Best Places to Work in the Federal Governement 2007 (header image goes here)
63.6
#15 out of 30

Department of Defense

Mission: To protect and advance the security and interests of the United States, to deter aggressors and, if deterrence fails, to defeat any adversary.

8,576

The number of mission-criticial jobs the Department of Defense (Excluding Services) is expected to hire by the end of September 2012. Learn More at Where the Jobs Are 2009 »

Scores and Rankings

Index Score Score Rank out of 30
  63.6 15
Best in Class Scores Score Rank (out of varied totals)
Employee Skills/Mission Match 79.0 10  of  29
Strategic Management 57.1 16  of  28
Teamwork 72.0 11  of  28
Effective Leadership 54.1 7  of  28
Effective Leadership - Empowerment 51.9 8  of  28
Effective Leadership - Fairness 48.1 6  of  28
Effective Leadership - Leaders 50.4 8  of  28
Effective Leadership - Supervisors 63.4 12  of  28
Performance Based Rewards and Advancement 46.6 13  of  28
Training and Development 62.6 9  of  28
Support for Diversity 61.3 11  of  28
Pay and Benefits 62.9 22  of  28
Family Friendly Culture and Benefits 42.9 19  of  28
Work/Life Balance 63.8 12  of  28
Index Score 2007 Score 2005 Score 2003 Score
  62.9 63.1 60.4
Best in Class Scores 2007 Score 2005 Score 2003 Score
Employee Skills/Mission Match 78.6 78.5 78.7
Strategic Management 56.6 56.7 58.4
Teamwork 71.4 71.7 67.8
Effective Leadership 53.0 52.6 48.3
Performance Based Rewards and Advancement 46.7 45.4 43.4
Training and Development 61.2 62.0 58.0
Support for Diversity 58.7 58.3 58.2
Pay and Benefits 61.6 No data No data
Family Friendly Culture and Benefits 41.8 No data No data
Work/Life Balance 63.5 64.7 65.1
Best in Class Scores 2007 Score 2005 Score 2003 Score
Employee Skills/Mission Match 78.6 78.5 78.7
Strategic Management 56.6 56.7 58.4
Teamwork 71.4 71.7 67.8
Effective Leadership 53.0 52.6 48.3
Performance Based Rewards and Advancement 46.7 45.4 43.4
Training and Development 61.2 62.0 58.0
Support for Diversity 58.7 58.3 58.2
Pay and Benefits 61.6 No data No data
Family Friendly Culture and Benefits 41.8 No data No data
Work/Life Balance 63.5 64.7 65.1
Scores by Demographic Score Rank (out of varied totals)
Female 62.5 15  of  29
Male 64.1 16  of  29
40 and over 63.5 15  of  29
Under 40 63.8 16  of  29
Asian 69.3 11  of  28
Black or African-American 64.7 14  of  29
Hispanic or Latino 67.9 12  of  29
Multi-racial 55.8 13  of  28
White 63.5 18  of  29
Scores by Demographic 2007 Score 2005 Score 2003 Score
Female No data No data No data
Male No data No data No data
40 and over 62.3 No data No data
Under 40 65.3 No data No data
Asian 65.5 No data No data
Black or African-American 63.6 No data No data
Hispanic or Latino No data No data No data
Multi-racial 50.9 No data No data
White 58.6 No data No data
Scores by Demographic 2007 Score 2005 Score 2003 Score
Female No data No data No data
Male No data No data No data
40 and over No data No data No data
Under 40 No data No data No data
Asian No data No data No data
Black or African-American No data No data No data
Hispanic or Latino No data No data No data
Multi-racial No data No data No data
White No data No data No data

Trends

Index Scores

Best in Class Scores

 




Year Department of Defense Index Score Large Agency High Performing Average Large Agency Average Index Score Large Agency Low Performing Average
2003 60.4 65.0 60.8 55.9
2005 63.1 72.4 62.4 51.4
2007 62.9 71.8 61.7 50.6
2009 63.6 73.8 64.1 55.5

Comparative Data — Large Agency Averages

High Performing Average Scores 2003 2005 2007 2009
High Performing Average - Employee Skills 80.7 80.6 80.7 83.0
High Performing Average - Management 62.1 63.9 62.4 64.0
High Performing Average - Teamwork 71.6 76.5 75.9 77.6
High Performing Average - Leadership 54.1 58.3 58.2 60.7
High Performing Average - Rewards and Advancement 50.5 53.5 53.3 56.3
High Performing Average - Training and Development 63.7 68.2 66.7 68.8
High Performing Average - Support for Diversity 67.0 67.4 66.7 68.8
High Performing Average - Pay and Benefits 74.3 72.9
High Performing Average - Family Friendly 56.4 57.6
High Performing Average - Work/Life Balance 69.5 70.0 69.5 69.4
Average Index Scores 2003 2005 2007 2009
Average for Employee Skills 78.1 77.4 77.5 78.9
Average for Management 58.1 56.8 56.1 57.8
Average for Teamwork 68.3 71.3 70.7 71.7
Average for Leadership 49.1 50.2 50.3 52.1
Average for Rewards and Advancement 44.4 44.7 45.1 46.8
Average for Training and Development 57.5 59.9 58.6 60.7
Average for Support for Diversity 61.3 59.1 58.3 60.7
Average for Pay and Benefits 66.2 66.8
Average for Family Friendly 45.7 47.2
Average for Work/Life Balance 64.4 63.7 64.4 62.7
Low Performing Average Score 2003 2005 2007 2009
Low Performing Average - Employee Skills 74.9 73.3 72.8 75.7
Low Performing Average - Management 53.9 49.4 49.1 50.9
Low Performing Average - Teamwork 65.4 66.9 66.0 67.2
Low Performing Average - Leadership 45.6 42.7 42.5 45.4
Low Performing Average - Rewards and Advancement 39.3 36.6 36.6 40.1
Low Performing Average - Training and Development 51.4 50.3 49.0 53.4
Low Performing Average - Support for Diversity 57.6 52.5 51.1 54.4
Low Performing Average - Pay and Benefits 58.8 60.5
Low Performing Average - Family Friendly 36.4 38.2
Low Performing Average - Work/Life Balance 59.7 56.3 59.7 55.6

Workforce Size and Trends

Number of Employees

 

Number of Employees in 2001: 612,314

Number of Employees in 2002: 608,050

Number of Employees in 2003: 599,534

Number of Employees in 2004: 597,911

Number of Employees in 2005: 606,792

Number of Employees in 2006: 611,658

Number of Employees in 2007: 608,980

Number of Employees in 2008: 623,290

Employees joined (2008): 62,667

Percentage joined (2008): 7.72%

Average joined (2004-2008): 47,811

Employees left (2008): 53,596

Percentage left (2008): 8.37%

Average left (2004-2008): 50,720

Rookie ratio (percentage of workforce with less than three years of service): 11.70%

More About the Agency

Headquartered in Arlington, VA at the Pentagon
Other Locations: Installations in every state in the country and in 146 countries around the world

http://www.defenselink.mil/

Male/Female Demographics Ethiniciy Demographics

Demographics source: FedScope, OPM

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The Best Places to Work rankings — the most comprehensive and authoritative rating of employee satisfaction and commitment in the federal government — are produced by the Partnership for Public Service and American University's Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation (ISPPI).

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