WASHINGTON, D.C.—Starting this week, the Office or Personnel Management will be administering the government-wide 2021 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. 

For Forest Service employees, this follows on the heels of the 2020 FEVS and the 2021 National Work Environment Survey. NWES responses are currently being analyzed. Meanwhile, the Forest Service, along with USDA, is working to address key questions highlighted in the 2020 FEVS results. Specifically, we are focusing on improvement in the areas of performance and awards, communication and collaboration, confidence in senior leaders, and workload and resources. 

This year’s FEVS will help to shape our efforts. It includes a core set of questions found in the 2020 survey, along with questions addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. But to reduce the burden on all of you after another challenging year, the 2021 survey will only be sent to a sample of employees, and data from the 2021 FEVS will only be reported at the agency (Forest Service) level, not by region, station, WO and sub-units.

In 2022, OPM will return to the pattern of administering FEVS in the spring, including all employees, and reporting at deeper levels of the organization. 

If you are interested in seeing results from the 2020 OPM FEVS, you may find them on the WEPO site: Forest Service 2020 FEVS results (internal link).

Thank you for sharing your voice and your assistance in helping to make the 2021 OPM FEVS a success. If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Kimberley Peters at Kimberley.peters@usda.gov.