Toni L. Oasay

Date of Award

Fall 10-18-2014

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Administration (MPA)

Abstract

As local government employees are faced with increased workloads, decreased resources, and are no longer able to receive benefits such as cost of living salary increases due to budget constraints, the author is intrigued by exploring which workplace factors keep employees interested in going to work each day. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rates were at their highest from 2009-2012, ranging from 10% to 8.3%. This statistic is slowly decreasing over time, as the 2014 unemployment rate is at 5.9%. Are people generally happy just to have a job, even if their workplace environment causes frustration on many levels? The author assessed employees’ perceptions of workplace attractiveness at the City of Daly City. The literature review examines whether a correlation exists among employee morale, motivation, engagement, and the workplace environment.

The author has been an administrative assistant in the local government workforce for seven years and has noticed a trend in working for two different municipalities: employees are frustrated with the workplace environment, yet still show up at work. This research study investigates what Daly City employees consider to be appealing and unappealing factors in the workplace, and proposes recommendations on how to enhance the attractiveness of the workplace environment to keep employees motivated and engaged at work. Data was collected using surveys distributed to City of Daly City personnel. The findings of this research may be a valuable resource in creating a more attractive workplace for the employees at City of Daly City, or other organizations of similar size experiencing comparable budget constraints.

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