Welcome to what this would be our third edition of the Best and Worst Places to Work in the Federal Government. I might add that it was the director of the Department of Homeland Security that originally
encouraged us, along with Max, to change the name of this from the World Places to Work to the Best Places to
Work - so I acknowledge that we are trying to emphasize on what is happening in a good manner, not just in a
poor manner, as we move forward. This hearing hopefully will provide a platform to closely examine what the
federal employee engagement and satisfaction levels are.
The data being examined today comes from the 2016 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, which was taken by
the federal employees between April and June of last year. After several years of decreasing scores, I am
pleased to see that a government-wide engagement score continues to trend positive for the second year in a
row.
For our hearing purposes today, witnesses will come from agencies who have shown either a great improvement or a large decreases in their scores. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is the most improved large agency, while the Securities and Exchange Commission is the most improved mid-size agency. Congratulations on your success, we look forward to learning more from each of you. We also welcome the Department of Homeland Security which should be commended for finally reversing that negative trend, Miss Bailey, and negative momentum and posting the second most improved employee engagement score for large agencies.
However, there's a lot of work, as we would acknowledge, that remains. DHS has ranked last among large
agencies in employee engagement, and we look forward to hearing from you on what additional steps could be
taken to foster more positive momentum. The Surface Transportation Board experienced the steepest decrease
of any agency in the employee engagement and saw employee satisfaction scores plummet. So I am curious to
learn what steps the agencies will take to stem the bleeding and the trend that is going in the wrong area.
Finally, the Office of Personnel Management and the Partnership are also here to offer their insights on the
2016 Federal Employee Viewpoint Surveys. I welcome all of our witnesses and look forward to learning more
from you.