The Partnership for Public Service released the 2026 Public Service Viewpoint Survey to provide an independent, standardized and publicly available view of employee experiences across the federal government.
Federal employees have firsthand knowledge of what helps their teams succeed, what makes their work more difficult and how well their organizations are serving the public. Because of this, the Public Service Viewpoint Survey gives eligible federal employees a confidential opportunity to share their perspectives on:
- Their team or office’s performance and the factors affecting it.
- Their personal engagement, satisfaction and workload.
- The effectiveness of their supervisors, senior leaders and organizations.
- Their overall workplace experience and ability to carry out their agency’s mission.
We wanted to share some important answers to questions we got frequently last year or that all of you may have as we go into this new survey cycle.
Who can take the survey?
All permanent, civilian, career federal employees from executive, legislative and judicial branch agencies are eligible to participate in the survey. This includes civilian employees who work for intelligence and defense-associated agencies, as well as uniformed members of commissioned corps. Federal contractors and those who have left federal service are not eligible.
How can I participate?
Eligible federal employees can access the survey using the link below. Please complete the survey outside your normal working hours.
Is the Public Service Viewpoint Survey confidential?
Yes. The Partnership is committed to protecting participants’ confidentiality. Response data will be kept secure and encrypted.
Any personally identifiable information or demographic data shared with us will be restricted to the Partnership’s data team and only be used in the survey administration and analysis process. We ask only the most essential demographic and screening questions required to properly weight survey responses and confirm respondent eligibility.
We are regularly reassessing to improve the confidentiality of our survey. In response to feedback from last year’s survey, we are no longer asking respondents to provide a personal email to help us identify duplicate submissions. Other methods to screen duplicate responses that avoid collecting personal information.
To maintain your confidentiality, all survey findings shared by the Partnership will be anonymized in a way that will prevent you or your responses from being identified. Following the Office of Personnel Management’s former approach with the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, data for demographic groups with less than 30 respondents will not be shared outside the Partnership.
How is this survey different from the survey my agency is administering?
Agency surveys and the Public Service Viewpoint Survey serve unique purposes.
Agency surveys can provide leaders with an internal management tool tailored to the needs and circumstances of their organizations. The Public Service Viewpoint Survey uses a common set of questions to develop a broader, government-wide view of the federal workforce and make findings available to federal leaders, Congress, policymakers and the public.
The Public Service Viewpoint Survey is not intended to replace agency surveys, and federal employees should consider providing feedback through both channels.
I have a question not mentioned here. Where can I learn more?
We have included a more in-depth set of FAQs on our Public Service Viewpoint Survey page. If you don’t find your question answered there, you can reach out to our data and survey team directly at psvs@ourpublicservice.org.