57% of Federal Employees Are Satisfied with Their Pay

The Office of Personnel Management has released the full results from the 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. Responses indicate that federal employees are increasingly satisfied with their pay.

The Office of Personnel Management has released the full results from the 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey.

According to the responses, 57% of federal workers report being satisfied with their pay. This is an improvement over the past 2 years; in 2013, only 54% reported being satisfied, and it was 56% in 2014. 2012 had the highest recent score, however, at which time 59% of federal workers said they were generally satisfied with their pay.

A much lower score relating to pay has to do with job performance. Just 21% of respondents said that pay raises in their agency have to do with how well employees perform in their jobs.

So under which pay systems were the employees who were reporting this feedback on their pay? The results break out as follows:

  • Federal Wage System: 3%
  • GS 1 – 6: 6%
  • GS 7 – 12: 42%
  • GS 13 – 15: 41%
  • Senior Executive Service: 1%
  • Senior Level (SL) or Scientific or Professional (ST): 0%
  • Other: 6%

Another low scoring area highlighted in the survey results was satisfaction with new job opportunities. The 2015 results showed that only 35% of respondents said that they were satisfied with the opportunity to get a better job within their organizations.

What were some of the highest scoring areas?

According to the survey, work ethic is high among respondents. 96% said that they were willing to put in extra effort to get the job done. 90% said they are constantly looking for ways to do their jobs better, and 90% also said that the work they do in their agencies is important.

To see which agencies had the highest scores, see Federal Employees’ Job Satisfaction Shows Modest Improvement.

Speaking on the survey results, OPM director Beth Cobert said, “I was especially gratified by the progress made by individual agencies. Agency leaders and managers really can make a difference when they use OPM’s data to make meaningful changes that improve work environments. For example, since last year, 30 of the 37 large departments and agencies made gains in their scores measuring global job satisfaction, which includes how satisfied employees are with their jobs, their pay, and their organizations.”

Another question asked in the survey was, “I believe the results of this survey will be used to make my agency a better place to work.” Only 39% of respondents agreed with the statement.

The document with the complete survey results is included below.

2015 FEVS Final Report

About the Author

Ian Smith is one of the co-founders of FedSmith.com. He has over 20 years of combined experience in media and government services, having worked at two government contracting firms and an online news and web development company prior to his current role at FedSmith.