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Washington, D.C.—A look behind the numbers in the latest survey of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees shows the widely-recognized morale crisis within key DHS components is, in reality, a crisis of leadership.

That view was expressed today by President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) in the wake of an internal DHS survey revealing serious concerns held by survey respondents from two key DHS components—U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). NTEU represents the entire CBP bargaining unit, as well as TSA employees at three major U.S. airports.

“The survey results on such questions as liking their work and believing it is important,” President Kelley said, “clearly show a workforce made up of dedicated, serious people who are committed to the missions of their department and their component within that department.”

At the same time, she said, “the results reveal just as clearly what NTEU has been saying for some time —that DHS and its component agencies engage in a culture of favoritism, filled with arbitrary treatment of their employees, and a refusal to empower, listen to, engage or motivate them, as well as provide them with the resources they need. This is failure to manage effectively on a grand scale, and that continues to put the nation at risk.”

She said that “gathering information is a crucial first step, but it is only a first step. To be effective, agencies have to ensure appropriate resources and staffing; they have to listen to front-line employees—and really listen to them about the best way to get the work done; and they have to train their managers to do a much better job.”

President Kelley added: “Employees have a lot of good ideas about how to do the work better, but throughout DHS, their views are being ignored.”

Here are just a few examples of the problems CBP respondents highlighted:

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Only 27.1 percent believe their leaders generate high levels of motivation and commitment in the workforce;

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Just slightly more, 29.5 percent, said they are satisfied with the policies and practices of senior agency leadership—while only 33.1 percent believe the same about senior leaders in their component; and

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Only 30 percent said they are satisfied with their involvement in decisions affecting their work.

Meanwhile, TSA respondents made these points, among others:

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93 percent of TSA employees reported believing their work is important, but only 21 percent said they think promotions are based on merit; and

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Within that DHS component, only 30.6 percent said they are satisfied with the policies and practices of their senior leaders.

A prime example, she said, is TSA’s Performance and Accountability Standards System (PASS), a discredited merit pay and promotion system. Fewer than one in four TSA respondents—23.6 percent—said they believe their pay raises depend on how well they perform their duties.

While the administration has said PASS would appropriately reward employees and improve recruitment and retention efforts at TSA, that agency has one of highest attrition rates in government.

“Clearly, PASS is a failure by any meaningful measure. It should be abandoned, and TSA employees moved to the General Schedule pay system,” said President Kelley.

These results generally are consistent with results of the bi-annual Office of Personnel Management (OPM) survey of federal employees; DHS consistently has ranked at or near the bottom on all key questions in that survey. Taking note of its low ranking, DHS has chosen to survey its employees annually, using the OPM questions and others.

The NTEU leader noted that CBP officials have begun a series of workplace visits. “Meeting with employees is a first step, but what CBP really needs to do is work with NTEU, listen to employees and act on employee input. CBP has not done that,” Kelley said. Employees need to see management responding to the real issues identified by employees, such as unfair workplace treatment and a voice in decisions about how work gets done, and involving employees in solutions, she said.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including both CBP and TSA, which are key parts of DHS.