This year’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey once again revealed that employee views of their leadership decline with each successively higher level of leader—although overall, ratings of each level increased slightly over 2017 and have trended upward over the last five years.
Employees give the highest positive responses about leadership to questions about their immediate supervisors, with 84 percent saying the supervisor treats them with respect, 81 percent that the supervisor supports their work-life balance needs and 79 percent saying that their supervisor listens to what they have to say, for example. All questions regarding immediate supervisors received at least a 66 percent positive response, with 73 percent agreeing that overall their supervisors are doing a good job.
In contrast, only 61 percent agreed that the manager above their immediate supervisor is doing a good job; 60 percent that those managers support collaboration across work units; and 56 percent that they promote communication across work units.
No question asked specifically whether senior leaders are doing a good job but one asking whether employees have a high level of respect for their organization’s senior leaders yielded only a 56 percent positive response. Only 55 percent said senior leaders maintain high standards of honesty and integrity and only 44 percent said senior leaders generate high levels of motivation and commitment.
