Table of Contents
Foreword by the President of the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada
Summary of Results
Public service employees are strongly committed to their work
Client service standards are well defined but feedback mechanisms need clarification
Employees perceive several barriers to productivity
Employees are up-to-date on organizational direction and positive about collaboration at work
Public service employees have diverse views on fairness in the workplace
Linguistic rights generally respected, but the two official language communities have different concerns
Perceived harassment and physical violence unchanged from 2002
No change in perceptions of discrimination and respect for equality since 2002
Public service employees feel that labour-management relations require attention
Training taken by employees more likely to be useful for current job than for career advancement
Most employees report good work-life balance
Retirement still the number one reason for leaving the public service
One in two employees believe that senior management is committed to resolving issues raised
Next steps
Public Service of Canada Survey Results
(Variables for Survey questions 10, 11, 32, 69, 70, 71, 95, 96,
97,98, 102,103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 115, and 116
are listed under “Demographic Reports”.)
The 2005 Public Service Employee Survey marks the third time that you, as public service employees, have expressed yourselves on a wide variety of workplace issues. As President of the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada, I recognize the importance of engaging employees in identifying areas for improvement to create a positive work environment. It is no coincidence that organizations that undertake surveys such as this one—and commit to subsequent dialogue and action—are seen as having the most positive workplaces.
Like you, I am very proud of the public service of Canada, and I believe it is vital to build and maintain an organization that is characterized by excellence, integrity and accountability. We strive to uphold these values through new and modernized human resources management in the Public Service of Canada.
Through the survey, the views of more than 180,000 employees were sought regarding their work and their workplace. The response rate to the survey was close to 60 per cent—the highest ever received. The results of the 2005 survey, combined with those from the two previous surveys, of 1999 and 2002, will allow public service organizations to assess progress, to identify areas for improvement, and to determine appropriate actions and follow up.
Each department and agency will ensure that the results are communicated to employees and that a dialogue on the results takes place with employees. You are invited to discuss the survey findings with your supervisors and managers. This will lead to the identification of areas where action is required in each organization. Each organization will be expected to report progress to employees on key actions taken.
To complement the actions in departments and agencies, a Research Advisory Committee comprising representatives from small, medium and large government departments, as well as bargaining agents, has been established to examine and analyze results across the public service. Together, we can promote dialogue and prompt the action needed to ensure that we make progress in building a dynamic and rewarding workplace and that we reinforce our collective pride in the Public Service of Canada.
I wish to thank all those who responded to the survey for their time and thoughtfulness in sharing their views and experiences. You may be sure that your views will be considered carefully and that they will lead to specific actions in departments or across the public service. I am committed to ensuring that the public service is engaged in a process of continuous improvement and renewal in order to provide for a better workplace for all.
Michelle Chartrand
President
Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada
In 1999, the decision to invite public service employees to express their views of their work and workplaces through a survey received broad support across the public service. The Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) was designed to gauge employee opinion on a wide range of issues reflective of the health of the overall public service, individual organizations, and work units. The survey results and analysis based on them are greatly valued by departments and agencies for purposes ranging from providing valuable insights for human resource planning to guiding their efforts in monitoring and improving the workplace environment.
The PSES was conducted for the third time from November 2 to December 22, 2005, following the same general approach as the surveys conducted three and six years earlier. Between the 2002 and 2005 surveys, the public service experienced significant changes, including major reorganizations in a number of large departments, the implementation of the Public Service Modernization Act (PSMA), and a continually changing environment in which programs and services are delivered to Canadians.
The public service work environment was influenced by further developments in 2005. Just prior to the launch of the 2005 PSES, Mr. Justice John H. Gomery released the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities. Additionally, during the weeks when public service employees were responding to the survey, the country was in the midst of an election campaign. Media reporting of opinion polls at that time indicated a diminished confidence in the federal government among the Canadian public. These events may have influenced public service employees and their responses to the survey.
It is noteworthy that, in this context, the 2005 PSES yielded a response rate of 58.9%, higher than the response rates obtained in 2002 (57.8%) and 1999 (54.6%). With over 106,000 employees responding to the 2005 survey, there is a high level of confidence in the reliability of the survey results.1
An assessment of the demographic characteristics of respondents confirms that they were representative of the core public service at the time the survey was conducted. In November of 2005, the majority of its employees were aged 40 or older (68%), including a third of employees who were at least 50 years old. French was reported as their first official language by 31% of the public service population while the remaining two-thirds of employees indicated that English was their first official language. Nine out of ten employees had indeterminate status while most of the remainder were term employees, and just under 3% were casuals. Roughly two in five employees (44%) had classifications in the Administration and Foreign Services category. Three of five employees worked in the regions, while the rest worked in the National Capital Region.2
Public service employees remain highly committed to their work. As in 2002, the vast majority of respondents (90%) were proud of the work carried out in their work unit, and nearly all employees (96%) responded that they were strongly committed to making their organization successful. Overall, four out of five employees (82%) felt their organization was a good place to work.
While work environments of public service employees vary greatly, three-quarters (76%) of respondents shared the view that their work unit hired people who could do the job. As in 2002, most employees (78%) reported that they were satisfied with their careers in the public service. As might be expected, more employees perceived opportunities for promotions within the broader public service (54%) than within their department or agency (45%). Respondents were, however, somewhat less optimistic than they were in 2002 about advancement opportunities in their organizations (49% in 2002) and the public service overall (57% in 2002).
Client service is central to the work of the public service. Nearly three-quarters (71%) of employees indicated that their work unit had clearly defined client service standards, while 67% believed that their work unit regularly applied these standards. More than half (55%) of employees reported that there were mechanisms in place within their work unit for relaying client feedback to those employees who could act on the information. Three-quarters (75%) of respondents indicated that they had the flexibility to adapt their services to client needs.
Many employees signalled that the quality of their work often or always suffered as a result of:
- having to do the same or more work but with fewer resources (43%);
- lack of stability in the organization (41%);
- constantly changing priorities (40%);
- too many approval stages (40%); and
- unreasonable deadlines (30%).
At the time of the 2005 survey, several large departments had recently experienced extensive reorganization and major shifts in their mandates. This may have contributed to the considerable increase in concerns in 2005 compared to 2002 with respect to organizational instability, the number of approval stages, and shifting priorities.
Almost one-third of respondents (31%) reported that they had had three or more supervisors during the last three years compared to just over one-quarter (26%) in 2002. Nevertheless, the proportion of employees who indicated that staff turnover had been a significant problem in their work unit during this time period (46%) remained relatively stable compared with 2002.
Three in four (73%) public service employees confirmed that they could clearly explain to others the direction of their organization. At the level of the work unit, the survey results show that a majority of respondents believed that their immediate supervisor kept them informed about work-related issues (73%), discussed expected results (68%), and assessed work against identifiable objectives (64%).
Public service employees confirmed that key elements of teamwork and collaboration were present in their workplaces. More than three-quarters (77%) of employees felt that their immediate supervisor would take their suggestions to improve work practices seriously. Sixty-one per cent of employees confirmed that their work unit periodically took the time to rethink the way it did business, and 84% felt that their work unit learned from its mistakes and corrected them.
Four in five employees (81%) believed that they worked cooperatively with colleagues in their work unit and indicated good ongoing communication with others working on similar projects or issues within their organization (80%, down from 84% in 2002). Two in five employees (41%) believed they had a say in decisions and actions that had an impact on their work. A considerably larger proportion of employees, 72%, agreed that they received recognition from their supervisor when they did a good job.
Public service employees deserve to work in organizations that demonstrate high standards of conduct and accountability. The PSES results show that four out of five employees (83%) agreed that their organization treated them in a respectful manner, and most employees (68%) knew where they could go for help if faced with an ethical dilemma or a conflict between values in the workplace. Views on the fairness of classification and staffing practices, however, varied considerably.
While one in two employees (52%) believed they were classified fairly compared to others doing similar work in the public service, two in five employees (43%) did not share this view. In addition, although most employees (64%) agreed that the selection process for staffing a position in their work unit was done fairly, 29% disagreed that this was the case.
Among those who had been candidates in competitions during the three preceding years, 60% agreed that the competitions were conducted in a fair manner, while almost one-third of respondents (32%) disagreed.3 Two in three employees who had participated in a competition (65%) believed that they had been given the opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities for the position during competitions, but 30% indicated disagreement. Half of all employees (50%) indicated that restrictions in the area of competitions had moderately or significantly affected their career progress in the public service (up from 46% in 2002).
The public service is committed to the use of both official languages in the workplace. Overall PSES results indicate that a large majority of employees feel that their linguistic rights are respected at work. The language issues facing the two official language communities, however, are not always the same.
Employees whose first official language is English were more likely than employees whose first official language is French to feel free to use the language of their choice on a variety of occasions, such as when preparing written materials (94% versus 72%), communicating with their immediate supervisor (92% versus 84%), and during work unit meetings (90% versus 75%). Anglophones were also more likely than Francophones to report that material and tools provided for their work were available in the official language of their choice (96% versus 88%). These results have changed very little since 2002.
While Francophones were more likely to perceive barriers to the use of French on a day-to-day basis, Anglophones were more likely to perceive inadequate access to language training as having long-term consequences for career advancement. The proportion of respondents reporting English as their first official language who perceived that lack of access to language training had significantly affected their career progress increased from 9% in 2002 to 14% in 2005. The figure increased only slightly, from 6% to 7%, for employees who indicated their first official language was French.
The perceived incidence of harassment in the workplace increased by one percentage point since 2002, with 22% of employees indicating that they had experienced harassment on the job in the previous two years. As in 2002, the source of harassment cited most often was either from individuals with authority over employees or from co-workers. The proportion of respondents who indicated they had been the victims of physical violence on the job during that same period remained constant at 2%.
Compared to 2002, slightly fewer respondents believed that their department or agency worked hard to prevent harassment and discrimination (65% in 2005 and 69% in 2002). More than half of employees confirmed they were satisfied with the way matters related to harassment and discrimination were treated by their work unit and by their department or agency. Notably, between one-fifth and a quarter of respondents chose the “don’t know” response for each of these questions.
As was the case three years earlier, 12% of PSES respondents in 2005 reported that discrimination had adversely affected their career progress in the public service either moderately or significantly in the past two years. Overall, the perceived incidence of discrimination in the past two years also remained stable at 17%. As in 2002, 11% of employees reported having experienced discrimination once or twice, while 6% specified more than twice. Similar to the findings of the 2002 PSES, discrimination was most commonly perceived as based on sex, age, national or ethnic origin, and race.
Employees’ perceptions of equality in the workplace have remained stable since the previous survey. As in 2002, a large majority of respondents (90%) believed that every individual in their work unit was accepted as an equal member of the team, regardless of race, colour, gender, or disability.
While just over half of the respondents agreed they were satisfied with the way informal complaints were resolved in their work unit, nearly one-third disagreed. In addition, while three-quarters of employees believed they could disagree with their immediate supervisor on work-related issues without fearing reprisal, only half of employees felt they could initiate a formal redress process without fear of reprisal.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents agreed that their immediate supervisor (78%) and senior managers (72%) respected the provisions of their collective agreements. In general, public service employees expressed less certainty about the quality of the relationship at higher levels within their organization than at the level of their work unit. Large portions of employees responded they did not know if senior management in their organization engaged in meaningful consultation with their union (36%), or if the relationship between their union and senior management was highly productive (42%).
Of those expressing an opinion on these issues, 68% were positive about senior management and union consultation and 56% viewed the union–senior management relationship as highly productive. For the most part, employee perceptions of labour-management relations changed very little from 2002.
The Public Service Labour Relations Act, in effect since April 2005, aims to foster more collaborative labour-management relations across the public service. The results of the PSES give an indication of some challenges ahead.
PSES results provide valuable insights into the learning needs of public service employees. As in 2002 and 1999, almost three-quarters of employees (74%) felt that they received the training needed to do their jobs. Three in five employees (60%) indicated that on-the-job coaching was readily available, compared to 63% in 2002. Although more than half of respondents (53%) indicated that their supervisor helped them determine their learning needs, a sizable proportion disagreed (38%).
The impact of access to learning on career development can be significant. While most employees indicated they had opportunities to develop and apply the skills needed to enhance their careers (62%), one in three employees (34%) did not believe this to be the case. Indeed, the two factors most commonly identified as having a moderately or significantly adverse effect on career progression over the last three years were lack of access to learning opportunities (34%) and developmental assignments (42%).
Just over one-quarter (28%) of PSES respondents reported that they had requested a developmental assignment. Of these, 44% indicated they were denied such an assignment, compared to 41% in 2002. The proportion of employees who were denied an assignment and who believed they had not been given a reasonable explanation for refusal also remained stable at 78%. One in three respondents (32%) agreed they would be reluctant to ask for a developmental opportunity.
Consistent with these findings, the proportion of employees stating that their department or agency did a good job of supporting employee career development decreased from 56% in 2002 to 52% in 2005.
The new Treasury Board Policy on Learning, Training and Development, implemented on January 1, 2006, aims to ensure that public service employees at all levels receive appropriate opportunities to acquire the skills and knowledge they need to carry out their responsibilities effectively.
Although the majority of public service employees reported that they could balance their personal, family, and work needs in their current job (69%), a considerable portion indicated that they could do so sometimes, never, or rarely (31%).
The 2005 PSES results show that a quarter of employees felt that conflicts between work and personal obligations had adversely affected their career progression in the public service moderately to significantly. The issue of work-life balance has received much attention in recent years. Statistics Canada has reported that heavy workloads and long working hours are the most common sources of workplace stress for Canadian employees.4
Three in five employees (59%) agreed that they could complete their assigned workload during their regular work hours, up from 56% in 2002. While 71% of respondents indicated that they had not felt pressured to work more than their regular hours, almost one-quarter of respondents indicated they had been subjected to such pressure (22%).
Overall, the majority of employees (87%) were satisfied with their current work arrangement, whether this involved regular working hours, telework, or a compressed work week. Most respondents stated that the use of flexible work arrangements was supported by senior management (58%) and by their immediate supervisor (69%).
Retention, succession planning, and renewal are important human resource issues across the public service. When asked if they were planning to leave the public service within the next five years, 30% of employees responded that they were. This figure is very similar to the result in 2002. Of those expressing an intention to leave in the next five years, 23% indicated they would leave within the next year, 45% in 1 to 3 years, and 52% in 3 to 5 years.5 Notably, only two-thirds of the portion of employees who indicated in 2002 that they would leave the public service within the next three years, in fact, did so. This indicates that departure intentions do not always translate into actual departures.
It may not be surprising that retirement was cited most often as the reason for leaving the public service considering that the proportion of those aged 55 and older has risen to 13% of respondents in 2005 from 10% in 2002 and 7% in 1999. A number of other factors were also identified as very important reasons for leaving, including health concerns, family obligations, other employment opportunities, the desire to make better use of training and skills, and workplace difficulties or conflicts (see Chart 1 below).
Compared to 2002, a much greater proportion of employees identified retirement as their reason for leaving, while much smaller proportions indicated that they wanted to pursue other employment opportunities or were affected by the end of a contract or term of employment.
Confidence in senior management’s leadership in addressing workplace issues
seems to have decreased since 2002 but remains higher than in 1999. The 2005
survey results show that 47% of public service employees believed that senior
management would try to resolve concerns raised in the survey, compared to 50%
in 2002. In 1999 only 37% of PSES respondents indicated they thought senior
management would act to resolve such issues.
In 2005, relatively fewer employees (32%) felt that senior management had made progress toward resolving the issues raised in the previous survey compared to 2002 (36%). It is notable that for both survey years, the proportion of employees who responded that they did not know was roughly one-third. The implication for management is that employees want to see concrete, visible changes based on their responses.
The 2005 PSES results for individual organizations and their organizational
units will allow employees to view results at the organizational level most
pertinent to them, their organizational unit, and to compare these to the
results for their department or agency as well as the overall public service.
Results will also provide managers with a starting point for meaningful dialogue
with employees regarding the areas of strength, issues of concern, and
appropriate follow-up action that affect their organization and organizational
unit.
The PSES provides a wealth of information supporting in-depth analysis of the linkages between workplace conditions and experiences. The Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada (PSHRMAC) has created the Research Advisory Committee to help prioritize the most relevant human resources–related research issues facing the public service. All departments, agencies, and bargaining agents have been invited to participate in the Committee. The results of PSES research will guide the Research Advisory Committee in developing action plans to respond to the findings of the 2005 survey. Research results and proposed action plans will be disseminated widely and made available on the PSHRMAC website in the late fall of 2006.
- The same survey questions were used in 2005 as in 2002. Additionally, 39 survey questions from the 1999 PSES were retained in both the 2002 and 2005 surveys. Survey results can be tracked over three survey cycles (1999, 2002 and 2005) for these particular questions. Unless otherwise noted, survey response categories have been collapsed for ease of reporting and interpretation. For instance, questions where employees indicated that they mostly agreed, or strongly agreed, have been combined as agree in the summary. In some instances, due to rounding, there is a variance of 1per cent between the section of the report, “Summary of Results,” and the section of the report titled, “What You Told Us . . . Public Service–Wide Results: The Numbers.”
- Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. Incumbent file, November 2005.
- Those who indicated “not applicable” were removed from the total when calculating these figures.
- Williams, Cara. “Sources of Workplace Stress,” Perspectives on Labour and Income. June 2003. Vol. 4, No. 6.
- Respondents were able to choose more than one time frame for leaving. Consequently, percentages may add up to more than 100%.
|
