Our people

Employee engagement refers to an employee’s connection to their organisation. It is a global measure of employee experience and in this report is expressed as an index score out of 100. Employee engagement has a strong connection to productivity, making it a key indicator of the sector’s overall performance.

Many factors influence engagement, including leadership, a positive and inclusive work culture, wellbeing, manager support, accountability and flexible working arrangements. This year, employee engagement improved slightly, from 64.2 to 64.5. This result reflects our collective efforts to support the long-term sustainability of our workforce. 

The public sector still has more to do to lift engagement to its previous high of 67.2 in 2021, but it is encouraging to see that our efforts have started to pay off. Further increasing engagement will require a multi-pronged approach that is tailored to our workforce’s needs. Key areas agencies can focus on include workplace wellbeing initiatives, professional development opportunities and increased support for employees through changes that affect their work.

Access to learning and development helps employees achieve their performance and career goals. Learning and development also helps agencies develop the most effective employee capabilities for delivering business outcomes.

Commitment to professional development is consistently a top driver of employee engagement in the NSW public sector. In the current constrained budgetary environment, we need to be careful not to pull back sharply on investment in people, as this can be a false economy. Agencies need to target learning and development initiatives carefully, so employees have the critical skills and capabilities they need to be successful in their roles now and in the future.

Since 2022, there has been a slight increase in employees’ favourable perceptions of learning and development, which is consistent with the increase in employee engagement.

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2022, 2023)

Building an inclusive and diverse workforce is critical to providing high-quality services for the people of NSW. We know unequivocally that when we create a more inclusive workplace in which people feel they belong, we foster a positive culture and enhance our productivity. Belonging and inclusion are key to ensuring our workforce reflects the diversity of the people we serve.

• Inclusion enables genuine participation and contribution, so that everyone feels a sense of belonging at work regardless of their background, identity or circumstances.
• Diversity refers to the seen and unseen characteristics that make each individual different. For the public sector, a diverse workforce reflects the breadth of differences within the communities we serve.

A diverse workforce alone does not equate to a successful workforce. To realise the benefits of diversity, workplaces must also be inclusive. In an inclusive workplace, culture, leadership, systems and work practices combine to help employees feel comfortable bringing their whole self to work. It also encourages them to be open and share their lived experiences to uplift workplace inclusion for everyone. Inclusion enables genuine participation and contribution, regardless of seen or unseen individual differences. Inclusion helps drive improvements in organisational performance, effectiveness, innovation and customer service.¹

Work to improve the diversity of the public sector workforce is ongoing, with varying levels of progress in different areas. As the public sector grows in maturity and capability, it is time to apply an intersectional approach to increasing belonging and inclusion. The PSC’s newly established Inclusion Council will incorporate advice from a broad and overlapping range of demographic groups to put lived experience at the centre of policy and services, and to embody equity, inclusion, diversity and cultural capability in practice. 

Increasing diversity in the senior executive cohort in the sector is also an ongoing challenge. While we have seen progress in the representation of women and an increase in the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander senior leaders, our work with CALD employees is still evolving and we look forward to working with the sector to accelerate our progress. Central to these opportunities is a willingness to challenge outdated stereotypes and embrace the mindset that there is no one way to be a leader. Our ongoing strengths as a cohesive and effective public sector must come from our diversity, reflecting the people we serve. 

Central to the Closing the Gap Priority Reform on the transformation of government, the sector must continue to improve how we work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues and communities. The Everyone’s Business training package, developed by the PSC for the sector, provides opportunities to improve the cultural capability of our workforce. However, there is more to do across the sector to ensure that we embed a partnership approach with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and communities.

There is also significant work to be done to enhance the belonging and inclusion of people with disability in the workforce. Boosting the employment of people with disability in the public sector is an ongoing focus that is discussed in more detail later in this report.

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2022, 2023)

Note: A comparison to the 2022 overall score was not possible because one of the questions that contributed to the 2023 overall score has changed.

‘Tenure’ refers to the time that an employee has worked for an organisation. ‘Intention to stay’ refers to an employee’s desire and willingness to remain with their current organisation. Intention to stay can be influenced by many aspects of the employee experience, including engagement.

Intention to stay is a leading indicator of turnover. However, an intention does not always translate into an action. A certain amount of turnover in any organisation is healthy. The wide-ranging nature of the functions performed by NSW public sector agencies makes it difficult to determine whether the sector’s overall level of turnover is healthy or unhealthy. It is important for agencies to combine intention to stay and turnover data with other People Matter survey data and with information obtained from staff exit surveys. This will help agencies to understand what is driving employee turnover within the context of their specific workplaces.

Remuneration or pay for NSW public sector employees is determined by several Acts, regulations and rules managed by various NSW government sector agencies. Employees’ remuneration and conditions differ depending on the legislative and industrial instruments that apply to their job type and employing agency.

¹ Diversity Council Australia, 2017

² Department of Premier and Cabinet (2022)

³ Australian Bureau of Statistics (June 2023)

⁴ Based on full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings in Australia; Australian Bureau of Statistics (May 2023)