At a time when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is under fire in Washington for its activities in the financial marketplace, its employees are strongly backing the work the bureau is doing.
The fifth annual CFPB employee survey indicated that a significant number of bureau employees believe in the CFPB’s mission and have favorable views of their supervisors and, to a lesser extent, senior leadership.
The highest degree of dissatisfaction expressed in the results relates to the handling of raises, promotions and management’s handling of underperforming coworkers.
About two-thirds of employees gave favorable responses for 50 of the 77 items included in the survey, items the bureau considers its “strengths.”
The results indicate that a majority of employees surveyed believe in the bureau’s mission as 56.6 percent answered “strongly agree” to item No. 8, “The work I do is important.” At 91.1 percent, this statement received the highest percentage of favorable responses on the survey.
Employees also indicated a high degree of satisfaction with their immediate supervisors, with the second most favorably-rated item being “My supervisor treats me with respect.” Items dealing with work-life balance and general supervisor performance also received favorable responses above 80 percent.
Results indicated the most prevalent dissatisfaction among employees surveyed related to the handling of raises, promotions and management’s effectiveness dealing with poor performers within the bureau – the same three areas cited in the 2015 survey for unfavorable percentages.
More than 53 percent of survey participants gave unfavorable responses for “Pay raises depend on how well employees perform their jobs.”
About 39 percent responded unfavorably to, “In my work unit, steps are taken to deal with a poor performer who cannot or will not improve.” Similar responses came to “In my work unit, differences in performance are recognized in a meaningful way.”
Based on responses to, “How satisfied are you with your opportunity to get a better job in your organization?” a relatively large number of bureau employees do not feel strongly about their advancement opportunities, with a third of unfavorable responses and a third of neutral responses.
“Bureau leaders use feedback from tools like the annual employee survey to develop strategies to better meet employee needs,” the survey states. “Survey results are shared across the organization to encourage leaders to actively seek and respond to opportunities to improve the employee work experience.”
The survey reflects the views of more than 87 percent of the 1,567 full-time-equivalent employees at the bureau, as of July 10, 2016, who submitted their responses between Aug. 1 and 31, 2016. Last year’s survey got more than 79 percent of employees to respond.