Washington, D.C. - The US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) today released agency-level results from the 2016 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS). The 2016 FEVS was administered to 407,789 employees representing 80 (38 large / 42 small) Federal agencies. These results provided through UnlockTalent.gov contain scores for two major indices - Employee Engagement and Global Job Satisfaction across the Federal government. OPM plans to release the more detailed 2016 FEVS results in digital and print formats in early October.

UnlockTalent.gov is a comprehensive data visualization dashboard used to help government leaders make data-driven decisions and design initiatives to improve overall engagement and employee satisfaction at Federal agencies.

For the second year in a row, the government-wide employee engagement and the global satisfaction indices have risen by one percent breaking a four-year decline.  The gains made within many agencies are impressive; of 587 major bureaus of components across the Federal Government, 401 increased their levels of employee engagement from 2015 and 123 of these components increased by six percentage points or more.

“This FEVS data provides agency leaders with valuable information they can use to evaluate current procedures, while encouraging their front-line supervisors to further engage and mentor their employees,” said OPM Acting Director Beth Cobert. “We know that employee engagement drives performance and engaged and motivated employees are essential to the health of the Federal workforce.”

The 2016 results show increases in the many agencies that routinely score high, as well as increases in other agencies that continue to work to improve employee engagement scores. OPM’s Employee Engagement Index results remained a constant 71% for both 2015 and 2016.  The OPM’s Global Satisfaction Index result for 2016 is 68%.

Through voluntary participation in the FEVS, Federal employees are given the opportunity to share their experiences and provide feedback in all aspects of their work life. FEVS results are used by government leaders and supervisors to guide evaluation and action planning to support and strengthen a culture of employee and organizational performance.