The 2022 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS): Results and Issues for Congress

INSIGHTi

The 2022 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey
(FEVS): Results and Issues for Congress
January 19, 2023
Background
The publication of the results of the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) in the 2022 Office of
Personnel Management Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey Results: Governmentwide Management
Report marks the 20th anniversary of the FEVS, an organizational climate survey administered annually
by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The FEVS assesses how employees perceive the
policies, practices, procedures, and leadership of their agencies. OPM first administered the FEVS, which
was originally titled the Federal Human Capital Survey (FHCS), in 2002. It then administered the FHCS
in 2004, 2006, and 2008. In 2010, the FHCS was revised and renamed the FEVS.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 codified the requirement for all executive
agencies to participate in an annual survey of its employees, which OPM refers to as the Annual
Employee Survey (AES). The AES includes specific items that must be asked of each executive agency.
These provisions are currently located in Title 5, Section 7101 note, of the United States Code. The
implementing regulations, at Title 5, Part 250, Subpart C, of the Code of Federal Regulations, list 16
AES-required employee questions, which OPM incorporates into the FEVS each year. Each agency may
also include additional survey questions that are unique to the agency. When agencies participate in the
FEVS, they fulfill their survey obligations as required by law and regulation.
Administration of the FEVS
OPM administers the FEVS electronically to employees of executive agencies. It may also be
administered to agencies outside of the executive branch that accept invitations to participate in the
survey. OPM invites eligible employees to participate via email and sends reminder emails to encourage
participation, though participation is voluntary for all employees. Full- and part-time permanent, non-
seasonal employees are eligible to participate. Contractors are not eligible to participate. Participants must
complete at least 25% of the survey’s questions for their responses to count. Individual responses to the
FEVS are kept confidential. OPM publishes the results of the FEVS in its Governmentwide Management
Reports, which “includes item results, index scores, trends, and information on who responded to the
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survey.” OPM sorts agencies into five size categories based on employee population. OPM also publishes
data reports, technical reports, and special reports.
The 2022 FEVS
On November 30, 2022, OPM published the results of the 2022 FEVS in the 2022 Office of Personnel
Management Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey Results: Governmentwide Management Report. The
2022 FEVS consisted of 100 individual items and item sets and an additional 20 demographic items. It
included components of the FEVS that have traditionally been included, specifically:
 items required by the AES regulations;
 the Employee Engagement Index (EEI), which measures the conditions conducive to
employee engagement;
 the Global Satisfaction Index, which measures “employee satisfaction on four aspects
related to their work: the job, pay, organization, and whether they would recommend their
organization as a good place to work;” and
 Performance Confidence Index, which measures employees’ perceptions of their
agencies’ performance.
Pursuant to Executive Order 14035, OPM developed a new component for the 2022 FEVS called the
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Index to provide a “source of baseline DEIA data
for agencies.” The FEVS has included sections addressing the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020. In the
2022 FEVS, the COVID-19 section was reduced in comparison to the 2020 and 2021 FEVS, and it was
revised to add items focused on the return to the worksite.
Results of the 2022 FEVS
For the 2022 FEVS, 1,582,112 full- and part-time permanent, non-seasonal employees who were onboard
on or before November 19, 2021, were eligible to participate. The government-wide response rate was
35% with 557,778 employees participating, which was an increase of 1% from the 2021 response rate.
Small agencies had the highest response rate of 70%. Very small agencies and medium agencies had
response rates of 64% and 60%, respectively. Large agencies and very large agencies had the lowest
response rates of 46% and 32%, respectively.
The EEI “Overall Engagement” score remained constant from 2021 to 2022 at 71%. This is a decrease
from the 2020 Overall Engagement score of 72%. The Global Satisfaction “Overall Satisfaction” score
was 62%, which is a decrease from the 2021 score of 64% and the 2020 score of 69%. The Performance
Confidence Index “Performance Confidence” score remained constant from 2021 to 2022 at 84%. This is
a decrease from the 2020 Performance Confidence score of 87%. The DEIA Index produced a
government-wide score of 69%. Individual components of the DEIA Index scored as follows: (1)
diversity, 69%; (2) equity, 65%; (3) inclusion, 75%; and (4) accessibility, 67%.
Potential Issues for Congress
Congress has demonstrated a long-standing interest, reflected in the statutory requirement for the AES, in
studying the perceptions of the employees comprising the federal workforce. Congress may wish to
consider if OPM’s FEVS, which complies with the AES statutory requirements, is capturing the
information that Congress is interested in. With a government-wide response rate of 35% in 2022,
Congress may wish to explore methods of increasing participation in the survey in order to capture data
from more of the federal workforce. In addition, Congress may consider revising or adding to the list of
required survey items in statute to ensure the collection of data in areas of interest to Congress. With

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regard to the results of the 2022 FEVS, Congress may wish to consider the Overall Engagement, Overall
Satisfaction, and Performance Confidence scores, which have all declined in recent years. As the federal
government competes with the private sector to recruit and retain employees, efforts to improve federal
employees’ perceptions of the policies, practices, procedures, and leadership of their agencies may be of
interest.

Author Information

Taylor N. Riccard

Analyst in Government Organization and Management




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