Though employees at the National Park Service gave somewhat more encouraging responses to the annual Best Places To Work in the Federal Government survey, overall the agency remains mired near the bottom of 420 agencies tallied in the annual report.
While the Park Service a year ago stood at 322 out of 415 agencies whose employees took the survey, this year the agency ranks 320 out of 420 participating agencies. The Interior Department slipped a notch to No. 10 out of 17 large agencies in the federal government this year.
Looking at other bureaus under Interior, the Bureau of Land Management ranked 311 this year, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stood 157, the Bureau of Reclamation was 121, the Bureau of Indian Affairs 349, Office of Inspector General 37, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 57, U.S. Geological Survey 168, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement 235, and Office of the Solicitor 309.
The Park Service survey responses produced middling improvement for how the agency's leaders were viewed in terms of leadership, empowering employees, fairness, senior leaders, and supervisors. Out of 14 categories measured, the Park Service ranked in the lower quartile of all government agencies in eight categories. The "Work-Life Balance" category was the worst for the Park Service, with the survey ranking the agency 391 out of 414 agencies.
The survey showed that the Park Service continues to be a heavily white (78.6 percent), male (62.2 percent) enclave. In 2018, the report said the agency had 12,363 employees, down from 12,511 in 2017 and 12,596 in 2016. In 2003, according to the report, the agency had 16,404 employees.
Traveler footnote: While the overall rankings touched 420 agencies, not all agencies participate in this specific survey, but they might use comparable surveys, some which don't ask all the same questions. As a result, in some categories there might not be rankings for 420 agencies.
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