Federal employees will get the chance to offer their perspectives on the federal workplace beginning in November 2021, nearly six months later than the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey is usually administered.
Federal employees who are eligible to respond to the survey, which will include a wider pool this year, will receive invitations to do so on either Nov. 1 or Nov. 8, according to a memo issued by the Office of Personnel Management on Wednesday.
The FEVS is generally issued in May each year, though the 2020 survey was delayed twice due to pandemic challenges and wasn’t conducted until September.
The survey is not only considered an important tool for taking stock of employee satisfaction, but also satisfies several statutory requirements for agencies to monitor employee wellbeing.
According to the memo, OPM is planning to retain the more streamlined set of survey components included in the 2020 survey “to ease the administrative burden” so the agency can get back on track for releasing a spring FEVS in 2022.
“Retained core content will allow comparison of survey results between 2021 and prior surveys on key questions, particularly important during a period marked by an ongoing pandemic and to discussions regarding the future of work and re-entry to agency worksites,” OPM Director Kiran Ahuja wrote in the memo.
“With the pandemic ongoing, some of the items used to address the COVID-19 pandemic have been retained in their entirety or modified for the 2021 OPM FEVS. Questions allow identification of ways in which employees continue to achieve missions while responding to a pandemic.”
Employees will have about five weeks to respond to the survey after receiving an invitation.
Jessie Bur covers federal IT and management.
