Posts Tagged: morale

How to Give Effective Performance Feedback

You can turn a soul-crushing performance appraisal into an opportunity to engage your staff. Make it an interactive conversation that energizes both you and your employee. My team and I have used the following format for performance feedback for over a decade. We use it for both glowing appraisals and tough reviews

Pay Fairness is Persistent Problem for Feds

In case you missed it, President Obama’s FY 2016 Budget of the U.S. Government recommends a scant 1.3 percent pay raise for the federal workforce next fiscal year. Well, as the old saying goes, something is better than nothing. However, when it comes to issues of fair pay, it appears that many feds are onceRead… Read more »

Avoiding the “Jaded Fed” Syndrome

We all know them – the long (or short) term career bureaucrat, counting down the days (months, decades) to retirement, seething in negativity and boredom. These employees contribute to poor public perception, engage in bristly customer service and their negativity can bring others down with them, creating a toxic work environment. Here are some tipsRead… Read more »

Improving Morale in Gov? Not Impossible

Earlier this month, the annual Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings were released by the Partnership for Public Service, based on data from OPM’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. NASA was rated the best large agency to work for, FDIC was chosen as the best mid-sized agency, and the Surface Transportation board comesRead… Read more »

Three Tips for Improving Federal Employee Morale

In March, top Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the causes of federal employees’ low morale. The last few years have been challenging for federal employees and leadership. With a three-year freeze on basic federal pay rates, multiple government shutdowns, and unpaid furlough daysRead… Read more »