National Park Service employees are not happy with their jobs, according to a survey/NPS file
While the National Park Service stands atop all federal agencies in terms of favorability rankings, the agency's employees rank it as one of the worst places to work in the federal government.
When the Pew Research Center in 2023 surveyed Americans on agencies they viewed favorably or unfavorably, the Park Service was viewed favorably by 81 percent, with the U.S. Postal Service ranking second with a favorability score of 77 percent. In the Best Places To Work In the Federal Government rankings released Monday, the Park Service's employees ranked it in the bottom 25 percent of 459 agencies, while its parent, the Interior Department, ranked above average.
Overall, the Park Service ranked 385th out of the 459 agencies scored. Among the agency's weak spots were effective leadership (392 out of 458 scored), effective leadership by senior leaders (402 out of 458), and effective leadership by supervisors (367 out of 458). The Park Service also scored poorly in diversity, equity, and inclusion (375 out of 449 agencies scored), employee input (330 out of 428), pay (435 out of 450), work-life balance (385 out of 428), recognition (397 out of 449), and professional development (323 out of 429).
The Park Service's best ranking came in the mission match category, where it ranked 226 out of 428 agencies.
National Park Service officials in Washington did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the results.
The latest rankings continued a years-long downward slide for the agency. It's best ranking came in the survey's first year, 2003, when the Park Service finished 45 out of the 189 agencies surveyed. From 2005 through 2014 the agency finished in the middle of the pack, but since then it has languished in the bottom 25 percent of government employers.
Data collected during the survey show the Park Service to be an overwhelmingly white (75 pecent), male (61 pecent) agency, one that regularly trails its peer agencies in the annual survey. The best agency within the Interior Department to work, according to the Best Places survey, was the Inspector General's Office, followed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and Bureau of Trust Funds Management.
The Best Places survey is not an outlier in its poor portrayal of the Park Service as a place to work. Last fall Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, citing internal Park Service documents and federal surveys, noted that workforce morale continues to fall, employee flight from the agency is growing, and the agency's directorate has been failing to reverse those trends. Employee attrition has risen, reaching 28 percent in 2022, up from 17 percent in 2018, said PEER, and Park Service pay levels and housing conditions — a key factor in employee satisfaction levels — depend on congressional appropriations, something out of Park Service Director Chuck Sams' control.
The latest Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey pointed to concerns with leadership as well as unsustainable workloads.
"We know we still have room for improvement," Sams wrote in an email to the field in December. "Some of our greatest areas for improvement are in addressing our workload, meaningful recognition, and pay. With just 47.2 percent of employees providing a positive response to 'my workload is reasonable,' we know that change is needed."
In response to the survey, PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse said that "these latest survey results are far from a vote of confidence in Park Service leadership." Pointing to instances when senior managers were judged guilty of serious misconduct by the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General yet were promoted, Whitehouse added that, “[I]t is no wonder that most employees answering one survey question perceive their agency as a place where ‘favoritism’ is tolerated.'”
Also a concern, though hard to quantify, are instances of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation that generate employee complaints.
Why morale in the Park Service is so low was explored through a 2017 project, the NPS Voices Tour, which was designed to give NPS leadership a better understanding of employee concerns. The "Tour" evolved from face-to-face and web sessions, along with more than 200 anonymous submissions. Overall, the authors of the report met with or had correspondence from 1,249 Park Service employees.
A key point made in the report was that "[P]erhaps the strongest message that emerged from the Voices Tour was that participants need to see a response to what they have shared. We heard voices from people wearing thin from being asked to perform at a high level in the face of inadequate resources, competing demands, and in some cases, work environments rendered extremely stressful due to interperson behavior."
Authors of the report also stated that "[E]ven those who found the experience valuable expressed concern about whether any real action would come out of all the effort. Many expressed a sense of futility in participating as 'NPS keeps bringing people down here to get our opinion and nothing happens.' They say they have 'been through enough surveys and trainings' and now want to see tangible actions."
Comments
Oftentimes these surveys don't record seasonal employee responses. I would imagine the numbers would be much lower.
While my work in Yosemite will last hundreds of years I often regret the extreme effort I put in during my time with the NPS. We were treated so poorly by upper mgmt we did not even get a uniform- to my knowledge the trail crew still doesnt.
It was upsetting watching employee nepotism, favoritism, backroom dealing, sexual assault, sexual favors, discrimination, threatining both verbal and physical, and many other instances of misconduct while an employee of the NPS.
I myself was overly harsh on other workers, and regret some of the "joking" that I engaged in as part of the NPS culture. Overall I was left to feel exploited and used by a large machine that had no interest in the plight of its workers or even the upkeep and maintenance of the parks.
I am not sure what can be done as much of the problems stem from the remote nature of the parks, the difficulty in getting people to move there and stay, and a general culture of corruption that results in gang like behavior from the upper staff. They themselves would have to punish themselves for change to happen. and thats not gonna happen
This survey is meaningless and those in authority in the NPS know this. The bottom line is that Congress will continue to fund the NPS; individuals will continue to donate their time/money toward the NPS; visitors will continue to fund the NPS via the high entrance/camping fees; and NPS mgmt officials will continue to receive promotions/good pay/benefits. In short, until a choke-hold is placed on the money-sources, there is no incentive to change.
It might be wise and prudent for NPS to reconsider the trend it has followed over the last two decades of hiring its senior leadership from outside the agency in an effort to bring in "new blood" with "fresh perspectives." While this might be true, these leaders have a long and steep learning curve, and if they have not come up through the ranks starting as seasonals or GS-4 new hires, it is probably very hard to comprehend the travails employees face of poor housing, poor pay, poor supervision, poor morale. In the field, with year over year declines in workforce, the workloads are just staggering, merely to keep the lights on and visitors safe. From the trenches looking up things have looked bleak for a very long time. The one asset the NPS has leaned for a very long time is it employees' absolute passion and dedication to the mission. Perhaps it is time for more of the senior leadership to come up from within the Service where the stripes have been earned and the passion has developed over decades of experience.
and the passion has developed over decades of experience.
This is overly hopeful and hopelessly nostalgic. There is very little passion in our federal gov't, and it's nearing 0. There is nio purpose or reward to being passionate, and growing negatives to being so.
Whether hiring within or without, the NPS remains part of the federal largess, and as such, is bound to spend without consequence and act without accountability.
My god, the Sec'y of the Interior (that oversees the NPS) was selected solely on the basis of filling the right box. She had 2 years as a US Rep. from NM, and BARELY survived confirmation.
We get what we vote for...and it ain't passionate.
So the OPM survey goes out this week or next. So why put so much onto this one. Half the agency didn't even know this one was happening. There is not one NPS' there is over 400 separate NPS' That is part of the problem
Retired in 2012 with the same issues facing the agency and they had been for at least 10 years. Nothing has changed, if anything it's gotten worse. They routinely violate civil service regulations for almost all hires at GS-14 and above by either not advertising the positions properly or pre-selection. It kills morale and drives many talented people out of the agency. Sams and other top managers in DC have zero credibility in the field because they've never worked there and didn't work their way up, the traditional way to upper management. They can say anything they'd like, nobody's listening, they've heard it all before. Decision making in a vacuum by people who don't know what they're doing and never will. You see the results.
So sad that story repeats EVERY YEAR. One would think if the politicians cared they would address it.