Survey: Federal Worker Satisfaction With Agencies, Confidence In Bosses Continues To Slide

Federal worker satisfaction with their agencies continues to slide, a new Office of Personnel Management survey shows.  The results do not surprise J. David Cox, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, whose union represents the largest number of federal workers. ““The fact that federal employee morale is low should come as no surprise,” Cox says...

“Federal employees have endured an unprecedented three years of pay freezes, are paying a larger share of their health insurance premiums, and have seen massive cuts to their retirement benefits.”  OPM reported that among large agencies, the Department of Homeland Security – a hodgepodge of unrelated functions thrown together during the GOP Bush administration in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 al-Qaeda attacks – again ranks dead last in worker satisfaction and trust in its management.  And its ratings have declined in the past four years. Federal worker satisfaction is important to workers and the nation overall.  Dissatisfied workers are more likely to retire as soon as possible – the government faces a “baby boom” retirement crunch in the next several years – taking valuable knowledge with them. And an effective federal workforce, in occupations ranging from cutting Social Security checks to air traffic control to fire fighting on federal lands to prosecuting criminals and tracking terrorists, is vital to virtually every U.S. resident. But the government's treatment of its workers often doesn't reflect that, Cox said.  And the dissatisfaction is government-wide, he adds, with half of all federal workers having little confidence in their bosses' honesty, integrity and ability to effectively communicate priorities.
- PAI