The study also measured how employees perceive their leadership, their work-life balance, and innovation in the federal government. All of these areas looked worse this year, compared to the previous study. And employees’ sense of recognition for their performance also fell from 59.8 to 56.5.
“While the Biden administration has prioritized investing in its workforce, from recruitment practices to pay increases, this year’s rankings point to a troubling two-year decline in employee engagement, a clear warning signal that leaders across government need to urgently and proactively address,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service. “Having a highly motivated and engaged workforce is critical to a well-functioning government and the success of our country, particularly given the civil service’s role in implementing recently passed major programs and policies.”
Stier notes that it’s about using this study for improving how the federal government operates. He says, “At a time when public trust in government remains low, our Best Places to Work data helps equip leaders with ways to better manage their employees, leading to better service delivery and greater trust.”
The rankings are a key tool for understanding federal agencies’ long-standing and new management challenges.
“While we continue to adopt new working models, it is critical we actively provide public sector leaders with the upskilling opportunities and tools they need to drive the mission,” said Brooke Bollyky, Leader of BCG’s Public Sector Practice in North America. “The progress we’ve seen thus far underscores the continued importance of applying this approach within the public sector.”
Leaderboard for Employee Engagement
Setting the example for employee engagement in the 2022 Best Places to Work Rankings for large agencies is NASA, maintaining their top spot for the 11th consecutive year. In the midsize agency category, the Government Accountability Office remained at the top for the third year in a row, and among small agencies the Congressional Budget Office ranked first. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s Office of Negotiations and Restructuring ranked first among 432 agency subcomponents.
About the Study
The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings offer the most comprehensive assessment of how federal public servants view their jobs and workplaces, providing employee perspectives on leadership, pay, innovation, work-life balance and other issues. The 2022 rankings include 506 federal agencies and subcomponents, the most in the history of Best Places to Work: 17 large agencies, 27 midsize agencies, 30 small agencies and 432 subcomponents. This is the 17th edition of the rankings, which began in 2003.
Most of the data used to develop the Best Places to Work scores and rankings was collected by the Office of Personnel Management’s annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, which was administered during the summer of 2022 to eligible full–time and part–time, permanent, non–seasonal, non-political employees in the executive branch. The FEVS survey was completed by 557,778 federal workers. An additional 326,322 federal employees completed separate surveys within 14 other agencies, and their responses are included in our rankings.
A complete list of the rankings and accompanying data is available at bestplacestowork.org.
