Report: City employees view of government worsens, supervisors improves

The city of Johnson City has seen consistency and improvements in its employees' satisfaction over the past two years, according to the city's latest workplace survey. How city employees feel about their supervisors was one of the main points of improvement, according to the survey results. However, decreases were seen in the survey's quality of governance category and perception of compensation. Improved perception of supervisors Eight in 10 city employees surveyed said their supervisor provided good feedback, according to the city's 2025 NES report. Additionally, positive ratings of communication improved form 66% in 2023 to 71% in 2025. Assistant City Manager Steve Willis said he attributes this success to leadership changes and the implementation of training over the past five years. "I think it really moved us forward with a lot of new faces that don't approach the job from a, 'we've always done it this way' perspective," Willis sid. "I think new faces, new ideas are more receptive to change, and I that's reflected in how employees view their supervisors." "We've invested a lot in training and trying to make good selections for those positions, and I think the data is reflective of that," Willis said. "Overall, employees feel very good about their supervisors and how they're treated with respect." Willis said improvements made since 2023 have been made possible through an in-house, internal training program called the Johnson City Leadership Academy. Since launching in 2024, it's trained three cohorts of employees with a focus on leadership and supervisory skills. "It's hard to become the supervisor or somebody you, you've worked with for 10 years as a peer, so we try to give a lot of tools and, methods on how you're able to manage that for those entry level positions, and we've found that to be effective," Willis said. Governance and pay perceptions While supervisor feedback was mostly positive, the largest fallbacks were in employee perceptions of governing officials and pay. City employees' overall confidence in city government fell 10 points from 67% providing a positive rating in 2023 to 57% in 2025. Positive rating of city government "generally acting in the best interest of the community" also fell by 10 points from 75% to 65%, while the good views of the city's overall direction fell from 75% to 63%. "I think nationwide, the data would reflect that there's more distrust of government now than probably there ever has been, and to think that we're immune from that would be foolish," Willis said. "I don't know what you do to combat that. You try to provide as much information as you can communicate." For over 15 years, public trust in government has been at an all-time low with less than 17% of Americans saying they trust the government in Washington to do what is right, according to a December Pew Research report. Positive views of employee compensation and benefits also fell, from 61% in 2023 to 55% in 2025. Willis said this is likely due to the city's budgetary restrictions around merit components and wage compression. "As we have tried to get our pay rates as close to market as we can, that means you're bringing in newer people at a higher rate than perhaps someone who's been here five years," Willis said. "That gap is closer than what they feel like, perhaps, it should be. That's not a problem unique to Johnson City. Wage compression has been a problem in any organization that I've ever been affiliated with." The average Johnson City employee salary is $54,000 annually, according to pay data from February. According to 2024 U.S. Census data, the median household income in Washington County is $62,800 annually. About the employee survey The National Employee Survey (NES) is a widely used among local government and other public sector employers to gauge workplace satisfaction. Of the 1,127 city employees, only 417 responded, making for a 37% response rate. A response rate between 30% and 50% is considered a reliable sample. Before becoming an assistant city manager, Willis worked as the city's human resources director for five years. In 2019, he was part of the city's effort to start conducting biennial employee surveys. "If you have a group of employees that are coming to work disgruntled every day, you're probably not going to get their best effort when they're picking up your trash, or they're picking up your student to transport them to school, or they're putting in a new water line that might be servicing your residents," Willis said. "I believe a workplace where employees are engaged and the employees are happy with the work that they're doing is going to provide a greater level of service to all our citizens."