A random selection of federal employees will soon get the chance to offer their feedback on whether the benefits offered by their agency match up with their needs.

The Office of Personnel Management announced Sept. 30 that 50,000 feds nationwide will soon receive emails asking them to participate in the 2019 Federal Employee Benefits Survey.

“The purpose of the FEBS is to measure the importance, adequacy and value of employee benefits to assess if employees believe that the available benefits meet their needs,” OPM Director Dale Cabaniss wrote in a memo to federal human resource leaders.

“The FEBS will also help to evaluate whether or not federal employees understand the flexibilities and benefits available to them.”

The survey has been administered once every two years since 2011 and asks employees to indicate which benefits they have enrolled in and why, how satisfied they are with their benefits, and whether they are aware of specialized benefits programs.

The 2017 survey found that feds were most frequently enrolled in the Thrift Savings Plan, the Federal Employee Retirement System and the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program. Employees enrolled in such programs also reported that they overwhelmingly met employee needs.

But the survey also found that employees remain unaware of all of the programs that were available to them, such as the FEHB Tobacco Cessation Benefit, and OPM concluded that more communication programs were necessary to make sure that feds took advantage of all of their options.

The 2019 survey will run for approximately four weeks, and employees selected to participate will receive periodic email reminders during that time.

About Jessie Bur

Jessie Bur covers federal IT and management.

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