Best places to work in federal government, ranked

Stereotypes of dingy government office cubicles and antiquated computers may be as outdated as a 2008 BlackBerry. The public sector is gearing up to compete with the tech sector, and government recruiters can capitalize on a shift in the market.

Best and worst. The Partnership for Public Service and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) recently released the annual ranking of best and worst places to work in the federal government. Researchers looked at 74 federal agencies, and surveyed 557,778 employees about their job and organization satisfaction. The rankings are broken down by size, examining large, midsize, and small agencies, as well as agency subcomponents.

Little kids dreaming of being astronauts will be happy to know that NASA took the top spot for large agencies for the 11th year in a row. The organization ranked high for work-life balance, teamwork, innovation, DEI, pay, and effective leadership. Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture, Small Business Administration, and Environmental Protection Agency were among the agencies whose engagement and satisfaction scores improved from 2021.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) had the lowest scores across the board, coming in last or near-last for work-life balance, innovation, and diversity.

Unlikely recruits. Despite problems with some government agencies, others made strides in 2022. According to the report, the Treasury Department Office of the Inspector General increased diversity by offering more remote work opportunities. And people affected by tech sector layoffs could be prime candidates for government jobs. Recruiters at the National Security Agency are “augmenting [our] current recruitment strategy to reach these audiences through social media, participation at job fairs and expanding the locations of job postings,” Molly Moore, deputy director of workforce support activities at the NSA, told Nextgov.

Recent layoffs in the tech sector may provide an opening to recruit more top-quality talent if agencies can sell themselves to job-seekers adequately. Erica Ford, principal of US government and public sector people advisory services at EY, told HR Brew that government recruiters need to figure out ways to connect with talent right now. There’s a disconnect between what workers actually are looking for and what government recruiters think job seekers want, she explained. Recruiters “make assumptions [that] anybody would want this job, because there's good benefits and stability. And those aren't things that necessarily motivate today's workforce that are looking for new opportunities.”—KP