Members of the SES are more engaged than supervisors — 70 percent versus 44 percent — and supervisors are in turn more engaged than non-supervisors, 31.5 percent of whom are engaged, according to MSPB.
It said education and salary also play a role. Just 32 percent of employees that earn less than $30,000 a year are engaged compared to 43 percent of those making over $120,000.
However, MSPB said no sizeable variation was found in employee engagement levels across the federal work force based on variables such as gender, age, length of tenure with the civil service, length of tenure with an agency, whether the employee works in a headquarters or field location, or whether the employee is rated under a pass-fail or a more traditional five-tiered performance management system.
Almost 44 percent of employees not eligible to retire who said they were unlikely to leave their agency said they were very engaged, while just 17 percent who said they were likely to leave said they were engaged.
That plays in to the retirement plans to valuable employees with institutional knowledge, and MSPB sees engagement as a focal point to keeping senior employees around longer.
Higher engagement also correlates to lower use of sick leave and fewer EEO complaints.
