The NCUA reported a big improvement in employee job satisfaction ratings, ranking first for improvement year-over-year among 22 medium-sized federal agencies, according to annual rankings released Thursday by the Partnership for Public Service.

In the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government rankings, the NCUA improved its overall 2012 annual ranking to 6^th out of 22 federal agencies with 1,000 to 14,999 employees, and bettered its scores in nearly every survey category, the agency said. Last year, the NCUA ranked 16^th out of 35 small federal agencies.

“It is very important for NCUA's employees to have a high level of satisfaction and fulfillment in their work protecting the savings of America's 94 million credit union members,” said NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz.

“Employees are our most important asset, and no organization can be fully effective unless its workers are motivated and dedicated to the mission,” Matz said. “Making NCUA an employer of choice remains one of my top priorities, and I'm proud of the fact that employee satisfaction has grown significantly over the past three years.”

The NCUA performed particularly well in the area of effective leadership, the agency said, which the PPS describes as a primary factor in employee attitudes toward job satisfaction. The NCUA ranked second for employee skills/mission match amongst its peer agencies, and the agency's employees also gave the NCUA strong endorsements in areas of diversity, fairness and employee empowerment.

In other findings of the 2012 report, for employee satisfaction and commitment among medium-sized agencies NCUA:

• Ranked 1^st among Hispanics.
• Ranked 2^nd among African-Americans.
• Ranked 3^rd among whites, veterans, men, workers above 40, and workers below 40 years old.
• Ranked 4^th among women and Asians

In its analysis of survey results, the PPS noted the NCUA's overall score has been steadily increasing for the past few years and is up 10.9 points since 2009, demonstrating “it is possible to improve employee engagement in even the most challenging climates.”

Nearly 700,000 federal workers participated in the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's Federal Employee Viewpoint survey used by the PPS to compile the Best Places to Work rankings. Agencies are measured on overall employee satisfaction and in 10 workplace categories, including effective leadership, employee skills/mission match, teamwork and work/life balance.

Federal agency rankings for 2012 are available online.