Comment from Anonymous
AnonymousOpposeIndividual
Summary: The commenter opposes the removal of specific questions from the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), arguing that these questions are legally required and useful for assessing employee satisfaction. They also criticize OPM's move to reduce its coordination role, suggesting that the proposed changes undermine the survey's utility and the agency's mission to promote a trusted, merit-based workforce.
Many of the questions proposed for removal from the FEVS are some of the most useful for understanding cross-agency levels of employee satisfaction, per the law that requires such information to be collected. Therefore, there is no good reason provided for removing those particular questions, as 6 questions is negligible in terms of increasing the length of the survey. The only lawful and sensible path forward would be to include these questions.
Furthermore, the survey is most useful when provided in a standardized way to all agencies. Otherwise, it is difficult to assess cross-agency comparisons. OPM has not provided a good reason for removing its responsibility to coordinate the FEVS across all of government. Considering how much increased control OPM is currently trying to exert in all areas of government, including hiring and suitability adjudication, it is not a compelling argument to claim too much burden on OPM. The only explanation would be that OPM intends for the FEVS to become less useful as another way to undermine the laws and purposes of such activities. OPM must follow the law, as much as it would like not to, and is supposed to serve as an agency that promotes good government and government employment - promoting a trusted, effective, and merit-based civilian workforce. Undermining FEVS is counter to this mission.