	DHS Employees Indicated Less Job Satisfaction Than the Rest of the Federal Government

Over time, federal surveys have consistently found that DHS employees  are less satisfied with their jobs than the governmentwide average. At that time, 56 percent of DHS employees responded that they were  satisfied with their jobs, compared to the 68 percent governmentwide.subsequent years when comparative data were available using the job  satisfaction index, the disparity continued—ranging from a difference of 8  percentage points in 2006 to a 4 percentage point difference in 2008,  2010, and 2011. In some key areas, DHS’s percentage of positive responses  was lower than the rest of the federal government averages. For  example:
Slightly less than half of the DHS employees surveyed reported  positive responses to the statement “My talents are used well in the  workplace,” nearly 12 percentage points less than the rest of the  federal government average of 61.6 percent. In two areas, DHS’s percentage of positive responses was nearly the  same or higher than the rest of the federal government average. Specifically:
DHS’s percentage of positive responses to the statement  “Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your pay?” was  not statistically different than the rest of the federal government  average, with responses of 62 percent for DHS and 63 percent for the  rest of the federal government. The 2011 job satisfaction data also indicate that satisfaction levels vary  across components within DHS. For example, as shown in table 1, job  satisfaction index results for the 2011 FEVS show the Transportation  Security Administration (TSA) as 11 percentage points below  governmentwide averages while other large components, such as U.S.  Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Coast Guard (Coast  Guard), posted above average results. DHS Has Ongoing Actions to Address Job Satisfaction, but Has Not Yet Improved Employee Satisfaction Results

DHS has taken steps to identify where it has the most significant  employee satisfaction problems and has developed plans for addressing  those problem areas. DHS has conducted some analysis of employee  survey results and developed action plans to address some employee  satisfaction problems, but it has not yet addressed the key goals related  to job satisfaction—to improve DHS’s scores on OPM’s job satisfaction  index, among other indexes, and to improve its ranking on the  Partnership’s Best Places to Work in the Federal Government. The  results from our prior work at DHS and other departments identify a wide  variety of issues that can lead to employee morale problems. Thus,  conducting an analysis of the root causes of employee satisfaction  problems and developing plans to address them are important. DHS. DHS completed an evaluation of the 2008 Federal Human Capital  Survey results to determine root causes of job satisfaction  departmentwide, according to DHS officials. In that analysis, DHS  determined that the drivers of employee satisfaction across DHS included  the DHS mission, senior leadership effectiveness, and supervisor  support. According to DHS officials, DHS is currently working with a  contractor on a departmentwide analysis of root causes of employee  morale. As of March 2012, this analysis was not complete. DHS and the components are taking actions that could improve employee  satisfaction, with a focus on improving components’ positive responses to  selected survey items. DHS’s Integrated Strategy for High Risk Management. In the Integrated Strategy, DHS identified corrective actions  to improve employee job satisfaction scores, among other things. DHS and component action plans. In September 2008, we reported that the 2004 and 2006 employee  survey results for the Small Business Administration (SBA) showed a  lack of respect for and trust in SBA leadership and a concern about  training opportunities. The variation in potential issues that can result in morale problems  underscores the importance of looking beyond survey scores to  understand where problems, such as low employee satisfaction, are  taking place within the organization, along with the root causes of those  problems. Given the critical nature of DHS’s mission to protect the security and  economy of our nation, it is important that DHS employees are satisfied  with their jobs so that DHS can retain and attract the talent required to  complete its work. We will continue to monitor and assess DHS’s efforts  to address employee job satisfaction through our ongoing work and  expect to issue a report on our final results in September 2012. High-Risk Series: An Update. Department of Homeland Security: Progress Made in Implementation and  Transformation of Management Functions, but More Work Remains. High-Risk Series: Strategic Human Capital Management.
Why GAO Did This Study

DHS is the third largest cabinet-level agency in the federal government, employing more than 200,000 employees in a broad range of jobs. Since its creation in 2003, DHS has faced challenges implementing its human capital functions, and its employees have reported having low job satisfaction. GAO designated the implementation and transformation of DHS as high risk because it represented an enormous and complex undertaking that would require time to achieve in an effective and efficient manner. This testimony presents preliminary observations regarding: (1) how DHSs employees workforce satisfaction compares with that of other federal government employees, and (2) the extent to which DHS is taking steps to improve employee job satisfaction. GAOs comments are based on ongoing work on DHSs employee job satisfaction survey results and its actions and plans to improve them, as well as reports issued from January 2003 through February 2012 on high-risk and morale issues in the federal government and at DHS. To conduct its ongoing work, GAO analyzed DHS and component planning documents, interviewed relevant DHS officials about employee morale, and analyzed 2011 federal employee job satisfaction survey results.

What GAO Found

Over time, federal surveys have consistently found that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees are less satisfied with their jobs than the government-wide average. In the 2004 Office of Personnel Managements federal employee surveya tool that measures employees perceptions of whether and to what extent conditions characterizing successful organizations are present in their agency56 percent of DHS employees responded that they were satisfied with their jobs, compared to 68 percent government-wide. In subsequent years, the disparity continuedranging from a difference of 8 percentage points in 2006 to a 4 percentage point difference in 2008, 2010, and 2011. In 2011, DHSs percentage of positive responses was lower than the averages for the rest of the federal government. For example, slightly less than half of the DHS employees surveyed reported positive responses to the statement My talents are used well in the workplace, nearly 12 percentage points less than the rest of the federal government average. In two areas, DHSs percentage of positive responses was nearly the same or higher than the rest of the federal government average. For example, DHSs percentage of positive responses to the statement Considering everything, how satisfied are you with your pay? was not statistically different than the rest of the federal government average. Job satisfaction data for 2011 show that satisfaction levels vary across DHS components. For example, job satisfaction index results show the Transportation Security Administration as 11 percentage points below government-wide averages while other components, such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection, posted above average results.
DHS has taken steps to identify where it has the most significant employee satisfaction problems and developed plans to address those problems, but has not yet improved DHS employee satisfaction survey results. For example, to determine root causes of job satisfaction department-wide, DHS conducted an evaluation of the 2008 Federal Human Capital Survey results, according to DHS officials. In that analysis, DHS determined that the drivers of employee satisfaction across DHS included the DHS mission, senior leadership effectiveness, and supervisor support. According to DHS officials, DHS is working with a contractor on a new department-wide analysis of root causes of employee morale. As of March 2012, this analysis was not complete. DHS and its components are also taking steps to improve components positive response rates to selected survey items. For example, DHSs Integrated Strategy for High Risk Management identified corrective actions to improve employee job satisfaction scores, such as the launch of the Employee Engagement Executive Steering Committee. GAO has previously reported on a variety of issues, including concerns about pay and a lack of trust in leadership that can lead to morale problems. This variation in potential issues that can result in morale problems underscores the importance of looking beyond survey scores to understand the root causes of those problems and developing plans to address them. Given the critical nature of DHSs mission to protect the security and economy of the United States, it is important that DHS employees are satisfied with their jobs so that DHS can attract and retain the talent required to complete its work. GAO will continue to assess DHSs efforts to address employee job satisfaction and expects to issue a report on its results in September 2012.