The CDC train wreck

Once upon a time, working at the Center for Disease Control (aka, CDC, now called the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) was a dream job for a dedicated public health scientist or practitioner. No more. The independent CDC blog, CDC Chatter, is reporting results of a new survey of employee satisfaction in federal services. CDC is near the bottom of 222 agencies, with a score down from its 2005 score. CDC ranked 189th out of the 222 agencies and agency subcomponents.

CDC's ranking fell in the Partnership for Public Service's annual "Best Places to Work in the Federal Government" rankings released on Thursday (4/19). The ratings use data from OPM's 2006 Human Capital Survey, and the scores come from select questions on job satisfaction. The complete rankings can be found at http://bestplacestowork.org/BPTW/rankings/, and more information on the Partnership's methodology can be found at The Best Places to Work . You can mine down into the separate organizational scores--Stragtegic Management ranked at 196 out of 222 federal agencies, with a score of 50 in 2007 vs 53 in 2005; Effective Leadership ranked at 189/222 with score of 45.8. (CDC Chatter)

Following the post there is a single, anonymous comment:

Go to the link, review the entire report for CDC, then begin to compare to the top 5 or 6 agencies and the bottom 5 or 6. I think you will see a pattern. Not only is the survey about an agency's leadership, it is also about its workers. My personal goal, is to get out of this agency and into one of the top 10. Spare me the comments about staying and making improvements, you're not worth it.

The Bush administration has appointed pliable and incompetent managers and then stood idly by while they wrecked their agencies. Since this administration and the Republican party cares nothing about the mission of government but only about using it to privilege and enrich its friends it's no surprise.

But it is a great tragedy. History will not be kind to them.

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