UNITED STATES
New figures show that high-ranking Federal Public Servants in the United States are resigning in unprecedented numbers.
The exodus of Senior Executive Service (SES) members was nearly 26 per cent higher in the last financial year – which included most of the first year of the Administration of President Donald Trump – than it was in the first year of former President Barack Obama, according to the Partnership for Public Service (PPS).
In fiscal 2017, which began in October 2016, 1,522 senior executives left the Government which the PPS said represented 18.6 per cent of the SES on board at the beginning of the fiscal year.
President and Chief Executive of the PPS, Max Stier (pictured) said it was “a big problem”.
“It’s a lot of talent, a lot of knowledge leaving”, Mr Stier said.
President of the Senior Executives Association, Bill Valdez offered various reasons for the accelerating exits: the arrival of the long predicted Federal ‘retirement tsunami’ of baby boomers; the increased departures that come with every presidential transition: and “the intensity of the transition with the Trump Administration”.
Mr Valdez referred to Mr Trump’s “drain the swamp” talk that Public Servants considered a slur, the notion that the Public Service was a problem and the Administration’s hiring freeze and the involuntary transfers of senior executives.
Combined with other factors, “people just weren’t willing to put up with it,” Mr Valdez said.
“They knew the Trump transition would be rougher than usual. His rhetoric and actions just intensified the desire of some SES to leave.”
Mr Stier also cited the lack of appointed leaders, who deal directly with the senior executives, had created a much more challenging work environment.
Washington, 11 September, 2018
