In the 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, the global satisfaction score — which measures workers’ happiness with pay, their individual jobs and the overall organization — rose to 60 percent from 59 percent in 2014. While the increase was modest, it was welcome news to the Office of Personnel Management, which has sought to explain and reverse a governmentwide downward trend in employee satisfaction for several years.

While the news was, just barely, a step in the right direction across the government, several agencies have seen significant regressions over the last few years.