Federal employees are less likely to be satisfied with the information they get from management about what’s going on with their organizations than private sector workers are, something the Partnership for Public Service has said is symptomatic of overall dissatisfaction with agency leadership on the part of feds.
PPS was comparing data from its Best Places to Work in the Federal Government analysis, based on OPM data, with private sector data provided by the Hay Group. It said federal scores are 14 points lower than private sector scores on the question of feeling informed.
However, PPS said federal managers also seem to lag behind their private sector counterparts in their ability to inspire and motivate.
Out of 10 workplace categories, employee views of leadership – here meaning the senior executive service — were the lowest in satisfaction scoring 55 out of 100, reflecting a dim view of leaders’ ability to motivate workers and inspire commitment, engender integrity, manage fairly and promote development, creativity and empowerment. In contrast, two thirds held positive views of their immediate, front-line supervisors on these issues.
Private sector workers rate senior leadership 6 points higher across these categories, and 56 percent say leadership motivates them to try to achieve more than minimal requirements versus 42 percent of feds.
