The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is launching the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) on September 14 – after months of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a memo to Federal agencies on September 9, OPM explained that it delayed the survey to allow agencies to focus on mission-critical work. The 2020 version of FEVS will feature a streamlined set of core standards “to ease administrative burden,” and questions to address Fed response to COVID-19.
“New this year will be a comprehensive section addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, with questions that allow identification of ways in which employees continue to achieve missions in the face of an unprecedented pandemic,” the memo reads. “The addition of the section aligns with Congressional interests and agency requests and will resonate well with respondents.”
The survey will be open for six weeks, and results will be rolled out to agencies beginning in December and through early next year.
Earlier this year, OPM postponed FEVS until mid-July. Before the survey launched, OPM delayed it again until September and faced congressional scrutiny because of that.
“It is concerning that OPM would, without reasonable warning or justification, delay the FEVS a second time,” House Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Gerry Connolly, D-Va., wrote to OPM last month. “Views of Federal employees should never be ignored, especially during a time of crisis.”
