Employee Engagement

Our country deserves government institutions that respond to the public’s needs—and that requires a fully engaged and motivated workforce.

However, government departments frequently struggle to adequately engage their employees. The 2024 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings demonstrated that nearly a third of federal employees are disengaged and dissatisfied with their organizations. Other studies have shown that the circumstances for state and local civil servants are even more dire.

Top-performing private sector organizations understand that increased employee engagement leads to better performance and outcomes. Federal leaders need to follow the private sector’s lead by placing a greater emphasis on enhancing the federal employee experience and workplace culture.

Best Places to Work in the Federal Government®

Launched in 2003, the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® rankings offer the most authoritative assessment of how federal public servants view their jobs and workplaces and provides insights about public sector employee engagement that are relevant across federal, state and local governments.

Best Places to Work data and insights have been used by four different administrations to measure and improve federal employee engagement, informing better service to the public and pushing government to meet the employee engagement and satisfaction standards set by best-in-class private sector organizations. The rankings also provide employee perspectives on issues such as leadership, pay, work-life balance and more.

Engagement Services

For government to best serve the public, it needs a workforce that is committed and engaged in its responsibilities. Low employee engagement leads to poor customer relationships, high turnover and a lack of productivity—all of which prevent departments from fulfilling their missions.

We have decades of experience working to improve public sector employee engagement, informed by our successful initiatives with agencies across government and an extensive body of subject matter expertise. Our proven services include the following:

Staff Survey Administration: Gather quantitative feedback from your workforce that can be benchmarked against relevant federal data we collect.	Employee Focus Groups: Understand the challenges behind your data through facilitated dialogues that capture comprehensive recommendations.
Action Planning Workshops: Develop strategic outcomes and concrete initiatives that respond to staff feedback.	Engagement Initiative Implementation: Gain expert support to implement action items that address your employee engagement goals.

Our resources detail our complete, data-informed strategy for improving employee engagement at your department based on our over two decades of providing the Best Places to Work rankings.