Poll: What is your agency doing for Public Service Recognition Week?

Federal agencies will honor employees for their hard work next week, but budget cuts will leave them without a key public event.

Public Service Recognition Week, which begins this weekend, is an opportunity for senior public sector leaders to promote the value of government service and honor employees at the federal, state and local levels.

Workers in the Washington area, for example, will be eligible for discounted tickets to the Nationals baseball game on May 1, and federal officials on May 3 will hold a town hall to discuss the value of public service. Agency leaders also will host events for their employees.

Agencies in the past have participated in a fair on the National Mall to promote their work to the public, but the annual appropriation used to underwrite the cost of the event was not made this year, said Max Stier, president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, which hosts the week in coordination with the Public Employees Roundtable. Events this year are being underwritten by sponsors or supported with funds from the Partnership.

According to Stier, the week comes at an important time for federal employees to recognize the work public servants are doing. The threat of a government shutdown was a stress on the workforce -- both for the employees planning for the possibility and for those who were unsure whether they would be asked to report to work, he said.

"Strong organizations identify, recognize and reward great performance and great performers, and in the federal environment, there is all too little in way of recognition of success and of great work," said Stier. "Federal employees really appreciate when they get it. People are people, and they are re-energized when their good work is recognized."