July 21, 2026
Steve Krauss says the Office of Personnel Management's decision to stop administering the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) represents a major change for the federal workforce, but one that could ultimately benefit agencies willing to embrace it. While he recognizes that many federal employees will be surprised by the decision because FEVS has become a respected annual tradition, he believes the new approach gives agencies the chance to collect better information and turn employee feedback into meaningful action.
According to Krauss, one of the biggest advantages of agency-led surveys is the ability to focus on local issues instead of relying on a government-wide approach. Individual agencies understand their own workforce challenges better than anyone else, making them well positioned to ask more relevant questions and collect information that managers can immediately use. He notes that one of the longstanding challenges with FEVS has been the time it takes for agencies to receive results, along with the limited level of detail available after OPM compiles the data. Faster access to more granular information, he says, makes employee feedback far more valuable because leaders can respond while issues are still current.
Krauss points to the Department of Veterans Affairs as an example of what agencies can accomplish by taking ownership of employee engagement surveys. The VA has conducted its own annual employee survey for several years while also using pulse surveys throughout the year to gather more frequent feedback. At the same time, the department has invested in data analytics expertise, allowing leaders to better interpret workforce trends and make informed decisions. Krauss says these additional investments demonstrate that successful employee engagement is about much more than administering a survey—it requires building the capability to analyze and act on the information collected.
He also shares the experience of another, smaller federal agency that independently administers a survey nearly identical to FEVS. According to Krauss, the organization completes the survey at a lower cost than working through OPM, receives its results more quickly, and gains access to more detailed data. Most importantly, agency leadership visibly acts on employee feedback. As a result, participation rates have climbed above 80 percent because employees see that their input leads to real improvements. Krauss says that actionability—not simply collecting responses—is what determines whether an employee survey succeeds.
While Krauss sees considerable opportunity in OPM's new direction, he also identifies important risks. One of his biggest concerns is preserving collaboration across government. During his time at OPM, he helped establish communities of practice focused on areas such as HR data analytics and workflow automation. Those groups allowed agencies to share innovative ideas and successful practices with one another instead of solving similar problems independently. He says agencies often become laboratories of innovation, but those lessons only benefit the broader federal community if there is a mechanism for sharing them. Krauss believes OPM should continue playing an important role in bringing agencies together and helping them exchange knowledge as this new survey model evolves.
Krauss says agencies have made significant progress building workforce analytics capabilities over the past several years. During human capital reviews conducted while he was at OPM, he observed agencies investing heavily in data analytics, with organizations that initially lagged behind making rapid improvements. Because of those investments, he believes many agencies already possess much of the expertise needed to administer their own employee surveys. His primary concern is whether agencies have sufficient staffing and bandwidth to absorb these new responsibilities at a time when many organizations are already operating with reduced workforces.
Looking ahead, Krauss says employee surveys fit into OPM's broader vision for HR 2.0 and a government-wide workforce data ecosystem. He explains that agencies should be able to understand what skills they need, where those skills exist, and how those needs compare with the workforce they currently have. Employee survey data becomes one valuable component of that larger picture, supporting skills-based workforce management and more informed human capital decisions. Ultimately, Krauss says the success of this transition will not be measured by the number of surveys completed, but by whether agencies use the data to create tangible improvements for employees and their missions.
Director Kupor’s blog post: https://www.opm.gov/news/secrets-of-opm/measure-what-matters/