U.S. Department of the Treasury

1.Interpretation of Results:

The Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) offers unique insights into federal employees’ perceptions of employee satisfaction, engagement and workforce management.  Treasury values its employees and respects workplace perceptions.  The results of the FEVS are reviewed and analyzed to determine patterns and themes to identify Treasury’s strengths and challenges, and are used to guide improvement efforts.

The 100-item survey includes 71 items that measure federal employees’ perceptions about how effectively agencies manage their workforce, 8 items specific to work/life programs usage, 5 questions about the impact of the partial government shutdown, and 16 demographic items.  The survey includes nine topic areas:

• Personal Work Experiences
• Work Unit
• Agency
• Supervisor/Team Leader
• Leadership 
• Satisfaction
• Work/Life Programs
• Demographics
• Partial Government Shutdown

The key message of Treasury’s 2019 FEVS is improvement across almost all indices. The 2019 FEVS results reflect:

• 38 items were identified as strengths (65% positive or higher.) This is a year on year increase of 2.
• 66 items improved in % positive from 2018, with significant (4% or greater) increases in Q9, Q21 & Q67. See attached results for the specific corresponding survey item numbers above.
• 2 items were identified as challenges (35% negative or higher.) This is a year on year decrease of 3.
• Only 1 item’s % negative (Q 62) increased from 2018 by more than 1% See attached results for the specific corresponding survey items.

Treasury employees continue to remain committed to the mission, are willing to give extra to get the job done, are proud of the quality of their work, and feel that their supervisors treat them with respect as evidenced by the six items with the highest positive scores shown below:

• 94% Positive- When needed I am willing to put in the extra effort to get a job done. (Q. 7)
• 89% Positive- The work I do is important. (Q. 13)
• 89% Positive- I am constantly looking for ways to do my job better. (Q. 8) This is an increase of 1% from 2018.
• 86% Positive- How would you rate the overall quality of work done by your work unit? (Q. 28) This is an increase on 1% since 2018.
• 86% Positive- My supervisor treats me with respect. (Q49) This is an increase on 1% since 2018.
• 85% Positive- My supervisor supports my need to balance work and other life issues. (Q42)

Treasury employees continue to have positive responses to questions regarding their immediate supervisors. The questions below indicate employees trust their supervisors and feel they are respected and supported by them.  There were one to two percentage point increases in all of these positive responses over 2018.

• 86% Positive- My supervisor treats me with respect. (Q. 49)
• 82% Positive- My supervisor listens to what I have to say. (Q. 48)
• 79% Positive- Overall, how good a job do you feel is being done by your immediate supervisor? (Q. 52)
• 75% Positive- I have trust and confidence in my supervisor. (Q. 51)
• 74% Positive- Supervisors in my work unit support employee development. (Q. 47)

There were positive trends from 2018 in previously reported high negative responses in the areas of pay, resources and empowerment. Treasury employee feedback does confirm that there are still opportunities for Treasury to improve.

• 41% Negative - Pay raises depend on how well employees perform their jobs. (Q. 33) – A 3% improvement.
• 37% Negative - I have sufficient resources (for example, people, materials, budget) to get my job done. (Q. 9) A 4% improvement.
• 33% Negative - How satisfied are you with your opportunity to get a better job in your organization? (Q. 67) A 6% improvement
• 31% Negative – My work unit is able to recruit people with the right skills. (Q. 21) A 6% improvement
• 34% Negative – I believe the results of this survey will be used to make my agency a better place to work. (Q. 41) A 2% improvement

2. How the survey was conducted:

The 2019 FEVS was administered within Treasury May 14 – June 18, 2019 via email by the Office of Personnel Management.

3. Description of sample:

The 2019 survey was administered to all eligible employees, defined as full - or part-time, permanent, non-seasonal, non-political employees onboard as of October 31, 2018.

4. Survey items and response choices:

All survey items and response choices required by 5 CFR 250.302 are included in the 2019 Survey and are included in the attached 2019 Treasury Survey Results.

5. Number of employees surveyed, number responded, and representativeness of respondents:

The Department of the Treasury achieved a response rate of 55% with 41,771 out of 76,305 eligible employees responding.  Treasury’s 2018 response rate was of 54% with 42,027 out of 78,195 eligible employees.  Table 1 below shows the representativeness of respondents.

Table 1- Representativeness of Respondents

2019 Annual Employee Survey (AES) Report