National Endowment for the Humanities Again Named a Best Place to Work in the Federal Government for 2022

WASHINGTON, D.C.— For the second year in a row, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has been named a best place to work among small federal agencies in the latest Best Places to Work survey released by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service and global management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group, in partnership with the Washington Post.

Based on an Office of Personnel Management survey of 557,778 federal employees, the rankings measure employee engagement and satisfaction, as well as metrics including management, performance, and work-life balance.

NEH ranked fourth as a best place to work among small federal agencies for 2022, based on an overall employee engagement and satisfaction score of 84 points. On individual metrics, the agency ranked first among small agencies in the category of “mission match,” indicating that NEH’s staff identify highly with the agency’s mandate of serving and strengthening our republic by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans. NEH also ranked first in employees’ positive assessment of the effectiveness of its senior leadership.

“The dedication of America’s public servants allows our democracy to thrive,” said NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo). “This is particularly true at NEH, where our work supports the fundamental building blocks of our civil society, helping Americans of all backgrounds examine the human condition, understand our cultural heritage, foster mutual respect for diverse beliefs and cultures, and engage fully with our shared history and civic institutions. I am honored to work with such a wonderful, committed staff as we work together to leverage the humanities to tackle some of our biggest challenges as a society.”

NEH has maintained its place among the best small agencies to work for in the federal government even amidst the uncertainties of the pandemic and agencywide efforts to process and distribute $135 million in supplemental funding allocated to NEH by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to assist the nation’s cultural and educational institutions in recovering and rebuilding from the global pandemic.

“I’d say the ARP grantmaking doubled everyone’s workload at the agency, since we were issuing twice the number of grants as usual,” NEH Senior Deputy Chair Anthony “Tony” Mitchell told the Washington Post. “But the staff was amazing.” NEH was able to distribute this emergency funding in less than a year after ARP was signed into law, bringing much-needed relief to humanities organizations and programs of every size, in every state and jurisdiction, that were reeling from the financial impact of the pandemic.

Read about NEH and the 2022 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government in the Washington Post. This news feature on the survey of federal workplaces also highlights award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson of Firelight Media, which was awarded NEH ARP funding to assist mid-career Black, Indigenous, and other filmmakers of color whose work on a historical or humanities-focused documentary film project was disrupted by the pandemic, and to provide resources, training, and mentorship opportunities to allow documentary filmmakers of color to collaborate with humanities scholars.

Complete rankings and data from the 2022 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government survey are available at: www.bestplacestowork.org.

National Endowment for the Humanities: Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at neh.gov.