Survey Identifies Importance of Proper Workplace Culture
The Eagle Hill Consulting Federal Workplace Culture Survey, conducted through the Government Business Council (GBC), identified key opportunity areas to improve federal workforce culture and the culture’s impact on mission delivery. The report found significant misalignment between organizations’ policies and core values and sought to explore why and how that misalignment plays out in the federal workforce.
Overall, the survey found that 72 percent of federal employees responding to the survey felt proud to work for their organization. However, only 49 percent indicated they would be willing to stay at their organization if offered a similar position with comparable pay and benefits elsewhere.
The vast majority of employees surveyed (86 percent) agreed that culture directly impacts the organization’s success, 79 percent agreed that culture drives their productivity and 76 percent felt it drove their ability to serve customers.
“Culture is how work gets done, and the research shows that employees instinctively know that culture directly impacts their individual performance. Culture sets the tone for employees to feel empowered and connected to their agency, which keeps them on the job and performing at the highest level,” Melissa Jezior, CEO of Eagle Hill, explained. “But, the disconnect we see in the research is that in many cases, an agency’s stated culture doesn’t line up its actual practices and policies. And it’s that misalignment that can ultimately lead to problematic employee experiences that can drive them out the door.”
Less than half of employees surveyed said the way their organization advertises itself aligns with their experience on the job, and 55 percent said their organization’s policies align with their core values. Furthermore, only 38 percent of federal employees surveyed said they trust their executive leadership.
The group offered four recommendations for building and sustaining a strong workplace culture:
Make culture core to your organization’s strategic plan. Elevate culture planning to your agency’s larger strategic planning process, on par with performance, human capital and budget planning.
Bring culture alive at all levels. Provide the appropriate structure and assign accountability for culture to every level of the organization. The right governance equips the entire organization to drive toward its values-based priorities.
Assess often how you’re doing on culture. Monitor risks and nurture the organizational culture to continue to grow it in the desired direction. Because the external and internal factors that can shape culture change frequently, culture improvement is never a one-and-done exercise.
Acknowledge what is working and adjust what is not. Recognize the challenge of the potentially entrenched cultural practices of employees who have decades of tenure. Take a candid look at how to elevate employees who have embraced the precepts of the organizational culture and enthusiastically contribute to bringing the culture to life.
The Eagle Hill Consulting Federal Workplace Culture Survey 2019 was conducted online by Government Business Council (GBC) between May and June 2019. The online survey included federal workers from a random sample of civilian and military respondents across the United States. The survey polled respondents on aspects of culture including leadership, core values, employee satisfaction, employee experience, and teamwork.
