While federal workers often enjoy higher well-being outside of work than their nongovernment counterparts, that's not so much the case inside the office, a new Gallup survey suggests.
How satisfied are you before, during and after work? The Gallup poll found that federal workers enjoy slightly higher well-being than their nongovernment counterparts in areas like overall life evaluation and access to basic needs. But for well-being at work, federal workers lag behind their local, state and nongovernment colleagues.
For example, 75.3 percent of federal workers report working in a trusting and open work environment, compared to 76.8 percent of state government workers, 75.4 percent of local government workers, and 79.4 nongovernment workers. Only 50.8 federal workers report having a supervisor who treats them like a partner, compared to 58 percent of state workers, 56.3 percent of local workers and 57.6 of nongovernment workers.
While federal workers are less likely than others to report getting to use their strengths at work, a large majority still indicate that they do. For example, 82.3 percent report using strengths at work, compared to 86.5 percent of state workers, 87.7 of local workers and 84.4 percent of nongovernment workers.
"For leaders of federal agencies, therefore, encouraging partnerships between managers and employees represents a key opportunity area for improving their labor force's well-being," the study states.
The federal government has been moving to support initiatives like telework and wellness programs in hopes of improving the overall well-being and work-life balance of federal employees. But do the survey results indicate that other areas -- like mentoring programs and beefed up training for managers -- should also be on the government's to-do list? How is your well-being both inside and outside the office?
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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