By Stephen Barr
Wednesday, December 6, 2006

Many people the government wants as employees are interested in working for Uncle Sam, but they don't see the government as being as innovative and creative as the private sector, according to a Gallup survey released yesterday.

While survey respondents gave the government high marks on job security and compensation, only 3 percent said they see the government as more innovative and creative than the private sector, only 5 percent think it is better at recruiting the best and brightest, and only 6 percent viewed the government as providing a more competitive work environment.

The survey focused on young Americans from 18 to 29, known as Generation Y; professionals in such fields as engineering, law and the social sciences; and mid-career managers who work for nonprofit groups and in the private sector.

"The study makes a strong case that there is a significant disconnect to what targeted workers value in a job and the perception of what government offers compared to the private sector," said Patricia McGinnis, president of the nonprofit Council for Excellence in Government.

It is the latest in a series of efforts aimed at helping the government cope with a wave of baby-boom retirements predicted to set off a "war for talent" with the private sector. The government is particularly vulnerable because substantial numbers of federal employees are projected to retire in 2008 and 2009 and because many young Americans do not view the government as their employer of first choice.

Respondents said they understood the duties of many federal agencies but that those agencies didn't necessarily strike them as interesting places to work.

For example, most said they knew the "key responsibility" of the U.S. Postal Service, Internal Revenue Service and Social Security Administration, but that did not translate into interest. However, respondents found the Defense Department, NASA and the CIA interesting and were clear on their missions. Two agencies, the State Department and the National Science Foundation, got mixed results -- respondents said that they were interesting places to work but that they had relatively little awareness about their key responsibilities.

F. Warren Wright, a managing partner at the Gallup Organization, and Darby Miller Steiger, a senior research director for Gallup, presented the survey results at a breakfast forum sponsored by the Council for Excellence in Government and The Washington Post. The forum's audience included several dozen federal officials, including Linda M. Springer, director of the Office of Personnel Management, who said she planned to bring the survey to the attention of top federal management officials.

The findings were based on responses from 2,596 participants from Sept. 20 to Oct. 2. The council and Gallup plan to partner on more efforts to collect data and views on federal workforce issues, Wright said.

The survey offered some reassurance that the government should be able to tap into Generation Y. Thirty-four percent of Gen Y respondents reported an interest in working for the government, which Wright called "very positive." Steiger said the response suggested that perhaps as many as 15 million young Americans might have an interest in a federal career, more than enough to fill openings in the federal workforce.

Gen Y respondents said they value workplaces that provide intellectual stimulation and opportunities for growth and advancement. But 77 percent said the private sector does a better job of providing an innovative and creative workplace; 58 percent said it does better at hiring the best and brightest. Fifty-five percent said the private sector pays better than the government.

The survey also targeted a segment of the population that McGinnis dubbed "Government-Go-Gets" because their occupations are vital to the future federal workforce. This group consisted of scientists, engineers and computer science professionals and people who work in law, public policy and the social services.

Thirty percent of the Gov-Go-Gets said they have an interest in working for the government, another encouraging response given that there will be "global competition" to hire from this group, Wright said.