Why are Employees Leaving the Federal Government? Results of an Exit Survey

Abstract

The success of virtually every endeavor of the Federal Government depends on the skills, abilities, and motivations of its work force. Yet, recent years have seen increasing concern about the quality of the Federal work force and the Government's ability to retain it most capable employees. In any given year, the Government loses nearly 120,000 full-time permanent, white-collar employees. Why do these employees leave? What factors influence their decision? Do their reasons for leaving vary by where they work, their age, their occupation, or their level of pay? Knowing more about these reasons is an important first step in developing policies or programs that will help the Government retain its best employees and enhance the overall quality of the Federal work force. The purpose of this report is to provide some insight into why employees leave the Federal public service. This primary sources of information for this report were responses to a special exit survey developed by the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and completed by nearly 2,800 Federal employees who left full-time, permanent, white-collar positions during a 3-month period in 1989.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1990
Accession Number
ADA233901

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Business Administration
  • Congress
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Governments
  • Job Satisfaction
  • Management Personnel
  • Motivation
  • National Governments
  • New York
  • Organizational Realignment
  • Organizational Structure
  • Performance Appraisals
  • Personnel Management
  • Public Administration
  • Training
  • United States Government

Readers

  • Government Contracting/Procurement.
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).
  • Strategic Security Studies