Focus on Immediate Supervisor

Occupational category

The 2014 PSES results indicate that opinions on immediate supervisor varied among occupational categories.^{See Footnote 2} Employees in the Executive category expressed the most positive opinions and employees in the Operational category expressed the least positive opinions. For example, 85% of Executive employees indicated that they were satisfied with the quality of supervision they receive (Q36) compared with 64% of Operational employees (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 - Text version

Figure 1 illustrates the proportion of employees in each occupational category who responded affirmatively to Q36 (I am satisfied with the quality of supervision I receive).

Executive	Scientific and Professional	Administration and Foreign Services	Technical	Administration Support	Operational
85%	77%	78%	75%	77%	64%

Community

The 2014 PSES asked employees to indicate the community with which they most closely identify. Overall, employees who identified with the internal audit, access to information and privacy, and human resources communities tended to express the most positive opinions about their immediate supervisor. Employees who identified with the security community tended to express the least positive opinions. For example, 82% of employees in the internal audit and the access to information and privacy communities and 80% of employees in the human resources community reported that they are satisfied with the quality of supervision they receive (Q36), compared with 63% of employees in the security community.

Age

Younger employees tended to express more positive opinions on their immediate supervisor than did their older counterparts. In particular, employees aged 24 years and under were more likely than employees in older age groups to agree that their immediate supervisor keeps his or her promises (86% compared with 74% to 79% for employees in older age groups, Q31), or to agree that their immediate supervisor keeps them informed about the issues affecting their work (84% compared with 73% to 78% for employees in older age groups, Q32).

Years of service

Employees with less than one year of service in the public service or in their organization tended to express more positive opinions on their immediate supervisor than did those with more years of service. Figure 2 shows the results for employees’ opinions on how informed their supervisor keeps them about issues affecting their work (Q32).

Figure 2 - Text version

Figure 2 illustrates the proportion of employees who responded affirmatively to Q32 (My immediate supervisor keeps me informed about the issues affecting my work) by years of service in the public service and in their current organization.

Years of Service	Less than 1 year	1 to 4 years	5 to 9 years	10 to 14 years	15 to 19 years	20 to 24 years	25 to 29 years	30 or more years
In public service	86%	79%	74%	73%	73%	74%	73%	73%
In organization	84%	76%	73%	72%	73%	74%	73%	74%

Organization size

Employees in smaller organizations tended to have more positive views of their immediate supervisor than did employees in larger organizations. For example, 81% of employees in micro-organizations (fewer than 150 employees) reported that they can count on their immediate supervisor to keep his or her promises (Q31), compared with 73% of employees in very large organizations (10,000 employees or more). Similarly, 80% of employees in micro-organizations or very small organizations (those between 150 and 499 employees) agreed that they are satisfied with the quality of supervision they receive (Q36), compared with 75% of employees in very large organizations.

Workplace factors linked to positive perceptions of immediate supervisors

Positive views about immediate supervisor linked to indicators of empowerment

Employees who expressed positive views about their immediate supervisor tended to indicate that they have support at work to provide a high level of service. For example, among employees who agreed that they could count on their immediate supervisor to keep his or her promises (Q31), 77% indicated that they receive support at work to provide a high level of service (Q18), compared with 25% of those who disagreed that they can count on their supervisor to keep promises. Similarly, employees who agreed that they are satisfied with the quality of supervision they receive (Q36) were more likely than those who disagreed to indicate that they receive support at work to provide a high level of service (77% compared with 24%, Q18).