Not every federal agency or subcomponent participates in the Best Places to Work rankings. To be included, a federal agency or subcomponent must meet the following criteria:

• Have at least 100 full-time or part-time permanent employees.
• Participate in the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey OR conduct a comparable survey that includes our three index questions.

Please contact us to learn more about the survey requirements and how your agency can participate.

The Best Places to Work index score is calculated based on three different questions in the Office of Personnel Management’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS):

• I recommend my organization as a good place to work. (Q. 40)
• Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your job? (Q. 69)
• Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your organization? (Q. 71)

The overall index score measures the performance of agencies and agency subcomponents related to employee satisfaction and commitment. The index is weighted according to the extent to which each question predicts “intent to remain.”

The weightings for the formula are proprietary.

We group agencies by workforce size to provide comparisons of agencies that may face similar management challenges in terms of numbers of employees and locations. The groupings have undergone several changes over the years. In 2003 the rankings featured only one list of agencies, including agencies as large as the Department of Defense (over 600,000 employees) and as small as the Office of Management and Budget (450 employees).

Number of Full-time, Permanent Employees by Group

Large

More than 15,000

Mid-size

1,000 to 14,999

Small

100 to 999

Subcomponents, the subagencies, bureaus, divisions, centers and offices within agencies need to have at least 100 full-time, permanent employees.

The number of employees was determined by using OPM’s FedScope database. Our criterion was based on the number of permanent employees as of fiscal year 2013, unless otherwise noted.

We have different numbers of agencies participating in the rankings. For example, in 2007, 222 subcomponents participated in the rankings and the median rank was 111. In 2014, 315 subcomponents participated in the rankings and the median rank was 157. We also have made changes to the ranking’s categories. For these reasons, the rank is not the most accurate reflection of an agency’s performance over time. We recommend focusing on score and quartile trends instead.

To view an agency’s full report, including past scores and quartile performance, click on the agency’s name in the ranking table.

The Strategic Management category measures the extent to which employees believe that management ensures they have the necessary skills and abilities to do their jobs, is successful at hiring new employees with the necessary skills to help the organization and works to achieve the organizational goals with targeted personnel strategies and performance management.

To determine the score we assess the following Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) questions. The 2014 FEVS question numbers are included in parentheses.

• The workforce has the job-relevant knowledge and skills necessary to accomplish organizational goals. (Q. 29)
• My work unit is able to recruit people with the right skills. (Q. 21)
• The skill level in my work unit has improved in the past year. (Q. 27)
• Managers review and evaluate the organization’s progress toward meeting its goals and objectives. (Q. 57)