By Deborah Hopkins, November 13, 2019
It’s that time of year again. No, not the time when the stores put out Christmas decorations and pre-black-Friday sales begin (although that is happening, too). It’s the release of OPM’s 2019 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS). Each year as I await the report, I wonder what new pieces of information we’ll learn about how the federal government is doing as an employer. And each year, I learn something I didn’t know before. In case you haven’t had a chance to read it, here are a few takeaways, in ascending percentage order, from over 615,000 federal employees who participated:
- 17% of respondents said there were no poor performers in their work unit.
- 34% believe their supervisors take steps to deal with a poor performer who cannot or will not improve. Looking at it from the other side, this means that 66% of employees still don’t think supervisors are taking action against poor performers. Not a great number, but it is still the best percentage on this question in recent memory.
- 39% believe that differences in performance among employees in their work unit are recognized in a meaningful way. Again, this means that 61% do not feel recognized.
- 56% said that poor performers remain in their work unit and continue to underperform.
- 57% believe their training needs were assessed and addressed in the past year.
- 59% think their workload is reasonable.
- 66% would recommend their organization as a good place to work.
- 67% believe they can disclose a suspected violation of any law, rule or regulation without fear of reprisal – in other words, two-thirds of employees believe it’s safe to be a whistleblower in the federal government.
- 71% of respondents agree with their most recent performance rating.
- 83% believe their supervisors are holding them accountable for performance.
- And, and astounding 96% of employees who responded said that when needed they are willing to put in the extra effort to get a job done. This proves what FELTG has always known, that most of our readers are incredible, hard-working, dedicated employees who want to make the government a better place.
There’s also an entire series of questions related to the impact of the 35-day shutdown, which is not very eye-opening but because it’s new you might find it interesting. If you want to read it yourself, check it out here. [email protected]
