Top execs say government not what it used to be

Many federal executives say the quality of the federal workforce is in decline and that working in government isn't as "rewarding and fun" as it used to be, according to a new survey conducted for GovExec.com.

Seventy-four percent of executives surveyed said that workforce quality was declining or staying the same, while only 24 percent of respondents said it was was improving. Sixty-two percent of respondents said the federal government used to be a better place to work, while only 29 percent disagreed with that statement.

The survey, conducted entirely over the Internet by Frederick Schneiders Research, polled 381 top federal executives and professionals from October 22-26.

In the survey, 35 percent of respondents said they would probably not be working in the federal government three years from now. But respondents were split on the possibility of accepting a comparable job in the private sector. Forty percent said they would jump to a private sector position equal to their federal job in responsibility and pay if it were offered, while 39 percent said they would not.

Nevertheless, 70 percent of respondents said that if they had it to do over, they would go to work for the federal government again.

On the subject of compensation, half of those surveyed said federal employees are being paid "about right" and only 43 percent said pay levels were too low. Still, leaders of several employee, managerial and executive groups have said their top priority in Congress next year is working to increase federal pay.

In the political arena, executives were generally not pleased with the performance of either Republicans or Democrats in the 105th Congress, although Democrats fared somewhat better. Seventy-nine percent said House Republicans were doing a bad job, while 56 percent said House Democrats were performing poorly. While only 18 percent of respondents said Senate Republicans were doing a good job, 38 percent approved of the performance of their Senate Democrats.

President Clinton, on the other hand, received high ratings for his leadership ability, despite recent misconduct allegations. Sixty-five percent of respondents characterized Clinton's leadership as excellent or good, while only 28 percent said he was doing a poor job. A majority of executives said the leadership of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., was poor.

Vice President Al Gore received relatively high marks for his reinventing government initiative. Sixty-seven percent of respondents said the effort has had a positive effect on government, while 33 percent said the program has had little effect.

Forty-three percent of respondents described themselves as Democrats, 13 percent said they were Republicans and 28 percent classified themselves as independent.