Employee union officials are putting the blame on the shoulders of the Bush administration for poor employee morale across the Interior Department and the Forest Service.  Whether competitive sourcing, the centralization of back office systems and processes, or the failure to address personnel issues, employees view these agencies in a bad light.

“Human capital management is the central biggest problem.” said a major labor leader.  “Employees are frustrated by a seemingly endless stream of reorganizations and new technologies, methods and policies that seem ill-planned and end up significantly impeding their ability to get their jobs done.”

An employee of the Bureau of land management was a little more direct:  “Our issues revolve around ethics, labor relations, workforce planning, resource protection, performance appraisals and awards, and the balance between home and work life.”

Both agencies participated in the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government survey in 2009.  In terms of areas for improvement, the number one driver of employee satisfaction according to the 2007 Best Places rankings, is leadership. “Improving employee perceptions of their leaders will have the most impact on employee engagement.”

And based on the 2008-09 Employee Hold’em National Benchmark, leadership has a long way to go.

• Only forty-four percent of local, state, and federal government employees agreed their senior leadership is effective, while thirty-three percent disagreed.
• Only one-third of local, state, and federal government employees agreed that employee loyalty is appropriately valued and rewarded, while 40 percent disagreed
• Three out of ten government employees agreed that senior management treats employees like their most important asset, while four in ten disagreed

There were a list of recommendations given to improve morale across the government, including:

• Leaders should focus on improving communication and foster opportunities for employee input (only 45 percent of government employees agree that their organization encouraged open, candid communication according to the Employee Hold’em Benchmark of Government employees);
• Supervisors should be selected based on leadership and management skills, not just technical expertise (or if not selected based on leadership, they have to be trained in leadership and management skills… perhaps my second book Employee Engagement Fundamentals, a Guide for Managers and Supervisors would be a good start);
• Congress should encourage agencies to do regular “pulse check” surveys that include part-time, temporary and volunteer workers (what we call at Employee Hold’em “Early Intervention Surveys”, fixing the causes of turnover before it occurs;
• Congress should require the Office of Personnel Management to conduct the Federal Human Capital Survey annually instead of every other year (The same advice I use with my clients.  Two years is an eternity when the average employee only stays with their organization for four years);

Daniel Wenk, acting director of the National Park Service did say something a little scary to me as a researcher/consultant who specializes in employee engagement and retention.   He indicated that he doesn’t think the morale is as bad as the survey showed, but there is room for improvement.

That doesn’t bode well for change, trust me.  Employees don’t lie in anonymous surveys, there is no benefit to them unless they tell the truth.  It is this kind of thinking that can stop any improvement before it ever starts. Change starts at the top… or doesn’t.