Responses to OPM’s federal employee viewpoint survey for 2013 show a drop in employee satisfaction and continue a downward trend among many areas, something OPM said was concerning but is perhaps unsurprising given pay freezes, furloughs and sequestration.
The survey results – it was administered before the shutdown – should serve as a warning about the long-term consequences of the sequestration and budget uncertainty, OPM said, arguing that the federal government risks losing its most talented employees if the budget uncertainty continues to disrupt the workforce.
In addition to continued dissatisfaction with pay (it dropped another 8 percentage points to 54 percent), OPM noted that one of the biggest drops was whether employees had sufficient resources needed to get their job done, and said that drop contributed to fewer employees being willing to recommend their organization as a good place to work (which fell from 67 to 63 percent).