Though it has not yet been released to the public, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) 2014 Employee Survey has garnered mixed sentiments from its workers regarding its leadership, along with several other areas of the federal agency’s practices, according to the report obtained by RMD this week.
One of the biggest red flags raised by the survey were that CFPB workers reported a big decline in optimism—compared to last year’s FY2013 report—when asked whether the “organization’s senior leaders maintain high standards of honesty and integrity.”
Along with rating satisfaction with senior leaders’ policies and practices, the bottom-10 most unfavorable survey results related to performance reviews, proper recognition from management, employee empowerment and the ability for an employee to climb the agency’s ladder into a better position.
Furthermore, 43.6% of CFPB employees surveyed felt unfavorable with the statement: “In my work unit, differences in performance are recognized in a meaningful way,” the highest unsatisfactory sentiment given by workers in the survey. Also ranking high on the “Issues to Watch” list, 42.6% of employees felt unfavorably about the statement “Pay raises depend on how well employees perform their jobs,” while 35.7% felt similarly about having a feeling of personal empowerment with respect to work processes.
No stranger to complaints—even from its own employees—the CFPB was called into question earlier this year regarding several claims and testimonies from former workers who alleged racial discrimination and managerial retaliation while employed at the government agency.
Such allegations even prompted a probe into the CFPB’s organizational culture and management practices by the Government Accountability Office in August.
In response to the 2014 survey, the CFPB says it is taking steps to address its declining employee confidence and morale, which includes launching joint management and union working groups at the division level to review the survey results and make recommendations for improvement, Bureau spokesman Samuel Gilford told The Washington Times.
Written by Jason Oliva
