The public service journey by the numbers

Ready for success

Support received at the beginning of their careers

• 80% of employees who joined the public service in the last three years indicated they have clear work objectives (up since 2018)
• 87% of employees who joined the public service in the last three years know how their work contributes to the achievement of their organization’s goals (down since 2018)
• 86% of employees who joined the public service in the last three years like their job

Training and development

Support received at work

• 69% of employees get the training they need for their job.

The results are even more positive amongst employees with less than three years of experience, up since 2018.

Career development

• 57% of employees feel their career development is supported
• 49% of mid to late career employees feel their career development is supported

Engagement index: 73

Performance and promotion

Career support

• Low support for innovation: Only 63% of employees are comfortable proposing new ideas
• 74% receive useful feedback from their supervisor on their job performance
• Promotion: Only 52% of employees feel they can be promoted

Retention and retirement

Intent to leave current position

• 27% in 2019, 27% in 2018

Reasons for leaving

• To pursue another position within their department or agency (33%)
• To pursue a position in another department or agency (29%)
• To retire (15%)
• End of their term, casual, or student employment (12%)
• To pursue a position outside of the public service (6%)

Occupational groups on the move

• AS (32%)
• EX (43%)
• EC (38%)

Leadership

How important is senior leadership?

Strong leadership is linked to higher levels of:

• Respect
• Trust
• Worth

These factors are related to greater satisfaction with the organization and increased willingness to recommend the organization to others

Empowerment

Empowerment index: 69

What’s standing in the way?

• Too many approvals
• Same work – fewer resources
• Overly complex processes

Results

What types of organizations score higher?

• Small organizations perform better than larger ones across almost all themes measured in the survey
• Consistently lower scores across all categories for organizations with security/military mandates

Workplace wellness

Workplace well-being

Index: 62

• Environment
• Awareness
• Stress

Harassment and discrimination

• 14% experienced harassment
• 8% experienced discrimination

Respectful workplace

Index: 77

• Equal
• Valued
• Accepted
• Respectful

Indices

Indices on engagement, empowerment, workplace well-being, and respectful workplace were established as benchmarks in 2018.

• Engagement (up since 2018)
• Empowerment (up since 2018)
• Respectful workplace (same as 2018)
• Workplace well-being (up since 2018)