The Five BEST Places to Work in Government

Based on the Employee Viewpoint Survey and looking at factors including effective leadership, pay, work-life balance and teamwork, the Partnership for Public Service released the results of its annual “Best Places to Work” index.

The results were broken down by three major categories:

• Large Agencies (those with 15,000+ employees)
• Mid-Size Agencies (those with 1,000 -14,999 employees)
• Small Agencies (those with 100 – 999 employees) 

Below are the five best large, mid-size and small agencies to work for in the federal government, according to the 2012 Best Places to Work index. All scores are out of a possible 100.

(RELATED: The Five Worst Places to Work in Government)

Top Five Small Agencies

1. Surface Transportation Board (84.3)
2. Congressional Budge Office (84.2)
3. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (82.4)
4. Peace Corps (81.5)
5. National Endowment for the Humanities (80.5)

Top Five Mid-Size Agencies

1. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (83.3)
2. Government Accountability Office (75.7)
3. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (tie) (75.5)
4. Smithsonian Institution (tie) (75.5)
5. Federal Trade Commission (74.3)

Top Five Large Agencies

1. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (72.8)
2. Intelligence Community (70.8)
3. Department of State (68.2)
4. Department of Commerce (67.9)
5. Environmental Protection Agency (67.6)

While the above agencies performed well, overall the results paint a picture of a disheartened federal workforce. Out of a possible 100 points, the government-wide index score fell from 64 in 2011 to 60.8 this year. That 3.2-point drop is the largest change since the rankings were launched in 2003.

Read more about the dip in employee satisfaction and visit bestplacestowork.org to see how your agency performed. 

Do you agree with the results above?