WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) today released government-wide results from the 2018 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), which reveals how civil servants feel about their agencies, their role within their organizations, and the work they do serving the American people. 

This year the survey went out to every civil servant in the workforce. More than 598,000 people representing 82 Federal agencies responded, indicating positive trends that include:

-       90 percent believe that the work they do is important

-       96 percent are willing to put in the extra effort to get a job done

-       91 are constantly looking for ways to do their job better

The Employee Engagement Index, which is a measure of an employee’s sense of purpose evidenced by their display of dedication, persistence and effort in their work also showed an improvement of five percentage points since 2014, increasing from 63 percent to 68 percent.

Although the five-year trend for FEVS responses in general has moved in a positive direction since 2014, some items continue to indicate challenges regarding employee perception of performance management practices. Some of the lowest scores came from questions dealing with the relationship between performance and rewards.

“When you look at the high-percentage answers from our civil servants, it’s clear they are here for the right reasons,” said OPM Acting Director Margaret Weichert. “It’s our responsibility to use the data found in this report to deliver long-term solutions that focus on accountability and merit system principles. The end game isn’t better survey results - it’s efficient, effective, accountable government.”

See Acting Director Weichert’s statement about the survey to gain more insight into FEVS government-wide results.

*Correction: The number of participating agencies was originally reported to be 79 and has been revised to the correct figure of 82.