Acting OPM Director Rob Shriver touted agencies' progress in improving employee engagement and morale, noting that a single point increase still requires thousands of feds to change their workplace sentiment. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Here are the agencies that saw the biggest shifts in employee morale in 2024
In a year where federal agencies tied record highs for employee engagement, some agencies saw wide swings in their workforce’s job satisfaction.
The Office of Personnel Management this week quietly released its report analyzing the results of the 2024 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey alongside agency-by-agency data from the annual census of federal workers’ job sentiment.
The report affirms preliminary data released in October, which found that employee engagement ticked up one point to tie a record high of 73 out of 100, while the governmentwide global satisfaction index, a tool used to measure federal worker morale, followed suit, increasing from 64 out of 100 last year to 65 in 2024. And the response rate crept up two points over 2023 to 41%.
“While one percentage point change may seem modest, it is a significant achievement, as it takes many thousands of employees governmentwide changing their perspective to achieve that increase,” wrote acting OPM Director Rob Shriver in letter accompanying the report. “Consider as well, each of the elements in the overall [employee engagement] in the overall score improved from 2023 to 2024—Leaders Lead (61% to 63%), Supervisors (80% to 81%) and Intrinsic Work Experience (74% to 75%). This finding is reflected across all indies with the exception of one index that remained steady during this time period.”
Digging into the agency-by-agency data, only 18 federal agencies with at least 100 employees saw a decrease in their global satisfaction index, the same number as in 2023. Among large and very large agencies, two organizations’ performance are of particular note. While global satisfaction among Social Security Administration workers only ticked up one point over 2023, employee engagement there increased 3 points from 65 last year to 68 in 2024. And morale at the Homeland Security Department, which for decades has struggled to improve its FEVS scores, jumped 4 points, from 60 in 2023 to 64 this year.
Smaller agencies tend to see larger swings on a year-to-year basis, as fewer employees’ opinions need to change to significantly alter the average score. The 10 agencies with at least 100 employees who saw the best improvement in global satisfaction are:
1. Surface Transportation Board, 8 point increase
2. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 6 point increase
2. Corporation for National and Community Service, 6 point increase
2. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, 6 point increase
5. Office of Management and Budget, 5 point increase
5. International Development Finance Corporation, 5 point increase
5. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 5 point increase
8. Homeland Security Department, 4 point increase
8. National Credit Union Administration, 4 point increase
10. Justice Department, 3 point increase
10. Federal Communications Commission, 3 point increase
10. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 3 point increase
10. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 3 point increase
The 10 federal agencies that saw the worst declines in employee morale since 2023 are:
1. Federal Maritime Commission, 16 point decrease
2. Selective Service System, 11 point decrease
3. National Labor Relations Board, 8 point decrease
4. National Science Foundation, 7 point decrease
4. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, 7 point decrease
6. National Endowment for the Arts, 4 point decrease
6. Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 4 point decrease
6. U.S. Office of Special Counsel, 4 point decrease
9. Education Department, 3 point decrease
9. Farm Credit Administration, 3 point decrease
9. International Boundary and Water Commission, 3 point decrease