I am friends or acquaintance with quite a few. I can say that after many, many conversations with high and low level Gov workers, many of them do NOT start this way. They are slowly turned into "lazy and worthless" workers after years or grinding with little to no recognition or reward.
How would you feel if year after year, you are busting your tail only to be rewarded with ZERO positive feedback from your leadership and then given a "bonus" that equates to 1% of your pay?
You saw National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation right? Imagine thousands of Clark Griswalds getting their "Jelly of the Month" membership.