Best Federal Agencies to Work For
Posted on January 28, 2012
WASHINGTON, DC -- The Partnership for Public Service has released the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings for 2011 and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was ranked the No. 1 agency.
The Best Places to Work rankings measure federal employee satisfaction and commitment and are based on responses from more than 276,000 federal workers. The Best Places to Work rankings include 308 federal agencies and subcomponents – representing 97 percent of the 2.1 million person federal workforce. They are ranked within one of three categories: large agency, small agency and federal subcomponent. Scores and rankings are revealed for all agencies and subcomponents, from first to worst.
In addition, agencies are ranked by 10 workplace categories, including effective leadership, pay, teamwork, training and development, and work/life balance. Agencies also are ranked by demographic categories including race, age and gender.
The top 10 Best Places to Work large federal agencies are:
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- Government Accountability Office
- Smithsonian Institution
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Social Security Administration
- Department of State
- Intelligence Community
- Office of Personnel Management
- General Services Administration
The top five small agencies:
- Surface Transportation Board
- Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
- Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
- Peace Corps
- Farm Credit Administration
According to the Best Places to Work analysis, the 2011 government-wide index score measuring employee job satisfaction and commitment is 64 out of 100, down 1.5 percent from 2010.
“While the drop in employee job satisfaction and commitment is not as steep as might be expected given the difficult economic and political climate that has led to a federal pay freeze, threats of government shutdowns and the certainty of significant agency budget cuts, it’s a warning that squeezing resources and attacks on public servants has consequence,” said Max Stier, President and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service.
For the sixth time in a row, the primary driver of federal employee satisfaction is effective leadership, and in particular, senior leadership. In 2011, leadership continued to receive low scores from employees with a government-wide score of 54.9 out of 100.
Additional key drivers include a belief by employees that their skills are well-suited to their agency’s mission and a satisfaction with pay. Satisfaction with pay declined 6.1 percent to 59.1 out of 100, while workers gave high marks (78.6) for the link between skills and mission.
The analysis also notes that employees in the private-sector continue to be more satisfied with their jobs and organizations with a score of 70 out of 100, compared to their counterparts in the federal government.
Additional Best Places to Work 2011 key findings include:
- The number one ranked Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) moved up two slots from 2010. The FDIC unseated the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which ranked second this year after holding the top spot three times in a row.
- The FDIC also was the most improved large agency, registering an increase of 8.5 percent compared to 2010. It was followed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) which jumped from 14 to 9 in the rankings.
- The lowest-rated large agency for the second consecutive year was the National Archives and Records Administration. The Department of Housing and Urban Development ranked second from the bottom after being tied for last in 2010, while the Department of Homeland Security placed third from the bottom. All three saw their employee satisfaction scores drop.
- The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recorded a 5.9 percent decrease in employee satisfaction, the third consecutive time that employees downgraded the financial regulatory agency. The SEC dropped from third place in 2007 to 27th in the 2011 rankings.
Small agencies are those independent agencies that have at least 100 but less than 2,000 full-time, permanent employees. Large agencies are those independent agencies or Cabinet departments with 2,000 or more full-time, permanent employees. Statistical analysis was performed to determine the relationship between the workplace dimensions and the overall Best Places index score.
The complete Best Places to Work rankings of all federal agencies and subcomponents can be accessed at bestplacestowork.org. Visitors to the site can also access trend analysis, demographic data and all ten workplace categories, as well as generate custom reports and conduct side-by-side comparisons for up to three agencies.
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