The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) was ranked as the eighth best place to work among large federal agencies in rankings released on Wednesday by the Partnership for Public Service.

This ranking is up from ninth place in 2012 and marks a continued turnaround for the department that in 2009 ranked last in the survey among large federal agencies.

The U.S. DOT’s Surface Transportation Board maintained its first place ranking among small agencies, while the Federal Highway Administration climbed to fifth place among the 300 subcomponent agencies, improving on its ninth place ranking in 2012.

“We are committed to making the U.S. Department of Transportation one of the best places to work in the federal government,” said U.S Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “The Department’s more than 55,000 employees know that transportation is a vital economic engine and they come to work every day on a mission to make it as safe and efficient as possible.”

Other notable rankings include the U.S. DOT’s Federal Railroad Administration (15), the Office of Inspector General (30), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (44), and the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (51) out of the 300 subcomponent agencies.

Published in the Partnership for Public Service’s 2013 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government, the rankings are based on data from the Office of Personnel Management’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, an annual tool that measures employees’ perceptions of the workplace. The Department of Transportation survey was conducted from April 28 through June 7, 2013.  

Agency subcomponents are not only measured on overall employee satisfaction, but they are scored in 10 workplace categories, such as effective leadership, employee skills/mission match, pay, teamwork, and work/life balance.

For a complete list of the 2013 rankings, visit http://bestplacestowork.org/BPTW/index.php