Poor Morale an Ongoing FAA Problem, Says GAO
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report last month highlighting continuing mo

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report last month highlighting continuing morale problems among FAA employees. The report notes that a survey of FAA employees showed the agency ranked 214 out of 216 as the best place to work in the federal government, according to a study published by the Partnership for Public Service and American University’s Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation. “By Fiscal Year 2013,” according to the GAO report, “the FAA projects that 38 percent of its employees who perform work that is critical to the FAA’s mission will be eligible to retire.” Part of the FAA’s problem, according to Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the Republican leader of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, is that “Congress has failed to reauthorize the FAA for the longest period in decades, leaving policy, safety projects and air traffic control modernization in the lurch. With no reauthorization, and a significant lack of fairness in its personnel system, don’t expect morale at FAA to improve,” Mica concluded. Although the report notes that the FAA is creating “a performance-based culture that could improve employees’ workplace satisfaction…the FAA has not established accountability for the plan’s success.”