Federal retention, recruitment and morale suffered long-term damage from the recent government shutdown, according to a good government nonprofit.
The Partnership for Public Service issued a report on Sept. 20 on how the 35-day shutdown from Dec. 22, 2018, to Jan. 25, 2019—the longest in history—did lasting harm to the government and U.S. citizens. “The full effect of the government shutdown on recruitment, hiring and retention of qualified employees is hard to quantify given the lack of publicly available attrition and employment data from the Office of Personnel Management,” the report said. “But there is deep concern among federal leaders that the lengthy 2018-2019 episode contributed to the perception that the civil service is not valued and that government may not be a reliable employer.”
During the appropriations lapse that resulted from a fight over border wall funding, 380,000 federal employees were furloughed and 420,000 employees were required to work without pay, according to the report.
“Little to no pay raises the past five years, the constant threats to health and retirement benefits, public officials questioning our worth and the constant fear of furloughs have had a cumulative negative impact on recruitment and retention,” Traci DiMartini, Peace Corps chief human capital officer, told the Partnership for the report. She works to help returned volunteers start a career in public service, but said, “Since the rhetoric against federal employees is so toxic, is it any wonder we are having a problem filling key positions?”
The Partnership said the government is already having a hard time recruiting young people and the shutdown only exacerbated that problem. Currently, 6% of all permanent, full-time federal employees are under the age of 30, com ..
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