Prospective employees’ perception of an agency’s management culture can play a significant role in whether they decide to make that agency their employer of choice. Agencies that strive to do well on government employee surveys will find that their stature as a good place to work helps attract a new generation of workers, federal workforce experts say.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is a case in point. NRC earned high marks in the Office of Personnel Management’s Federal Human Capital Survey in 2006.  As a result, NRC has steadily added employees in the past two years to handle increased workloads as nuclear power gains importance relative to foreign oil.