Factors Affecting the Productivity of Government Workers

While there have been a variety of studies concerning governmentworker motivation and productivity, few, if any, studies have focused specifically onstate government workers’ perceptions about what factors affect their productivity. Withmore than 5 million workers employed by state governments in the United States, anyimprovement in state workplace productivity could have significant financial and serviceimpact for society. In this study, state government workers identified those factorsperceived as most affecting their workplace productivity. Data were collected through asurvey offered to state government workers in the state of Wyoming. Factor analysis wasused to derive key productivity factors from survey responses. The results indicate thatstate government workers appreciate having freedom and autonomy, like their jobs and thesense of achievement, and welcome teamwork, but feel limited by poor supervision andmanagement, poor communications, and insufficient budgets and staffing. To improveproductivity, the workers would eliminate bureaucracy, supervise better, and improvecommunication