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This year, federal agencies will begin asking employees if their work gives them a feeling of personal accomplishment, if they have trust and confidence in their supervisors and if they are satisfied with their paychecks.

These questions, and 37 others, were prescribed by the Office of Personnel Management last week in a Federal Register announcement about the requirement for a new annual survey of federal employees.

Grouped in five categories -- personal work experiences; recruitment, development and retention; performance culture; leadership; and job satisfaction -- the questions are designed to publicly assess employee attitudes and compare results between agencies.

The regulations go into effect Jan. 1. Agencies must complete the surveys by the end of 2007 and post them on their Web sites by May 1, 2008. Although similar surveys have been around for a long time -- the Merit Systems Protection Board conducts one every few years, the Clinton administration took on several surveys through its National Partnership for Reinventing Government and OPM itself completed a large survey in 2004 -- this study is the first to be dictated by law.

Congress passed the requirement as part of the fiscal 2004 National Defense Authorization Act, the same law that created the Defense Department's new National Security Personnel System.

The new survey is the first of its kind to be conducted every year.

John Palguta, vice president for policy and research at the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., that lobbied Congress to require the survey, said that in the year since Hurricane Katrina struck, "people are coming to understand more than before that in order for government to be effective, it needs to have not only talented and well-qualified employees, but it needs to have engaged employees."

The survey, Palguta said, will find out if employees buy into the missions of their agencies, and will allow organizations like his, which produces an annual federal "Best Places to Work" ranking based on survey results, to draw long-term conclusions about agencies' progress.

OPM's 40 questions are required, but agencies can add questions if they choose. The required questions ask employees to gauge the degree to which they agree or disagree with statements such as: "My supervisor supports my need to balance work and family issues," "My workload is reasonable" and "I know how my work relates to the agency's goals and priorities."

The survey also will ask, "How satisfied are you with the policies and practices of your senior leaders?" and "How satisfied are you with your opportunity to get a better job in your organization?"

There are also five demographic questions, in addition to the 40 survey questions, which agencies with over 800 employees must ask.

Palguta said he hopes the surveys foster competition between agencies to improve employee satisfaction.

John Crum, deputy director of the MSPB, said his organization will continue its surveys, which are tailored to specific research projects, but may provide analysis for agencies based on the new studies.

COMMENTS

• I understand that ICE management is so concerned about the abysmal morale at that agency that it is sending managers around the country to interview employees to find out why their morale is so poor. They could save the taxpayers a bundle by just reading the comments to articles about ICE and DHS in Government Executive ! GovExec.com reader Posted October 4, 2006 4:58 PM
• Is leadership poor? I would say so. Back when I was a civilian employee working at the Defense Department in Philadelphia, I had a senior level supervisor who liked to stick his foot in "lesser" peoples' necks. When I decided to go to engineering school, he told the union that represented me that I would never pass any of the courses -- that I would flunk out before I got to calculus. When I graduated from engineering school some seven years later, he was humiliated. So humiliated, in fact, he tried to have me demoted to two levels below my current grade when I graduated and enlisted the help of the agency's personnel hacks in order to do it. I left. I take that back about leadership being poor at the Defense Department. It’s non-existent. This, by the way, will never show up in any "employee satisfaction" survey. Ex-Navy GovExec.com reader Posted September 11, 2006 3:30 PM
• As someone else who was forced into DHS, I have to agree with the previous posts regarding the arrogant managers at this agency. Why waste time completing an employee survey that will only be totally disregarded by the incompetent people in charge, regardless of how true the responses may be? Maybe the new DHS motto should be, "Abandon All Hope, Ye That Enter Here." GovExec.com reader Posted September 7, 2006 2:47 PM