Question 1

What is the Public Servant Project?

Accepted Answer

The Public Servant Project is a national hub for generating, sharing, and translating data and evidence about the people of government. The Public Servant Project consists of three areas of work: Public Servant Pulse, Perceptions of Public Servants, and the What Works Hub.

Question 2

Who are the researchers behind this work?

Accepted Answer

The Public Servant Project is led by Dr. Elizabeth Linos, the Emma Bloomberg Professor of Public Policy and Management at the Harvard Kennedy School and Faculty Director of The People Lab. Learn more about The People Lab here.

Question 3

How is the Public Servant Project affiliated with Harvard University?

Accepted Answer

The Public Servant Project is run by The People Lab, an academic research team based at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Question 4

Who funds this work?

Accepted Answer

Perceptions of Public Servants is funded by the Harvard Kennedy School Dean's Office, and work with cities as part of Public Servant Pulse is funded by the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University.

Question 5

Who can participate in Public Servant Pulse?

Accepted Answer

All local government – i.e., city, county, or state – employees are eligible to participate in the survey. In our 2026 pilot year, federal government employees are not eligible to participate, nor are government contractors or non-profit employees.

Question 6

I'm a city, county, or state employee. How can I participate in the survey?

Accepted Answer

The survey is currently closed, please check back later for results.

Question 7

I'm a federal government employee. Can I participate?

Accepted Answer

In our pilot year, we are starting with local government – i.e., city, county, or state – employees only. The Partnership for Public Service recently conducted the Public Service Viewpoint survey, which is focused on federal employees. You can learn more about their survey here.

Question 8

I work for a contractor or non-profit that collaborates often with my local city government, can I take this survey?

Accepted Answer

Unfortunately, not at this time. We are focused on capturing the perspectives of public sector employees only. But thank you for your interest and service!

Question 9

What steps are you taking to protect my privacy?

Accepted Answer

Protecting your privacy is a top priority. As researchers at Harvard University, we follow rigorous data security and research ethics standards. This study operates in alignment with Harvard's Research Data Security Policy and has received ethical approval from the Harvard University Institutional Review Board (IRB25-1530). Demographic and personally identifying information collected in the survey will only be accessible to the immediate research team responsible for survey administration, and will only be used for analysis and data quality validation purposes. All survey responses will be securely stored and encrypted, and data will be completely de-identified and anonymized prior to public release to ensure no individual respondent can be re-identified. Learn more about our methodology here.

Question 10

Will my employer see my response?

Accepted Answer

No. Individual responses will never be shared with employers.

Question 11

Why are you asking for my email?

Accepted Answer

Respondents are asked to provide their email for a few reasons: (1) to identify duplicate survey submissions; (2) to link responses from the same participants over time; and (3) to contact interested respondents with future communications from the research team, including invitations to participate in follow-up studies. Emails will never be used to recontact participants who do not explicitly indicate willingness to participate in future research, and in no case will emails ever be shared with anyone beyond the immediate research team. Respondents' data, including their email, are securely stored and encrypted, and access is limited to the immediate research team. During data cleaning, emails and any other identifiable data will be removed from the data and replaced with an anonymous unique identifier. A crosswalk linking emails with the anonymous unique identifiers will be stored separately from the survey data until the completion of the project.

Question 12

What topics does the survey cover?

Accepted Answer

The survey covers public servants' experiences and perceptions related to working in government, including employee engagement and burnout, workplace conditions, job satisfaction, interactions with residents, and basic background and demographic information. Detailed survey topics can be found here.

Question 13

How can I see the results?

Accepted Answer

Results will be released online in fall 2026. Follow us on LinkedIn or BlueSky to stay informed about results as they are released each year!

Question 14

How long does the survey take?

Accepted Answer

The survey is expected to take about 10 minutes to complete.

Question 15

Do I have to finish the survey in one sitting?

Accepted Answer

No, respondents may complete the survey in multiple sittings if needed. You should be able to re-open the survey using the same link and resume from where you left off. If you encounter any technical issues, please reach out to us at publicservantpulse@hks.harvard.edu.

Question 16

How did you pick the questions in Public Servant Pulse?

Accepted Answer

The survey questions used in Public Servant Pulse draw on validated measures and established frameworks used across academic and applied research. See our Methodology & Privacy page for additional details about survey methodology and question sources. We are also grateful for input on survey development from the following experts: Octavia Abell, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Govern for America Marguerite Allen, Director of Technology and Customer Support, Fort Worth Housing Solutions Lotte Bøgh Andersen, Professor, Department of Political Science, Aarhus University Michael Baskin, Chief Innovation Officer, Montgomery County Maryland Kimberly Desmond, Director, Division of Race and Equity, San Diego, California Mary Feeney, Frank and June Sackton Chair and Professor in the School of Public Affairs, Arizona State University Brandon Lardy, Data Director, Partnership for Public Service Donald Moynihan, J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy, University of Michigan

Question 17

Who is funding this work?

Accepted Answer

Public Servant Pulse is primarily funded by the Bloomberg Center for Cities at Harvard University.

Question 18

I have other questions, who should I contact?

Accepted Answer

Please consult our Methodology & Privacy page for more details on methodology, privacy protections, and data use. If you have any additional questions, please email publicservantpulse@hks.harvard.edu.

Question 19

What is The People Lab?

Accepted Answer

The People Lab is an academic research team based at the Harvard Kennedy School that aims to empower the public sector by producing cutting-edge research on the people of government and the communities they are called to serve. Using evidence from public management and insights from behavioral science, we study, design, and test strategies that can solve urgent public sector challenges in three core areas: strengthening the government workforce, improving resident-government interactions, and reimagining evidence-based policy making.

Question 20

How is this different from Public Servant Pulse?

Accepted Answer

While Public Servant Pulse surveys state and local public servants on their perspectives and experiences, Perceptions of Public Servants surveys a nationally representative sample of American adults recruited through online survey platforms. Perceptions of Public Servants collects data on how the public views public sector workers and their work, and what changes these beliefs over time.

Question 21

Who can participate?

Accepted Answer

Perceptions of Public Servants recruits a nationally representative respondent sample online through Prolific and CloudResearch Connect.

Question 22

Where can I read the full report?

Accepted Answer

The full Perceptions of Public Servants report is available on the project page.

Question 23

When will the results of future pulse surveys be shared?

Accepted Answer

Perceptions of Public Servants pulse surveys are administered quarterly, with results shared after each survey wave.

Question 24

When will this be available?

Accepted Answer

The What Works Hub will be expanded over the next few years. In the meantime, research by The People Lab on strategies to effectively recruit, retain, and support talent in government is available on The People Lab's website.

Frequently Asked Questions