Government employees have low morale, survey says
Increased workloads, longer hours and strained resources caused by the recession have lowered federal, state and local government workers’ morale, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.com. In the survey of more than 200 government employers, 25 percent rated their organization’s current employee morale as low.
The survey also found that 43 percent of government workers have had difficulty staying motivated at work in the last year, and 16 percent do not feel loyal to their current employer. “Low morale levels are an unfortunate side effect of this recession,” said Chuck Loeher, vice president of government solutions at CareerBuilder. “As a result, employers are taking measures to help address negative workplace sentiment and motivate their employees, [such as] stepping up communication, offering more employee recognition programs or providing more flexible work opportunities.”
Government workers revealed a variety of factors that could be contributing to low morale levels. Two in five (39 percent) said that their stress level at work is high, and nearly half (47 percent) said that their workload has increased in the last six months. Nearly one in five (18 percent) are dissatisfied with their work/life balance. Close to half (47 percent) said that said they felt there was departmental favoritism at work, and 31 percent do not think their department is important to senior leadership.
Read the CareerBuilder survey.