A new survey released by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management found some answers to those questions. The recent report on Senior Executive Service exit survey results found that senior executives cited the political environment and the potential to make more money as their primary reasons for leaving federal service.
Nearly half of the departing executives said they planned to work for pay, and over 60 percent of that group indicated they planned to do so as an employee or contractor for their agency.
Of those respondents who said they would be working after their exit from an agency, the majority, 71 percent, reported they would seek full-time work, with 59 percent reporting that they expected an increase in compensation.
The majority of the executives who took the survey indicated they were retiring or resigning, a group that made up 70 percent. Of those, 97 percent reported that they were retiring or resigning voluntarily. And just a quarter of those surveyed said they had not decided whether they would work for pay in the future.
The senior leaders exiting their agencies said work environment issues contributed the most to their decision including senior leadership and organizational culture in addition to the political environment. Respondents also indicated that a “desire to enjoy life without work commitments” was a contributing factor in deciding to leave.
Nevertheless, many of the survey’s respondents said they could have been convinced to stay in their leadership position. Seven in 10 executives indicated that no effort was made to encourage them to stay. And many said that their decision might have been changed by an increase in pay, while others cited verbal encouragement or an award as factors that would have influenced their decision.
Meanwhile, almost two-thirds of the survey’s executives said they would recommend their agency as a good place to work, and 62 percent said they would recommend employment in the Senior Executive Service.
These findings capture some of the core strengths and challenges facing today’s Senior Executive Service members, according to OPM. “Clearly, there is still pride in being a part of the Senior Executive Service and in the role of a public servant. These findings show that agencies can influence whether or not their SES members ultimately choose to stay or leave the organization,” the agency said in its report.
“By shifting the work environment and organizational culture, and acknowledging and appreciating an executive’s value to the organization, agencies may be able to convince their high-performing senior executives to stay.”
“The information in the report will be used to support agency and Government wide recruitment, engagement, retention, and succession planning efforts for current and future executives,” wrote OPM Director Katherine Archuleta in a memorandum to agency human resources leaders. “With many SES eligible for retirement in the near future, it is imperative for agencies to understand what they can do to engage and retain executives, while mitigating factors that cause executives to leave the Federal Government.”
Despite that effort, as large numbers of senior executives leave public service, the knowledge base that government agencies depend on to get the mission done is in real peril of disappearing along with them.
Of the employees surveyed, nearly half said they are taking over 20 years of experience with them, highlighting a potentially bigger problem than attrition: a lack of strategy when it comes to transferring vital on-the-job skills and knowledge.
“With over half of the current SES workforce eligible for retirement in the next three to five years, it is critical that agencies have a pipeline of talent ready to take on senior level roles,” said OPM in the report. “Agencies currently are already required to develop a comprehensive management succession program; however, over half of the surveyed executives reported no formal succession planning efforts in their agencies. Fifty-three percent of executives did report they had been asked to help prepare their successors.”
OPM’s survey represented 24 agencies, ranging from large departments to small, independent agencies. The survey, which was conducted between April 2013 and July 2014, included 221 departing SES employees. The survey was carried out in partnership with the National Academy of Public Administration, the Partnership for Public Service, the Senior Executives Association, and OPM representatives, the agency said.
Read the full report here.
