Low morale plagues DHS agriculture workers
Merger into Customs and Border Protection a major source of problems; agriculturalists see mission overshadowed by other CBP priorities; DHS says problems were expected
“Nothing is going well” — these are not words one wants to read in a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. Yet that is how the report characterized the received responses from a survey of DHS agriculture specialists. The specialists, GAO noted, already had reason to be unhappy after they were moved from the Agriculture Department to DHS’ Customs and Border Protection (CBP) bureau in 2003. “We note that morale issues … are not unexpected in a merger,” GAO stated. Among the specific complaints were poor working relationships and a concern that the agriculture inspection mission has been overshadowed by other CBP priorities. Twenty percent also cited inadequate training and a lack of equipment and supplies as serious problems.
“Mergers the size of DHS take time, and not everyone will agree on a personal level that we have reached the optimum level of job satisfaction and performance,” said CBP spokeswoman Erlinda Byrd.
-read more in Amelia Gruber’s GovExec report
