The federal government’s 2019 Best Places to Work employee engagement score was 61.7 out of 100, a 0.5-point decrease from 2018.

This modest dip came at a time when a lengthy government shutdown affected about 800,000 of the 2 million federal employees. Critical leadership vacancies across government, and various political crosscurrents played a likely role in this decrease.

The 2019 data shows government-wide improvements in some aspects of the employee experience, with small increases in eight of 10 categories. The biggest gains occurred in training and development and performance-based awards and advancement, both up by 0.8 points. Effective leadership and several of its subcategories—senior leaders, fairness in the workplace and individual empowerment—rose by 0.3 points. In addition, 66.8% of respondents said they are receiving real opportunities to improve their skills, up 1.5 points, while 61.2% said they feel encouraged to discover new and better ways of doing things, up 1.0 point. In addition, 89.3% view their work as important—the same as in 2018. 

However, other categories had declining scores. Satisfaction with pay, for instance, dropped 0.4 points, and support for diversity dropped 0.2 points.

45.0% of the agencies included in the 2019 rankings registered an increase in employee engagement. This percentage dropped from 72.3% and 73.8% in 2016 and 2017, respectively, but increased from 39.6% in 2018.

Overall, the 2019 Best Places data shows that federal agencies need to improve the employee work experience in numerous ways—from training and developing leaders, and building more positive work environments to providing employees with the resources they need to do their jobs. Having a highly-motivated and engaged workforce is critical to a well-functioning government and the success of our country.