The Foreign Service Journal, June 2007

J U N E 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 11 State’s Mixed Record in “Best Places to Work” Survey In late April, the Partnership for Public Service and American Univer- sity’s Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation announced the 2007 edition of “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government.” Although the State Department made an impressive overall showing — one of only three Cabinet departments to figure in the top 10 — on closer inspection serious problems are evi- dent. USAID, meanwhile, which tied with the Department of Labor for 18th place in 2005, dropped to 21st place in 2007. The comprehensive biannual rank- ings are based on the Office of Per- sonnel Management’s Federal Hu- man Capital Survey. Conducted in 2006, the survey drew responses from more than 220,000 executive branch employees in more than 280 federal organizations. State raised its standing from 10th to sixth place among the 30 largest federal agencies and ranked first among women respondents. As for best-in-class scores, in a field of 29 the department took third place in sup- port for diversity, effective leadership and performance-based rewards and advancement, and fourth place in teamwork. Significantly, however, on family- friendliness State ranks at the bottom of the list, having dropped down another notch from 2005, to 28th. Only the Department of Homeland Security is deemed less family-friendly. The Department of State is the only large agency whose employee satisfaction score has had a double- digit percentage increase (about 15 percent) since 2003 — but 98 percent of the gain occurred from 2003 to 2005 and is directly attributable to the effects of the Diplomatic Readiness Initiative on training and develop- ment and other measures. In 2007, State dropped a notch in training and development, to 12th of 29, and plunged from 10th place to 20th in terms of work/life balance. USAID, which had also registered laudable gains from 2003 to 2005, lost even more ground in crucial cat- egories, dropping from 18th (of the 30 departments and independent agencies rated in 2005) to 21st out of the 31 small agencies evaluated sep- arately in 2007. Its highest ranking was for diversity (8th out of 31), but for training and development the agency registered a poor 21st, and for work/life balance its standing is even worse: 28th. In effective lead- ership and strategic management, where the agency registered strong gains in previous years, USAID’s ranking also dropped sharply. For more details, go to http://best placestowork.org/BPTW/about/ . — Susan Maitra, Senior Editor Crisis of Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy? Public Agenda, together with For- eign Affairs , recently released the fourth “Confidence in U.S. Foreign Policy Index.” The new index — along with its “Anxiety Indicator” — indicate a shift in attitudes since last fall and provide evidence of wide- spread public doubt about the nation’s international position. “The Anxiety Indicator is moving closer to the 150 mark, the ‘red zone’ that to me would signal a full-blown crisis of public confidence,” says Pub- lic Agenda Chairman and co-founder C YBERNOTES 50 Years Ago... Yet, unlike the American emissary who carries a gun, they [FSOs] get little support at home. In the current economy drive in Congress they have become the popular cats to kick. … It is assumed that GIs and their officers stationed abroad need not only housing but facilities for recreation. Yet in congressional zeal to cut appropriations of the State Department, a furor has been raised over expenditures for swimming pools, clubhouses and such for Foreign Service personnel. — Malvina Lindsay, Washington Post-Times-Herald , quoted in the FSJ , June 1957.