National Aeronautic and Space Administration employees remained largely satisfied with their agency this year, likely continuing the agencys trend ofrankingamong the best places to work in the federal government, according to results from a recent survey.

Seventy-one percent of NASA staffers whoresponded to theOffice of Personnel Managements federal-employee viewpoints survey gave the agency a positive mark this year when asked about their overall impression of the organization.

NASA in 2013earned the highest composite score among all federal agencies for the second consecutive year. In this yearssurvey, the organization showed improvements in 56 categories, while itsnumbers dropped slightly with13 measures of worker satisfaction, according to a summary of the results.

Among the areas with the most room for improvement, the agency scored relatively low onperformance pay, career-advancement opportunities, and satisfaction with senior leadership.

More than two-thirds of respondents indicated that pay raises are not based on performance, and about 58 percent saidthe agency does not effectively deal with workers who do a poor job. About 51 percent of the employees saidthey are not satisfied with opportunities for advancement, and 22 percent said they do not have a high level of respect for senior leaders.

However, NASA staffersexpressed a great dealof enthusiasm for their work, with 97 percent of respondents saying they are willing to put in extra effort to complete a job and more than 88 percent saying they view their workas important.

Sixty-three percent of the employees said NASA rewards creativity and innovation, while nearly 78 percent said they feelencouraged to come up with new and better ways of doing things.

Among six programs designed to improve work-life balance,more thantwo-thirds of respondents saidthey are satisfied witheach of them. Nearly 95 percent gave positive marks to NASAs alternative work schedules,and about 87 percent indicated they are happy with telework options.

Although NASAs survey results are available online, no federal agencies havepublicized their numbersyet. The Office of Personnel Management generally announces the results in November or December, and the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service uses them for its annualBest Places to Work in Federal Government rankings.

Josh Hicks covers the federal government and anchors the Federal Eye blog. He reported for newspapers in the Detroit and Seattle suburbs before joining the Post as a contributor to Glenn Kesslers Fact Checker blog in 2011.

Original post:

Federal Eye: NASA maintains lofty worker-satisfaction ratings for 2014