Employee Survey: Low Scores Leak Out

The Office of Personnel Management is trying to accentuate the positive about the results of its latest employee survey by focusing on the agencies who scored well. But the word on those agencies who didn't do do very well is leaking out. Yesterday, the Washington Post's Steve Barr reported that the Homeland Security Department "scored last or almost last in job satisfaction, leadership and workplace performance." Today, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn't do very well either, with employees giving increasingly poor marks to the agency's senior leaders. And it sounds like CDC chief Julie Gerberding isn't trying to sugarcoat the results. The paper quotes from an e-mail she sent to CDC employees:

Leaders, managers, supervisors, and team leaders in every part of CDC can and will do better in supporting your ongoing incredible success ... Some may be tempted to 'spin' the information from this survey in either a positive way or a negative way, or claim that it is 'outdated', 'not representative', 'not scientific', or 'incomplete' but I'd like to set aside those concerns. I believe we should just take it at face value...

That's a pretty courageous statement from a senior agency leader.