Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released government-wide results of the 2022 OPM FEVS today. The OPM FEVS is an employee survey that tracks how federal employees view their current work environment, including management, policies, and new initiatives. OPM FEVS is an unmatched government data asset that assists agencies to hire and support the skilled workforce needed to serve the American people.

“Amid unprecedented challenges, federal employees remain remarkably resilient, engaged, and committed to public service,” said Kiran Ahuja, Director of the Office of Personnel Management. “Federal employees are finding creative solutions to stay connected to their teams, leverage workplace flexibilities, and remain motivated to continue doing the critical work on behalf of the American people.”

According to Gallup, employee engagement for the total U.S. workforce has declined for the past two years by a total of four percentage points, the first time it has dropped in over a decade. The OPM FEVS government-wide employee engagement index dropped one percentage point from 2020 to 2021, and then stabilized above pre-pandemic levels at 71% in 2022. In 2019, this metric stood at 68%.

Additional highlights from the 2022 OPM FEVS government-wide results include:

• The Performance Confidence Index, which measures employees’ view that their work unit can achieve goals and produce at a high level, remains high at 84%.
• The 2022 OPM FEVS includes a new Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) Index, which shows 69% of respondents report positive perceptions of agency practices related to DEIA.
• The 2022 OPM FEVS newly evaluates Innovation and to what extent leadership encourages and supports new ideas and innovative approaches. The survey scores show success and opportunities for innovation encouragement, with 64% of employees consistently looking for new ways to improve work and 56% noting that management encourages innovation.

The DEIA index was new to the OPM FEVS in 2022. The index is specifically designed to align with Executive Order (EO) 14035 and features the four components in the EO: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility. These government-wide results will serve as a baseline to assess future changes as well as benchmark comparisons for agency DEIA initiatives.

Other new content added to the 2022 survey includes assessment around changing conditions impacting employees and agencies. Questions about returning to the physical workplace after engaging in maximum telework were added to gain a better understanding of the role remote and hybrid work plays in agency effectiveness. Three new measures are particularly relevant to the future of work and government priorities; they include resilience, innovation, and customer responsiveness.

The 2022 OPM FEVS was administered as a government-wide census to full-time and part-time, permanent, non-seasonal employees of departments and large agencies, as well as small and independent agencies that accept an invitation to participate. A total of 557,778 employees completed a survey for a response rate of 35%.