Morale across federal government agencies appears to have plummeted since President Donald Trump began his second term in January 2025, with employee surveys indicating great dissatisfaction with political leaders and declines in the workforce being able to accomplish its missions.
How accurate this new survey is, though, is questionable. For the section on the National Park Service, the survey relied on just 222 surveys from a workforce of about 15,000.
Of those Park Service employees who completed the survey, nearly 70 percent of those surveyed said they were less engaged in work last year compared to 2024, fewer than 7 percent said they were satisfied with the information they were receiving regarding the state of the Park Service, and fewer than 24 percent of the workers said they were satisfied with their job.
The Trump administration's management of federal government "has resulted in a demoralized and less engaged workforce that has made our country less safe, unhealthier and less prosperous," the authors of the survey said.
The results of federal employee satisfaction in the past had been reported annually through the Best Places to Work In Federal Government report, with data gleaned from the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS). But the FEVS was canceled by the Office of Personnel Management, the authors said. That led to a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization, Partnership for Public Service, launching its proprietary Public Service Viewpoint Survey.
"The data is clear: The Trump administration has received a failing grade on its management of our government from those who serve our country—the federal workforce," the report issued Thursday said. "Our survey data and accompanying anonymous focus groups with federal employees provide stories and experiences of a workforce that has been systemically harassed as well as impeded from providing essential services to the public during the first year of the second Trump administration."
Under this new report, only 32 percent of the 222 Park Service employees who responded said they would recommend the agency as a good place to work, and barely 23 percent said their supervisors were good motivators. Fewer than 2 percent said the Park Service's political leaders "maintain high standards of integrity," and on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of how much trust they had in the agency's political leaders, the survey produced a score of 1.4.
Yet at the same time, more than 98 percent of Park Service employees surveyed said "it is important" that their work contributes to the public good, 89 percent said they believed in the agency's mission, 78.4 percent reported a strong allegiance to the Park Service, and 73 percent said their work gave them a sense of accomplishment.
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