Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey Gets Another Delay

The FEVS (Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey) is conducted every year in May and then its results are released at some point between October and January. Because of the pandemic, the delivery of this year’s survey was postponed from the typical May date to Monday, July 13th. Last week it was announced that the voluntary assessment would not be administered until September 14th. There is a 6-week span for participants to respond to FEVS, so the statistical results will also see a delay. The reason for the delays are to ensure a better participation percentage, and to add a section on the government’s response to the Coronavirus crisis.

The 2019 Results

The participation rate of 42.6% hovered between those of 2017, which was 45%, and 2018, which was 40%. To get an idea of the sample size, 615,395 federal workers responded in 2019 while 589,548 submitted answers in 2018.

The number of Baby Boomers in the Federal government dropped 4% from the previous year to 31%. Those in ‘Generation X’ jumped a percentage point to 44%, and the number of millennial federal employees went from 18% to 24%. Those born either before 1945 or after 1997 comprised the remaining 1% for last year. The portion of female Feds saw a tumble for the second year in a row, going from 49% in 2017 to 44% in 2018 and then 40% in 2019.

For the more positive viewpoints, Feds who felt that the work they do “is important” remained at a steady 90% from 2018 to 2019. Those who felt their supervisor respected them received a boost of 4%, meaning 84% of the respondents agreed with this sentiment for 2019.

Regarding topics where the answers indicate a possible need to improve, Feds who thought there were prospects for advancement within their agency rose just 1% to 41%, meaning about 59% feel the opposite is true. While 60% didn’t think poor performers were handled properly in 2018, 64% of respondents felt this way the next year, suggesting that the problem might be getting worse.

Until Next Time,