A Look Across the Federal Government

Two-thirds of our nation’s career civil servants were engaged and satisfied with their work during the spring and summer of 2024, according to the latest Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® data, setting a benchmark for the Trump administration as it jettisons large numbers of employees and disrupts many normal functions of the government. 

Based on surveys of more than 1 million federal employees working at 75 large, midsize and small agencies, as well as at 457 agency subcomponents, the Best Places to Work government-wide employee engagement and satisfaction score for 2024 was 67.7 out of 100. The equivalent score at the end of the first Trump administration using our revised calculation was 69.6 out of 100, reflecting a time when there were localized problems, but employee engagement and satisfaction were on the rise. 

The latest Best Places to Work government-wide score, along with extensive data and agency rankings, provides a comprehensive picture of how federal public servants viewed their jobs and workplaces in the last year of the Biden administration.  

Over time we have seen that agencies with high Best Places to Work scores and rankings are responsive to and address employee concerns, invest in leadership development and involve the workforce in finding solutions to deliver vital services more effectively to the public. 

Studies in both the public and private sectors, for example, have shown a link between employee engagement and positive outcomes. In the context of the federal government, a study of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ All-Employee Survey and customer experience data showed that high levels of employee engagement are a key ingredient in veterans receiving a high-quality customer experience and improving patient trust. 

The current moment, however, represents an extremely challenging time for employees and federal leaders alike, with President Donald Trump issuing numerous executive orders and taking steps that are altering the work of numerous agencies, adversely affecting employee morale and that could lead to a degradation of public services. 

These steps include buyouts and the arbitrary firing of thousands of employees, including those with less than two years on the job; the abrupt ouster or sidelining of experienced career leaders; a halt of all work at selected agencies; a requirement that employees return to the office full time and in person, ending remote work; a hiring freeze except for some essential areas; and a plan calling for the removal of civil service job protections and the replacement of career civil servants with political appointees. 

We are hopeful that amid the turmoil and uncertainty, agency leaders in the year ahead will seek to support, motivate and engage the workforce in ways that will allow them to fulfill their important agency missions and serve the public interest. 

Commitment to mission and leadership are critical to employee engagement

The Best Places to Work data shows that commitment to agency missions continued to be the top factor driving employee engagement in 2024. The score connecting employees to their agency’s mission was 74.4 out of 100, a 1.1 increase from 2023. Although mission alignment was strong, federal workers still wanted their agencies to be more efficient and innovative. For example, employees registered a score of just 55.4 out of 100 when asked if management makes effective changes to address challenges facing their organizations, and a score of 60.2 when asked if management encourages innovation.  

Effective leadership is also a critical element for generating high levels of employee engagement. The Best Places to Work Effective Leadership score for 2024 was 71.3 out of 100 compared with a score of 70 in 2023. 

Within this category, employees gave their supervisors the highest score of 81.3. Senior leaders—the heads of departments and agencies and their immediate leadership teams, including members of the Senior Executive Service—lagged well behind supervisors with a score of just 58.9. Over the years, we have learned that good leaders not only focus on policy but also place an emphasis on being responsive to workforce needs and creating workplace conditions that foster better outcomes. 

There is no doubt that our government needs improvement, and the Partnership for Public Service believes that this can be accomplished not by disrupting and slashing the workforce, but through a series of constructive reforms outlined in our “Vision for a Better Government.” These steps call for improving leadership development, making better use of data and technology, providing more efficient customer service, holding poor performers accountable and streamlining the hiring process. 

Top Agencies

NASA (81.6 out of 100) and the Environmental Protection Agency (79.9), which was moved from the midsize to the large agency category for 2024, registered the highest Best Places to Work scores among large agencies in 2024 while the Government Accountability Office (87.7), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (85) and the General Services Administration (85) led the way among midsize agencies. The small agency leaders are the National Indian Gaming Commission (92.1) and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (90.1). Check our Agency Headlines for more. 

Agencies Lagging Behind

The Social Security Administration (54.2 out of 100) and the Department of Justice (61.3) have the lowest employee engagement and satisfaction scores among large government agencies, while the National Labor Relations Board (58.8) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (63) are at the bottom of the midsize agency category. The Export-Import Bank (39.4) and the Federal Maritime Commission (47.2) ranked the lowest among small agencies. More can be found in our Agency Headlines. 

Other Best Places to Work Findings 

• Several key factors besides commitment to mission and leadership influence employee engagement and job satisfaction. Among the workplace issues measured, recognition received the lowest marks from employees in 2024 with a score of 55.5 out of 100 followed by employee input (57.4), pay (59), professional development (68.1) and work-life balance (71.3).  
• Employees aged 60 and older (74.9) and those with less than one year of federal experience (79.3) had the highest engagement and satisfaction scores among the different age and experience groups. Employees between the ages of 30 and 39 registered the lowest overall Best Places to Work score (64.9 out of 100) of any age group. 
• At the time employees were surveyed, 55.8% had a hybrid work schedule, 13.3 % teleworked full time and 30.9% went to their workplace each day. Those who teleworked full time had the highest employee engagement and satisfaction score (76.5), followed by those who did not telework out of personal choice (71.9) and those who had a hybrid work schedule (71.3). Others who did not telework due to their job requirements (57.7) or for other reasons (49.1) had the lowest scores.  
• Of the employees who indicated that they plan to leave their organization within the next year, 40% responded that their decision will be influenced by remote work options.  
• Employees gave their agencies a score of 49.5 out of 100 on the question of whether “the results of this survey will be used to make my agency a better place to work.”   
• In the aggregate, midsize agencies registered the highest median Best Places to Work score (73.7) followed by small agencies (72.6) and large agencies (69.6).                                                      

The nation’s more than 2 million civil servants are vital to our system of government and the health of our democracy. Agency leaders should emphasize empowering and recognizing the federal workforce with proactive strategies responsive to its concerns to improve organizational performance and better serve the nation’s needs. For recommendations on actions that can be taken to improve employee engagement and satisfaction, be sure to check out our additional Resources.