The 2021 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® employee engagement and satisfaction “score is 64.5 out of 100, representing a 4.5-point decrease from 2020 in how our nation’s civil servants view their agencies and jobs.  This significant downturn in job and organizational engagement and satisfaction came as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to disrupt the federal workforce and the larger labor market during the final months of 2021 when employees were surveyed.  During this timeframe, tens of thousands of civil servants—and their private sector peers—faced uncertainty about returning to the office after more than a year and a half working remotely part or full-time, while a sizable portion of the federal workforce remained on the frontlines performing critical public services as the health crisis persisted. The federal employee COVID-19 vaccine mandate went into effect on Nov. 22, in the middle of the survey period.  The sizable drop in employee engagement and satisfaction came during President Joe Biden’s first year in office. The Senate had confirmed only 55% of the administration’s political appointee nominations by the end of 2021. This is lower than the first-year confirmation rate for Presidents Donald Trump (57%), Barack Obama (69%) and George W. Bush (75%). During this dynamic period, the leadership vacancy rates presented a major challenge for the administration, which has described federal employees as the “backbone of our government” and committed in the President’s Management Agenda to “make every federal job a good job, where all employees are engaged, supported, heard and empowered.”  Most of the agency engagement and satisfaction scores decreased or held steady in 2021, with just 25 of 71, or 35%, of the government’s large, midsize and small agencies showing improvements. Those registering higher scores present a model and roadmap for federal leaders of what is working and how to create a rewarding and safe employee experience during this volatile time.  Looking closely at specific elements of the employee experience in 2021 presents a workforce at a critical and stressful turning point. Though the COVID-19 work-related scores trended slightly down in 2021, federal employees were still largely positive regarding how agency leaders and supervisors handled concerns about their well-being, posting a score of 85.2 out of 100 in a category of COVID-19 related questions on flexible work schedules, expanded leave policies, vaccine protocols and a safe workplace…”