Choice and the history of entertainment at the dinner. Heres a bit of that conversation. For awhile they used to do musicalabilities, and believe it or not a juggling act at some point. That was a long time ago. But since the association started having come eedians come and serve as the entertainer shell be the fourth woman to have done that. I dont know its always a latenight white guy. Which is great. Those guys are funny. But its really important to have different perspectives represented at a podium like that and i just think shes funny. And i think shes shes sharp and cutting and i think shell bring it down to size a little bit. Thats part of the fun. Watch our live coverage of the white house correspondents dinner, starting at 6 30 p. M. Eastern saturday on our companion network cspan. In 2014 the department of Homeland Security was rated the worst federal agency to work for, with nasa being the best. Thats from a recent survey by the office of Personnel Management. The survey uses several index measures, including Employee Engagement and Job Satisfaction to calculate workforce conditions. The House Oversight subcommittee held a hearing on that survey. This is two hours. The committee on Government Operations will come to order and without objection the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. For the past few years federal employees have had surveys that theyve revealed governmentwide decline in Employee Engagement, satisfaction, we get these results from the federal Employee Viewpoint survey. Its an opm administered survey that reaches out to more than 800,000 and nearly 4,000 provides numbers and kind of a useful metric. Of that number over 400,000 were sorted by opm and kind of a useful metrics that we can look at in terms of Employee Satisfaction. 90 of the federal employees surveyed are willing to put in the extra effort necessary to get the job done, an incredible number and that they consistently look for better ways to do the job. Yet, Employee Perception of Agency Leadership continues to decline with only 42 of workers expressing confidence in their superiors and thats from cabinet, secretaries all the way to midlevel managers. And only 50 of employees had positive things to say about the integrity of their leadership including communication and the ability to motivate their workforce. This is a considerable decrease and should be a concern for Agency Leaders and raises questions about the priorities in managing our nations more than 2 million Public Servants. Seven in ten workers said that their chance at a promotion is not based on merit, but on favoritism. Something that is extremely troubling i know to me and the Ranking Member. Our Agency Leaders really doing enough . Is the question, you know, survey results from agencies that appear before us today suggest that not enough has been done. And specifically dhs and the chemical safety board are consistently below government wide averages for Employee Engagement and satisfaction. The department of Homeland Security and miss emerson will be hearing from you, the department of Homeland Security rests as the worst place to work among cabinet agencies and saw its score drop by nearly 3 points from 2013. Dhs had ranked 19 of 19 in terms of cabinet agencies on factors such as effective leadership, fairness, empowerment, skills to match the mission. Specifically one thats near and dear to me as i have mentioned to you is the secret Service Employees ranked number 276 out of 315 among places to work. I continue to get emails from agents who are willing to give their life for the president and yet theyre afraid to engage with supervisors in terms of making decisions. So i say that. Were having this hearing because this will not be the first of any hearing. This will be an ongoing really the Ranking Member and i believe that focussing on the great workforce that we have is critical. Weve agreed to go out and meet with the rank and file on a regular basis to hear from them and so if the message is out there today, there is at least one democrat and one republican willing to look at what matters most to the hundreds of thousands of federal workforce employees that serve our public every day. From a National Archives standpoint i want to just give a personal thank you for allowing me to come in and meet with some of the folks who are doing a job that really is part of history. As i went around to see the dedicated workers that are there, i got a real sense of their desire to serve sometimes in a very hot warehouse. Sometimes in a place that is not necessarily the most glamorous in terms of working for but indeed theyre part of history. And so i share that to say that i have great hope that today mr. Connolly and i will be able to embark, and other members of this subcommittee, will be able to embark on an effort that is not a hearing for tv, or anything else. That its a real hearing about a message that these surveys and their input matters, and were going to put real pressure on those who dont perform. I would be remiss in not saying even though my Opening Statement was negative about dhs that the secretary of dhs just came by and had a meeting with mr. Connolly and i and has laid out a number of steps on where he is wanting to address this particular concern for employee morale and so i thank all of the witnesses for being here today and i look forward to a working relationship where we can Work Together to make sure that we have improved numbers but more importantly improved satisfaction of our federal workforce and with that i would recognize the Ranking Member, mr. Connolly from virginia. Thank you, mr. Chairman and thank you for having this hearing and i know your commitment is quite sincere. You want to collaborate to make things better, and i think thats a really important point to be emphasized and you and i will collaborate in trying to accomplish that because its easy to complain or highlight problems, its a lot more difficult to try to address them. As you said, mr. Chairman, the secretary of Homeland Security cared enough about this topic to come and see you and me. Prior to this hearing and i would ask unanimous concept the letter addressed to you and me be entered into the record. Without objection. I thank you my friend. According to the annual federal Employee Viewpoint survey administered by the office of Personnel Management and partnership for Public Service employee morale and Job Satisfaction in the independent federal government have declined rather dramatically over the last several years. The partnerships best places to work 2014 analysis concluded that the federal employment morale fell to its lowest point ever since the Organization First started measuring it in 2003. The results of 2014 continue to troubling pattern of decreasing Employee Satisfaction scores for the fourth Consecutive Year dropping from a high of 65 out of 100 in 2010 to 57 today. Federal government is clearly going in the wrong direction with respect to supporting its people when contrasted with private sector worker satisfaction. Private Sector Workers increased their Job Satisfaction in the same time period from 70. 6 in 2010 to 72 in 2014. In fact, now the gap between the two federal and private sector has nearly tripled in that time period since 2010. Looking at the data and the dates certain events have likely distribute contributed to the decline. After the great recession, private sector Job Satisfaction started to bounce back in 2010. Conversely, since 2010 federal employees have endured a threeyear pay freeze, 140 billion in pay and benefit cuts, sequestration, budget cuts, hiring freezes, reductions in performance awards and training budgets and a 16day government shutdown. With also the threat of perhaps shuttling down the department of Homeland Security averted at the 11th hour last month. Its not surprising that these events, along with political attacks disparaging the federal workforce by some elected officials, including in this body, have actually had a toll on federal morale, imagine. The problem isnt just within federal agency management, part of the problem is the political management problem right here in the halls of congress. We have to take responsibility for the impacts were having on your workforce. Whats even more worrisome is that majorities in both the house and senate recently passed budgets for fiscal year 2016 that would further slash Agency Spending below sequestration levels by 760 billion. Over ten years. These measures call for additional federal workforce related cuts. More than 280 billion over 10 years in the house proposal alone. Im worried about the negative impact of low Employee Engagement and satisfaction in employment productivity, Agency Mission retention of valuable employees and recruitment of the next generation. We especially need to be mindful of the longterm negative effects on the service the federal government provides to the american people. Because ultimately thats what were going to be focused on. Last march i joined with Ranking Members cummings and lynch in requesting that gao conduct a study of federal engagement trends as well as potential root causes. We asked gao to provide recommendations for improving workforce morale. I know the gao is completing that study and is here to testify about some preliminary findings, and i welcome mr. Goldenkoff to the table. I understand the National Archives and Records Administration, the department of Homeland Security and chemical safety and hazard Investigation Board have ranked poorly in the use surveys. This hearing offers us an opportunity to discuss their particular challenges, and the steps theyre taking to address them. So its also important to note many federal agencies are performing better than the ones before us today including entities that boast higher satisfaction and commitment scores than the average private sector score of 72. For example, nasa ranked number one of the large agencies with a score of 74. 6 . Sorry, 74. 6. The top six midsize agencies fdic, gao, smithsonian institution, federal trade commission, federal Energy Regulatory commission and the nuclear Regulatory Commission all scored higher than the private sector. Im encouraged that despite the decline in the indices of Employee Engagement work satisfaction, 2014 federal employment Viewpoint Survey data demonstrates that federal employees nonetheless have prepersevered through a lot of adversity and remain dedicated and overwhelmingly positive about their service to the country, which the chairman alluded to. 90 of our federal employees believe that the work they do is important. 96 of our federal employees are willing to put in the extra effort to get the job done. 90 are constantly looking for ways to do a better job. That gives us a lot to work with and makes and renews my faith in who these Public Servants. They are dedicated fellow americans who want to make this a better country and i really appreciate that sentiment being expressed by the chairman who recognize that is in his own interactions with our Public Servants so thank you, mr. Chairman for holding this hearing and i certainly look forward to hearing the testimony and having a chance to have a dialogue with our witnesses. Thank you, mr. Connolly for those insightful remarks. I will hold open the record for five legislative days for any members who would like to submit a written state. Well recognize our panel. Im pleased to welcome David Ferriero the archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration. The honorable manuel irlik member of the u. S. Chemical safety board. Miss catherine emerson, chief Human Capital officer for the u. S. Department of Homeland Security mr. Robert goldenkoff for the u. S. Government accountability office. Welcome to you all. Pursuant to Committee Rules all witnesses will be sworn in before they testify so id ask you if you would please rise and rise your right hands. Do you solemnly swear or affirm to that your testimony that youre about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Let the record reflect that all witnesses have answered in the affirmative. Thank you and please be seated. In order for to allow some time for discussion and dialogue, i would ask that you would limit your oral testimony to five minutes but your entire written statement will be made part of the record and so mr. Ferriero well come to you. Youre now recognized for five minutes. Good morning. Chairman meadows and Ranking Member connolly and distinguished members of the committee thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the National Archives and Records Administration and our ranking in the partnership of Public Services 2014 best places to work in federal government. My written testimony contains details of the many actions under way to address Employee Engagement and morale at the National Archives. What i would like to convey now to you and more importantly to any nara staff member watching this hearing is that i take the results of the annual Employee Viewpoint survey very seriously and personally. Much of the work that goes on behind the scenes at the archives is hard physical work and windowless facilities that lack amenities found in most federal office settings. Believe me, i know. I began my career pulling and reshelving books and journals for long hours in the bowels of the libraries at m. I. T. Ive traveled to nara facilities over the past few years and met with employees. What is most distressing to me is that many staff feel that they have felt undervalued and overworked for years. Theyre also rightfully frustrated by the simple facts that over the past three decades our holdings have more than tripled. Customer expectations have changed dramatically and electronic records require new sources while at the same time our workforce numbers have declined. Were far behind finding efficiencies to do more with less. The very nature of our work has changed to the point where employees of 30 years ago would not even recognize it. Nara staff work hard every day to continue to provide Excellent Service to our customers and preserve and manage our holdings, but the pressure does affect morale. I inherited naras low scores when i took this job five years ago. As youll see in my written testimony much has been done to address the results of the survey but because youve invited me here today you also know that positive change has been slow in coming. Weve adopted new of the most innovative practices for engaging the federal workforces including the latest omb memo on strengthening Employee Engagement and organizational performance and the six best practice strategies recommended by the partnership for Public Service. These practices including holding executives accountable for executing engagement improvement plans developed with start, partnering with our labor union and being transparent about our uvs results. More importantly, we listen to staff and are following through with actions they identified as important to improving their satisfaction including developing a cadre of motivated well trained supervisors, administering a fair and effective performance system, providing meaningful career paths. Creating a culture of respect and appreciation and making the workplace, making Workplace Safety a priority. Providing easy access to the tools employees need to do their jobs. Weve started to see the results of these efforts in our annual scores in 2014 the majority of nara employees responded positively to questions focused on the relationship with their supervisors, including trust, respect, and support. Weve seen improvement in questions related to Performance Management and diversity and inclusion. Our employees have consistently demonstrated their commitment to naras work and this is reflected in the survey. Theyve also responded p