Electronic Records of Federal Civilian Employees
Introduction
Employees of the Southeast Regional Federal Records Center
This reference report provides an overview on electronic data records in the custody of the Electronic Records Division that contain information about Federal civilian employees.
Full descriptions of the series and data files listed in this report are in National Archives Catalog. Users can search the Catalog by title, National Archives Identifier, type of archival material, or keyword.
Some of the series and files listed in this report are accessible online:
- Download - This is a link for downloading the files and documentation from the Catalog. For more details on downloading files, please review the frequently asked questions (FAQs).
All of the files are also available for a cost-recovery fee. For more information see: Ordering Information for Electronic Records.
Record Group 142: Records of the Tennessee Valley Authority
- Human Resources Information System Files (HRIS), 1985-1995, 1998-2007
National Archives Identifier: 630962
Online Access: DownloadThis series contains information about employees of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which includes federal government employees in the civil service. TVA created these data files annually from the active Employee Information System (EIS) and HRIS files, including public use versions of these files, wherein personal identifiers are not included.
Record Group 146: Records of the U.S. Civil Service Commission
- Central Personnel Data Files (CPDF), 1973-1978
National Archives Identifier: 566349
Online Access: DownloadThis series contains personnel information on most employees of Federal Civilian agencies in the Executive Branch and similar information on employees of some agencies outside the Executive branch. NARA offers versions of the files in which the only personal identifier in the file, the Social Security Number, is scrambled so that individuals cannot be identified. Data in this series post-1978 are in Record Group 478. OPM's Office of Workforce Information will assist researchers in the use of the data.
Record Group 237: Records of the Federal Aviation Administration
- Survey of Air Traffic Controller Supervisors, 1961
National Archives Identifier: 630214
Online Access: DownloadThis series contains survey response data on controllers who took training through the Aeronautical Center. Related textual records are available in the series "Survey Relating to Air Traffic Controller Job Performance, 9/1961 - 10/1962" (National Archives Identifier: 630978).
Record Group 478: Records of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
- Central Personnel Data Files (CPDF), 1979-
National Archives Identifier: 566354
Online Access: DownloadThis series contains personnel information on most employees of Federal Civilian agencies in the Executive Branch and similar information on employees of some agencies outside the Executive branch. It is a continuation of the earlier data in Record Group 146. NARA offers versions of the files in which the only personal identifier in the file, the Social Security Number, is scrambled so that individuals cannot be identified. OPM's Office of Workforce Information will assist researchers in the use of the data.
- Surveys of Federal Employees, 1979-2008
National Archives Identifier: 599815
Online Access: DownloadThis series contains social survey data from the Federal Employee Attitudes Surveys and the Survey of Federal Employees documenting government employees' personal and employment background, current position, job satisfaction, work relationships with other employees and supervisors, experiences within their agencies, and perceived promotional opportunities. This series consists of:
- Federal Employee Attitudes Survey, Phase I, May 1979 (FEAS 1)
- Federal Employee Attitudes Survey, Phase II, November 1980 - March 1981 (FEAS 2)
- Federal Employee Attitudes Survey, Phase III, 1983 (FEAS 3)
- Survey of Federal Employees, 1992 (SOFE)
- Federal Human Capital Survey, 2002
- Federal Human Capital Survey, 2004
- Federal Human Capital Survey, 2006
- Federal Human Capital Survey, 2008
Record Group 479: Records of the Merit Systems Protection Board
- Merit Principles Surveys, 1983-2010
National Archives Identifier: 604257
Online Access: DownloadThis series contains microdata from respondents to surveys regarding opinions and experiences on a variety of personnel issues. Data elements in each survey are similar to allow for comparison across time. Individuals are not identified. This series consists of:
- Merit Principles Survey I, 1983
This file contains data from 4,897 respondents.
- Merit Principles Survey II, 1986
This file contains data from 16,651 respondents from a random sample of 21,620 full-time, executive branch Federal employees. Identification of specific agencies and grade levels of respondents is included in Table 1 of the documentation.
- Merit Principles Survey III, 1989
This file contains data from 15,939 respondents out of a random sample of 21,454 full-time, executive branch Federal employees. Identification of specific agencies and grade levels of respondents is included in Table 1 of the documentation.
- Merit Principles Survey, 1992
This file contains data from 13,432 respondents out of a disproportionately stratified random sample of 20,851 full-time, executive branch Federal employees. Identification of specific agencies and grade levels of respondents is included in Table 1 of the documentation.
- Merit Principles Survey, 1996
This survey contains data from 9,710 respondents out of a disproportionately stratified random sample of 18,163 full-time, executive branch Federal employees. For weighting purposes, identification of specific agencies and grade levels of respondents is included in Appendix 2 of the documentation.
- Merit Principles Survey, 2000
This survey contains data from 6,958 respondents out of a stratified random sample of 17,250 full-time, permanent executive branch Federal employees (supervisors and non-supervisors).
- Merit Principles Survey, 2005
This survey contains data from responses of 36,926 Federal employees who completed this online survey - a representative sample of the 1.8 million full-time, permanent employees of the Federal Government.
- Merit Principles Survey, 2007
- Merit Principles Survey, 2010
- Merit Principles Survey I, 1983
- Targeted Surveys of Federal Employees
National Archives Identifier: 569653
Online Access: DownloadThis series contains response data from sample surveys conducted on a periodic basis to evaluate the civil service and other merit systems in the Executive Branch to determine whether they were free of prohibited personnel practices. For some of the surveys, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board published reports of its findings and these reports are available as supplemental documentation. Individuals are not identified in the surveys. The series consists of the following surveys:
Personnel Specialists Surveys
- Survey of the State of the Merit System and the Office of Personnel Management's Impact on It, 1980
National Archives Identifier: 578758
Online Access: DownloadThis file contains survey responses of senior personnel officials in Federal agencies who were asked to rate the state of the merit system and the Office of Personnel Management's impact on it during 1980. Demographic and job data are not included.
- Survey of Federal Personnel Specialists, 1988
National Archives Identifier: 578677
Online Access: DownloadThis file contains the survey responses from 3,506 respondents out of a disproportionately stratified random sample of 5,507 full-time, executive branch Federal employees working in personnel.
Senior Executive Service Surveys
- General Attitudes and Experiences of Senior Executive Service Employees, 1981
National Archives Identifier: 578668
Online Access: DownloadThis file contains survey responses about the effectiveness of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 protections against improper political interference in the Senior Executive Service (SES); fairness and equity in the performance appraisal and performance award systems; and the impact of SES incentive systems on the attitudes of senior executives and potential SES candidates. The file does not have geographic coding or individual demographic and job data.
- Survey of Former Senior Executive Service Members, 1988
National Archives Identifier: 632315
Online Access: DownloadThis file consists of survey responses about Senior Executive Service (SES) members' views on SES compensation and the protections enacted to protect them from arbitrary actions.
Federal Supervisors Surveys
- Effectiveness of Federal First-Line Supervisors, 1991
National Archives Identifier: 578656
Online Access: DownloadThree separate groups of Federal employees, first-line supervisors; the immediate supervisors of first-line supervisors (i.e. second-line supervisors) and nonsupervisory employees, were asked to assess the performance of first-line supervisors. A Matched Response File matches first-line and second-line supervisory pairs (1779 matched pairs).
- Survey of Current and Former Federal Supervisors, 1997
National Archives Identifier: 578756
Online Access: DownloadThese files contain survey responses about the effects of downsizing and delegation of authority.
Sexual Harassment Surveys
- Sexual Harassment in the Federal Workplace, 1979-1980
National Archives Identifier: 578670
Online Access: DownloadThis file consists of survey responses of 20,083 respondents out of a disproportionately stratified random sample of 23,964 civilian executive branch Federal Employees.
- Sexual Harassment in the Federal Workplace, 1987
National Archives Identifier: 578672
Online Access: DownloadThis file contains survey responses from 8,523 respondents out of a disproportionately stratified random sample of approximately 13,000 full-time, executive branch Federal employees.
- Sexual Harassment in the Federal Workplace [Trends, Progress, Continuing Challenges], 1994
National Archives Identifier: 578675
Online Access: DownloadThis file consists of survey responses from 8,081 respondents out of a disproportionately stratified random sample of full-time, executive branch Federal employees all over the country.
Other Survey Files
- Career Development Survey [A Question of Equity, Women and the Glass Ceiling], 1991-1992
National Archives Identifier: 578655
Online Access: DownloadThis file contains survey responses about factors that affect the career advancement of Federal employees and whether barriers exist that restrict the movement of women in the civil service into management positions.
- Survey on Career Advancement and Workforce Diversity in the Federal Civil Service, 1993
National Archives Identifier: 578761
Online Access: DownloadThese files contain survey responses about the factors affecting the employment and career advancement of minorities in the Federal workplace.
- Exit Survey [Of Federal Employees Leaving the Government], 1989
National Archives Identifier: 578664
Online Access: DownloadThis file contains microdata from 2,778 respondents to a survey of former Federal employees.
- Survey of New Hires, 1999
National Archives Identifier: 578763
Online Access: DownloadThis file contains survey responses about the experiences of individuals seeking jobs with the Federal government.
- New Employee Survey & Survey of Supervisors of New Hires (Upper Level Hires), January 2006
National Archives Identifier: 2734804
Online Access: DownloadThese files contain survey responses from supervisors and new hires about how Federal agencies attract and select new employees to positions at grade levels GS-12 to GS-15 or equivalent.
- Contracting Officer Representatives Survey, 2005
National Archives Identifier: 1132829
Online Access: DownloadThis file contains data collected from 1,707 program and technical employees who perform contract-related duties as contracting officer representatives (CORs) or contracting officer technical representatives (COTRs).
- General Attitudes and Experiences of Mid-Level Employees, 1981
National Archives Identifier: 578666
Online Access: DownloadThis file contains survey responses about the experiences and viewpoints of mid-level Federal employees concerning the functioning of the merit system in their agency. The file does not include geographic coding or demographic and job data.
- Whistleblowing and the Federal Employee, 1980
National Archives Identifier: 578764
Online Access: DownloadThis file contains survey responses about Federal employees blowing the whistle on fraud, waste, and mismanagement in the Federal government.
- 2011 Federal Merit Systems Survey on Favoritism
National Archives Identifier: 12005656
Online Access: DownloadThis file consists of survey responses from Federal employees about their experiences and opinions related to fairness and merit systems principles in the workplace.
- Survey of the State of the Merit System and the Office of Personnel Management's Impact on It, 1980
Related Information
A number of Office of Policy and Evaluation reports and publications related to the electronic data records transferred to NARA are available on the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board website.
Contact Information
Reference Services
Electronic Records
National Archives at College Park
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001
(301) 837-0470
e-mail: cer@nara.gov
December 2022