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Washington D.C. — The Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, the now annual workplace survey of federal employees by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), today provided further evidence of the passion and commitment of federal workers, said the leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees.

“The survey shows clearly that federal employees are committed to their work and believe their work is important, but too often agencies are failing to provide adequate support or provide avenues for them to make their agencies better,” said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).

The survey showed more than 92 percent of federal employees said the work they do is important and about the same amount are constantly looking for ways to do their job better, while more than 82 percent feel their work unit produces quality work. However, only half of respondents believe that they have sufficient resources to do their job, while even less believe they are personally empowered within work processes.

With a more collaborative environment under the Obama administration, there have been some notable steps forward in the job satisfaction of federal employees and their confidence in agency leadership, but there is much room for improvement, Kelley noted.

“Through collective bargaining and improved labor-management collaboration, we have seen improvements and look forward to continuing to work with federal agencies to address the ongoing concerns of federal employees,” she said.

As was the case in the last survey, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)—working under a contract collectively bargained with NTEU— led agencies in all four categories: Job Satisfaction, Leadership and Knowledge Management, Results-Oriented Performance Culture, and Talent Management. These results are directly related to the union’s work on behalf of NRC employees, the NTEU leader said.

In November 2009, NRC agreed to a new contract with NTEU to ensure it maintained its high level of employee satisfaction by increasing rewards to high-performing employees and boosting telework opportunities.

“Work environments, such as NRC, are driven toward success by well-negotiated collective bargaining agreements and ensuring that employees have a meaningful voice in their workplaces,” Kelley said.

Conversely, Kelley was not surprised to see that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) failed to finish among the leaders in any of the four key categories identified by OPM.

“While OPM noted that some improvements in DHS survey results, much more needs to be done at DHS to improve employee morale and engagement,” Kelley said. “Effective use of the planned labor-management forums at DHS and the grant of collective bargaining rights at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would provide the impetus to listen to employees and spur the changes needed at the department.”

For the first time, the survey included an analysis of federal telework opportunities. Only 10 percent said they telework at least one day per week, while more than 23 percent said they could telework, but are simply not allowed to by management. NTEU has been a vocal advocate for expanding telework programs, and continues to push agencies to develop well-defined programs with eligibility guidelines and provide clear support from management through the collective bargaining process. Without managers’ commitment, telework programs cannot operate effectively, NTEU said.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.