High Burnout Rate for New Feds

The government is on a kick to recruit the best and brightest and, in the words of the President, make the public service “cool again.” While going about it, officials might want to take steps to make sure that, once under the civil service blanket, the new hires aren’t worked to the point where they last only a couple of years as feds.

To many members of the public and the press, government workers are clock-watching drones immune to the economic turbulence of pay cuts and layoffs that have hit the private sector.

But to lots of people who observe or work alongside real (as opposed to perceived) feds, it seems that a combination of technology and agency mission has created a 24/7 workforce that is rarely off duty .

“I’ve got a neighbor, a close friend actually who works for DHS (Homeland Security) and is rarely at home except to sleep. When we do get together he’s constantly checking his work-issued smart phone,” says a fellow fed of his friend and neighbor.

A retired fed recalls being at a Christmas party two years ago. “I was standing with a guy who is with Defense Intelligence Agency, a guy who is Secret Service and a woman who is CIA contractor. They were trying to be cool, but you could tell they knew stuff that would curl the average person’s hair. I don’t think any of them had a very good time.” He added that “maybe knowing what they know they never have a good time anymore.”

Sound like anyone you know? Maybe see in the mirror every morning?

Friends of a top GSA career employee, whose job does not involve terrorism or spying say she is “always” on call and always getting alerts from her bosses at all hours. “She was always busy,” a friend said, “but over the past few years working long hours or being on call really has taken its toll.”

Turnover rates government (7.6 percent) are lower than the private sector where it is just over 9 percent. But when you look at certain agencies with high burnout rates, the private sector looks like a sea of calm. Data from the Partnership for Public Service shows that between FY 2006 and 2008 about one in four new hires lasted only two years or less. At the Department of Homeland Security one third of the newbies left within two years.

(By the way, the quit-rate data was before federal workers were hit with a two, maybe three, year pay freeze and before proposals cut back the retirement system and furlough workers without pay. Imagine what it’s gonna look like in a couple of years?)

In addition to the round-the-clock, high-pressure, high-demand nature of many government jobs, some of the turnover may be caused by what an OPM retiree once labeled “the new kid syndrome.” He likened it to what happens to an older sibling when his/her parents bring home a cute new baby that demands most of their attention. “The Government makes a big pitch, recruits college superstars then gives them lots of attention until the next whiz kid comes along. Then the one-time whizkid becomes one of the gang and feels unloved. A lot of these young people require constant praise and feedback and when it stops or diminishes they go elsewhere.”

Whatever the reason for the high turnover in key agencies, it’s an area that may deserve more attention than it appears to be getting.

Got a burn-out story? Are you, or a friend or colleague being worked to exhaustion, or ignored to the point of distraction. Let me know. You can remain confidential: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com

Nearly Useless Factoid
by Suzanne Kubota

A penguin keeper in Germany has had to change his usual footwear, black and white boots, to blue ones after they became the object of the affections of a perky little Gentoo in his care.

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