PMES 2017

The People Matter 2017: Main Findings report for the NSW public sector contains detailed results at sector and cluster levels. 

The findings show the many strengths of the NSW public sector workforce:

• Employee engagement across the sector remains steady at 65% (p5)
• Engagement with work remains strong at 72% (p11)
• More employees feel that action will be taken on the feedback they provide (p51)
• Job satisfaction has increased across all clusters (p14)
• Service to customers was the highest ranked public service value (p31)
• 85% agree that their workgroup strives to achieve customer/client satisfaction (p32)
• 78% agree that their workgroup works collaboratively to achieve its objectives (p21)
• 75% have had informal feedback from their manager (p24)
• 74% agree that people in their workgroup treat each other with respect (p32)
• 74% agree that personal background is not a barrier to success (p38)
• 70% feel that their manager communicates effectively with them (p20)
• 69% feel that their organisation focuses on improving its work (p21).

The findings also highlight employee concerns that need to be addressed:

• There has been a downward trend in bullying and other types of unacceptable behaviour over the 2012, 2014 and 2016 surveys (p35) but further work is required in this area. Sector wide and agency level campaigns are ongoing and gaining traction.
• Views about recruitment practices are generally low, and the level of agreement varies across clusters (p28).
• Performance management is improving but not yet fully embedded. The majority of comments suggest there are gaps relating to implementation to be addressed (p25).
• Overall, employees are more positive about their immediate work environment (job, workgroup and direct manager) and less positive about the more distant environment (senior managers and the organisation).
• Leadership and the perception of senior managers remain a challenge across the sector, a finding that leaders will be working to reverse.

Responses from individual employees are confidential and strict rules are in place to safeguard privacy at every stage of the survey process.

Public sector organisations receive reports that summarise the response from their employees. The results are used by organisations to identify areas of good practice and to make improvements where needed using the evidence from the survey.

The Public Service Commission uses the results to report on the overall performance of the public sector and to inform different types of sector wide workforce management initiatives.

Most importantly, the results of the survey can be used throughout the sector by employees, managers and work groups. The Public Service Commission encourages all employees and managers to engage with the results of the survey and think about how change can be affected at an individual, organisational and systems level to improve workplace practices.