Methodology

The Partnership for Public Service and the Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation created the Best Places to Work rankings to provide a comprehensive and authoritative rating of employee satisfaction across the agencies and their subcomponents in the federal government.

The data used to develop these rankings was collected by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in its most recent Federal Human Capital Survey, completed in August and September 2008. This survey was distributed to a stratified random sample of over 417,000 executive branch full-time permanent employees. The survey achieved a response rate of 51 percent, resulting in a final sample of over 212,000 employees. The agencies included in the study account for 97 percent of the executive branch workforce.

Working with the consulting firm Hay Group, the Partnership for Public Service and the Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation created a statistical model to transform this raw survey data into specific measures of workplace satisfaction. We created the overall Best Places to Work index plus composite scores for each of ten work environment categories. We then used this information to calculate the results for each agency and subcomponent, as well as demographic groups in these organizations. Finally, we performed statistical analysis for each of the 278 federal agencies and subcomponents to identify the relationship between the ten workplace satisfaction dimensions and the overall Best Places to Work index score for each organization.

The Best Places to Work index score is calculated based on three different survey questions related to job satisfaction, weighted according to a statistical analysis developed by Hay Group. See below for the full list of questions included in the Best Places to Work index and workplace categories.

This year, for the first, time, we developed four sub-dimensions for one of the work environment categories – Effective Leadership. This provides a more in-depth analysis of this important dimension, including identifying which individual aspects of leadership are the most significant drivers of employee satisfaction. The new Effective Leadership sub-dimensions include: Empowerment, Fairness, Leaders, and Supervisors.

We rated and ranked all agencies and subcomponents with 100 or more employees, with a few exceptions. Agencies with at least 2,000 full-time permanent employees are included in the “large agency” category.

We gathered the snapshot data for each agency or subcomponent from OPM’s FedScope database. All current workforce information is from fiscal year 2008, unless otherwise noted.

#	Index	Sub Index	Question
8	Best Places to Work Index		I recommend my organization as a good place to work
61	Best Places to Work Index		Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your job?
63	Best Places to Work Index		Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your organization?
24	Effective Leadership	Empowerment	Employees have a feeling of personal empowerment with respect to work processes
55	Effective Leadership	Empowerment	How satisfied are you with your involvement in decisions that affect your work?
44	Effective Leadership	Fairness	Complaints, disputes or grievances are resolved fairly in my work unit
45	Effective Leadership	Fairness	Arbitrary action, personal favoritism and coercion for partisan political purposes are not tolerated
47	Effective Leadership	Fairness	I can disclose a suspected violation of any law, rule or regulation without fear of reprisal
37	Effective Leadership	Senior Leader	I have a high level of respect for my organization's senior leaders
38	Effective Leadership	Senior Leader	In my organization, leaders generate high levels of motivation and commitment in the workforce
39	Effective Leadership	Senior Leader	My organization's leaders maintain high standards of honesty and integrity
56	Effective Leadership	Senior Leader	How satisfied are you with the information you receive from management on what's going on in your organization?
9	Effective Leadership	Supervisor	Overall, how good a job do you feel is being done by your immediate supervisor/team leader?
13	Effective Leadership	Supervisor	Supervisors/team leaders in my work unit provide employees with the opportunities to demonstrate their leadership skills
31	Effective Leadership	Supervisor	Discussions with my supervisor/team leader about my performance are worthwhile
49	Effective Leadership	Supervisor	Supervisors/team leaders in my work unit support employee development
5	Employee Skills/Mission Match		My work gives me a feeling of personal accomplishment
6	Employee Skills/Mission Match		I like the kind of work I do
18	Employee Skills/Mission Match		My talents are used well in the workplace
19	Employee Skills/Mission Match		I know how my work relates to the agency's goals and priorities
20	Employee Skills/Mission Match		The work I do is important
71	Family-Friendly Culture and Benefits		How satisfied are you with child care subsidies?
72	Family-Friendly Culture and Benefits		How satisfied are you with work/life programs (for example, health and wellness, employee assistance, eldercare, and support groups)?
73	Family-Friendly Culture and Benefits		How satisfied are you with telework/telecommuting?
74	Family-Friendly Culture and Benefits		How satisfied are you with alternative work schedules?
62	Pay and Benefits		Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your pay?
64	Pay and Benefits		How satisfied are you with retirement benefits?
65	Pay and Benefits		How satisfied are you with health insurance benefits?
22	Performance-Based Rewards and  Advancement		Promotions in my work unit are based on merit
25	Performance-Based Rewards and  Advancement		Employees are rewarded for providing high quality products and services to customers
26	Performance-Based Rewards and  Advancement		Creativity and innovation are rewarded
30	Performance-Based Rewards and Advancement		My performance appraisal is a fair reflection of my performance
57	Performance-Based Rewards and Advancement		How satisfied are you with the recognition you receive for doing a good job?
59	Performance-Based Rewards and Advancement		How satisfied are you with your opportunity to get a better job in your organization?
11	Strategic Management		The workforce has the job-relevant knowledge and skills necessary to accomplish organizational goals
14	Strategic Management		My work unit is able to recruit people with the right skills
15	Strategic Management		The skill level in my work unit has improved in the past year
41	Strategic Management		Managers review and evaluate the organization's progress toward meeting its goals and objectives
34	Support for Diversity		Supervisors/team leaders in my work unit are committed to a workforce representative of all segments of society
35	Support for Diversity		Policies and programs promote diversity in the workplace (for example, recruiting minorities and women, training in awareness of diversity issues, mentoring).
36	Support for Diversity		Managers/supervisors/team leaders work well with employees of different backgrounds
1	Teamwork		The people I work with cooperate to get the job done
52	Teamwork		Managers promote communication among different work units (for example, about projects, goals, needed resources)
53	Teamwork		Employees in my work unit share job knowledge with each other
2	Training and Development		I am given a real opportunity to improve my skills in my organization
3	Training and Development		I have enough information to do my job well
51	Training and Development		My training needs are assessed
60	Training and Development		How satisfied are you with the training you receive for your present job?
12	Work/Life Balance		My supervisor supports my need to balance work and other life issues.
16	Work/Life Balance		I have sufficient resources (for example, people, materials, budget) to get my job done
17	Work/Life Balance		My workload is reasonable

 

© 2009 Partnership for Public Service