Frequently Asked Questions These FAQs are designed to provide a better understanding of the Best Places to Work rankings. If you have questions about the rankings that are not covered here or elsewhere on this website, please contact us. Data Sources and Methodology What is the data source used for the Best Places to Work rankings? Most of the data used to develop the 2024 rankings was collected by the Office of Personnel Management through its Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. It was completed by 674,207 federal workers for a response rate of 41%, a 2 percentage point increase from 2023. The survey was administered as a census of all full and part-time, permanent, nonseasonal executive branch employees and some temporary employees. Political appointees, contractors and nonfederal employees” were not included. Visit OPM’s website to learn more about the FEVS methodology. The Best Places to Work rankings include responses from more than 413,600 additional employees at 14 agencies that conducted separate surveys at the same time and had a response rate of more than 50% or a rate that was statistically significant. The rankings incorporate responses from employees of the Intelligence Community, which conducted its own similar survey but did not report the number of respondents. Visit our methodology page for more information. How are your Best Places to Work rankings different from other rankings? Our Best Places to Work rankings include only federal agencies, not private sector or nonprofit employers as found in other workplace reports. The rankings are based on an extensive government-wide employee survey conducted by OPM, plus surveys from 14 additional agencies including the Intelligence Community. In addition, we rank agency subcomponents. We also provide extra agency information on seven workplace categories that range from employees’ opinions on leadership to their perceptions of work-life balance. Visit OPM’s website to learn more about the additional indexes the agency produces based on the FEVS. Should I compare 2024 Best Places to Work scores with scores from previous years? The 2024 employee engagement and satisfaction score is based on an enhanced calculation method, and should not be compared with the previous scores. Workplace category scores from the 2024 cycle can be compared with 2023 scores. For the following four categories, comparisons can be made as far back as 2020. Effective Leadership: Senior Leaders Effective Leadership: Supervisors Mission Match Pay Because of changes to how the percentage of positive responses was calculated in 2020, any scores we published since 2020, it would not be accurate to compare to the years before 2020. Visit our methodology page for more information. What is the data source for the private sector data? Mercer, our technical partner, supplies private sector employee response data that offers points of comparison with the federal government. The benchmarks from Mercer are based on a database that is continually updated with employee census survey data collected on behalf of their clients. See more information about private sector data in Private Sector Comparison. What is the source of the demographic data included in the agency profile? The demographic data on the agency pages is from OPM’s FedScope database. The information is based on full-time, nonseasonal, permanent employees in government at the end of March 2024. Why would an agency not have scores in some categories? For agencies to have category scores and rankings, they need to have data for all the questions that make up that particular category. Several agencies that do not take the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey still participate in the rankings voluntarily, and their surveys may not include the questions required for each category. See our methodology page for details. Who can participate in the Best Places to Work rankings? Any agency with at least 100 federal employees and 30 responses to the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey is eligible to participate in the Best Places to Work rankings. The employee count is determined by the number of surveys sent out to employees. Eligible agencies that do not participate in OPM’s government-wide annual employee survey can be part of the Best Places to Work rankings if they conduct a comparable survey that includes our three employee-engagement and satisfaction questions. The survey needs to be administered during the same time frame as the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey and have at least a 50% response rate or a statistically significant response rate based on mathematical calculation. Please contact us to learn more about the survey requirements and how your agency can participate. Why are agencies and subcomponents grouped by size? We group agencies and subcomponents by workforce size to provide comparisons of organizations that may face similar management challenges in terms of numbers of employees and locations. Information about agency size groupings can be found in methodology page. The agency and subcomponent 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 (more than 600,000 employees) and as small as the Office of Management and Budget (450 employees).The most recent change came in 2024, when we started sorting subcomponents by size into three groupings to match the group sizes we use to sort agencies. When will the next Best Places to Work rankings be released? The next Best Places to Work rankings will be released shortly after OPM administers and releases the results of its 2025 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. Scores and Rankings How are the scores and rankings calculated? For the Best Places to Work employee engagement and satisfaction score, we use a proprietary weighted formula. We based the weights on responses to three questions included in OPM’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey and employees’ intention to stay in the job for the next year. The questions are: I recommend my organization as a good place to work. Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your jobs? Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your organization? The workplace category scores are a calculated average of the percentage of positive responses from each question included in the category. For detailed information about our calculation, visit methodology page. What are the definitions of “senior leaders” and “supervisors”? OPM’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey included the following definitions: Senior Leaders: The heads of departments or agencies and the members of their immediate leadership team responsible for directing the policies and priorities of the department or agency; may hold either a political or career appointment and typically a member of the Senior Executive Service or equivalent. Managers: Those in management positions who typically supervise one or more supervisors. Supervisors: Typically, those who are responsible for employees’ performance appraisals and leave approval. See the Effective Leadership page for more technical definitions about different positions. For Agencies What can an agency do to improve its Best Places to Work scores? There are many steps agencies can take to improve employee engagement, and we offer a variety of resources, events and assistance for federal managers to better understand their data and build a tailored plan. To help leaders drive reforms, we work with agencies to conduct a custom data analysis and lead them through a series of activities to identify and address employee concerns. We have also compiled case studies that examine federal agencies that have been successful at using their Best Places to Work data to drive change. Please see our resources page for more details. For Federal Job Seekers I am trying to find a job in the federal government. Where do I go for more information? USAJOBS is the search engine and database for federal government jobs. The site lists all the competitive jobs that are open to nonfederal employee applicants. Many agencies also list job openings on their websites. Students and recent graduates can use the Partnership’s Federal Internship Finder to find publicly available listings for professional and academic opportunities. Visit the Partnership’s Go Government website to learn more about the basics of federal employment and strategies for applying for federal government jobs. I was thinking about applying for a job at an agency that is ranked low. Should I reconsider? Not necessarily. We hope that job seekers will use our Best Places to Work website as a resource, but there are many other factors to take into consideration when thinking about applying for a job.
