Government Jobs Shouldn’t Be Soul-Killing - Bloomberg: Consistent with these comparisons is data from the Best Places to Work survey indicating that the crucial driver of federal employee satisfaction and commitment is effective leadership. This year, government employees scored their senior leaders an average 45 points out of a possible 100 for leadership.
One reason federal workers are frustrated with their senior leadership is that the government isn’t doing much of substance. People are attracted to public service in no small part because they believe government can be a force for good; when the government does little, that belief is harder to sustain. Similarly, political polarization and a general decline in public expectations for government make it harder to attract talented people to lead the bureaucracy.