Federal Workers Can Take New Survey Following FEVS 2025 Cancellation

There’s a new survey for federal workers to make their voices heard, after the cancellation of the 2025 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) by the Trump Administration. 

The Partnership for Public Service is offering its own version of FEVS, called the Public Service Viewpoint Survey. The survey asks an abridged list of questions taken mostly verbatim from the annual government survey, which measures employee engagement, performance, leadership, culture, and other aspects of being a federal employee. It will have 23 core questions instead of the FEVS 90 core questions, with the goal of making it less burdensome for employees to take the survey. 

The partnership, which compiles an annual list of best places to work in the federal government based on FEVS data, created the survey to ensure that federal employees have their voices heard in a tumultuous year, and that HR leaders have the informed data to make workplace decisions. 

“We are conducting the Public Service Viewpoint Survey because we know our government’s most important asset is its people, and it is critical that federal employees across government have an opportunity to share their views about their organizations and leaders,” said Partnership President and CEO Max Stier.   

All federal career employees can take the new survey, which runs until December 19. The responses are confidential and will be reported in aggregate at government-wide, agency, and subcomponent levels. The partnership says it received more than 5,000 responses in the first two days of launch. The data will undergo an independent analysis before being released early next year. 

2025 FEVS Cancellation 

The alternative survey comes after the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) at first delayed, and then ultimately canceled the 2025 FEVS to “thoughtfully recalibrate the FEVS to align with administration objectives.”

OPM said it was removing questions related to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and gender identity, while adding a question about poor performers. 

Stier told Federal News Network that doing the alternative survey was not a preferred choice but a “necessary choice” given the need for data on a federal workforce that has been hit with layoffs, deferred resignations, changes in remote and telework policies, and a record-long government shutdown. 

“If the data were important in prior years, it’s even more vital today when so much disruption and turmoil is occurring,” said Stier, adding that without the data, “it’s not just flying blind — it’s flying blind in a hurricane.”

The Partnership is also working with various federal unions and employee organizations to spread the word about the survey.