Uncle Sam kicks off new federal employee survey

The Office of Personnel Management announced on Thursday that it expects to poll 100,000 more federal workers this year than in 2008 as part of its revamped governmentwide employee survey.

OPM will conduct the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey -- previously the Federal Human Capital Survey -- annually, rather than every two years, and hopes to reach about half a million workers.

"The administration has set a course to make the federal government America's model employer for the 21st century," OPM Director John Berry said in a statement. "With the cooperation of those taking the survey, we will be better able to gauge what is and isn't working to create a workplace that attracts the best and brightest."

The survey, conducted biennially since 2002, aims to measure employees' attitudes about their work environment and job satisfaction, and provide senior executives with more information about improving management. New questions in the 2010 survey will focus on employee engagement and work-life balance, according to OPM.

OPM will distribute the survey, which most employees will complete online, across government until mid-March, and expects to compile the results by late June.

The new survey comes as the Obama administration has promised to focus more on workforce management. According to Obama's fiscal 2011 budget proposal, the administration is broadening the survey so individual managers will have more "actionable" information about their employees.

The surveys have been influential in measuring how successful agencies are at motivating and managing their employees. The Partnership for Public Service uses the data to compile a "Best Places to Work" list every two years, which the Office of Management and Budget said in 2009 would be a factor in agency funding requests.