The PPS rankings also showed that one out of three
federal agencies had higher employee engagement scores
than the private sector average, and that federal employees
are often “more likely than their private sector
counterparts to believe the people they work with cooperate
to get things done, that they have opportunities for
growth, and they have enough information to do their jobs
well,” according to PPS.
However, the results indicate the public sector is lagging
in other areas. PPS said government employees “are less
likely to believe that complaints are resolved fairly in
their workplace, to be satisfied with the recognition they
receive for good work, and to feel confident in their
immediate supervisors.”
“Good managers provide open lines of communication with
employees, offer honest feedback in an ongoing fashion,
clearly outline performance goals and rewards, and empower
employees to make key decisions,” said Bob Tobias, the
former NTEU president who is now director of a public
affairs institute at American University.
“The government’s not out of the woods on this issue yet,
but progress is being made, as out of the ten workplace
categories we measured, ‘effective leadership’ had the
second highest rate of increase since 2003,” he added.
The Small Business Administration and the Department of
Homeland Security came up last in the rankings. NTEU’s
Kelly was quick to criticize DHS management’s attempts to
install its new personnel system, claiming it has lessened
employee morale.
The full results are available here: www.bestplacestowork.org.