Morale Down, Federal Workforce Gets Ready For A New Boss

When President-elect Joe Biden takes office next month, one of his first challenges will be the nearly 2 million-member federal workforce. Morale is down in many agencies after four years of attacks on the civil service from President Trump.

Trump has called the federal workforce the "deep state." His administration has moved hundreds of jobs out of Washington, D.C. There was a hiring freeze, a government shutdown and job cuts in some agencies.

Max Stier, president of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, says the actions and rhetoric by the president have taken their toll on the federal workforce.

"There's no question that the Trump administration has diminished the value of civil service or public service for many agencies," Stier tells NPR. "And you can see that just in the morale scores of those agencies themselves."

Of the 17 largest federal agencies listed in the partnership's Best Places to Work survey, morale in 2019 was down from the previous year at 10 of them.