Our people

Employee engagement is about a person’s connection to their organisation. It is a global measure of employee experience, which is an important measure for the sector as it can be a proxy for productivity and, therefore, the sector’s overall performance. 

Many factors influence engagement, including leadership, a positive and inclusive work culture, wellbeing, manager support, accountability and flexible work. Employee engagement across the sector has fallen since last year. This may be due to the effects that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and repeated emergencies have had on our people. 

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2018–22)

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2021, 2022)

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2021, 2022)

Note: The 2022 People Matter survey included a new question about cultural background. Therefore, 2021 comparison scores for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are not available.

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2018–22)

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2021, 2022)

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. 

The People Matter survey results consistently shows that learning and development is a key driver of employee engagement. There has been a decrease in favourable employee perceptions of learning and development compared to last year, which is consistent with the decline in employee engagement this year. 

Employee perceptions of learning and development, 2022 vs 2021

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2021, 2022)

Wellbeing means feeling good, functioning well, and experiencing satisfaction and fulfilment in work and life. The wellbeing score is an aggregate of an employee’s self-assessment of their general wellbeing, on a scale of 0 to 10, and their response to another People Matter survey question in which they rate their agreement with the following statement: “I can keep my work stress at an acceptable level”.

The decrease in wellbeing of public sector employees is consistent with the decrease in employee engagement. It may reflect the toll that the pandemic and repeated emergencies have had on employees.

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2021, 2022)

Note: The 2021 wellbeing scores have been recalculated to exclude a question that was not used in the 2022 People Matter survey. The 2022 People Matter survey included a new question about cultural background. Therefore, 2021 comparison scores for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are not available.

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2021, 2022)

Employee feelings of burnout

In 2022, the PSC added a question about burnout to the People Matter survey. Burnout is an emerging employee experience issue, with research indicating a significant link between it and increased job demand related to the pandemic. The People Matter survey results provide insight into employee perceptions of burnout within the sector and its relationship to other experiences in the workplace. 

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2022)

The score for burnout in the NSW public sector is comparable to other jurisdictions. The Australian Public Service Commission and Queensland Public Service Commission have both reported a burnout score of 34% in 2021. ¹

In 2022, 25.8% of employees had recreation leave balances of 30 days or more, an increase of 1.7pp since 2021 (24.1%) and an increase of 5.8pp since 2019. Encouraging use of excess leave can improve work–life balance and can help reduce feelings of burnout.
 

Hours of paid unscheduled absence per full-time equivalent employee, 2018–22

Source: Workforce Profile (2018–22)

Building an inclusive and diverse workforce is a key pillar in the NSW public sector’s plan to provide a world class public service. 

• Inclusion enables a genuine participation and contribution so that everyone feels a sense of belonging at work regardless of 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 community it serves.

A diverse workforce alone does not equate to a successful workforce. To realise the benefits of diversity, it must also be inclusive. In an inclusive workplace, the 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 to be themselves. Inclusion enables genuine participation and contribution, regardless of seen and unseen individual differences. Inclusion helps drive improvements in organisational performance, effectiveness, greater innovation, and better customer service.²

Employee perceptions of inclusion and diversity, 2022 vs 2021

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2021, 2022)

Note: A comparison to the 2021 overall score is not possible because one question contributing to the 2022 overall score has changed.

Employee voice is about ensuring that employees feel like they can speak up and be heard. It helps to support an effective and dynamic employee-employer relationship.

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2021, 2022)

Note: The 2021 score has been recalculated to exclude a question that was not used in the 2022 People Matter survey.

Sources: Workforce Profile (2021, 2022); ABS (2021a, 2021b)

Sources: Workforce Profile (2021, 2022); ABS (2021c, 2021d)

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2021, 2022)

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2021, 2022)

Source: Workforce Profile (2013–22)

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2022)

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2021, 2022)

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2021, 2022)

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2021, 2022)

The Premier’s Priority for attaining a world class public service involves implementing best practices to increase productivity and digital capability. It also involves increasing diversity, so that by 2025: 

• 50% of senior leadership roles are held by women 
• there are 114 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in senior leadership roles 
• 5.6% of government sector roles are held by people with a disability. 

Delivering on this priority by 2025 will achieve parity for women in leadership and result in 10,000 more people with disability employed across the NSW Government sector. The sector has already achieved and exceeded the goal of having 114 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in senior leadership roles.   

Source: Workforce Profile (2021, 2022); ABS (2022c, 2022d)

Source: Workforce Profile (2018–22)

Women in senior leadership, 2014–22, and 2025 target and projection scenarios

The PSC has used Workforce Profile data to forecast the representation of women in senior leadership by 2025 under three different scenarios. To achieve its target, the NSW public sector needs to recruit 6 women for every 10 senior leadership roles. This improvement will only be achieved if the NSW public sector accelerates its efforts to develop a pipeline of female leaders, and identifies and removes the obstacles in the recruitment process that impede women’s advancement to senior levels. The future pipeline of senior leaders is strong, with over 50% representation of women in grade 11/12 roles.

Source: Workforce Profile (2014–22)

Notes: Scenario 1 uses the average historical recruitment rate. Scenario 2 uses a minimum 50% female recruitment rate. Scenario 3 uses a minimum 60% female recruitment rate. Senior leaders are non-casual government sector employees with a salary equal to or higher than $169,638 at 1 July 2021, excluding Health roles of a specialist or technical nature with no leadership or managerial responsibilities, and Justice roles with a statutory or institutional character (such as judge, magistrate or barrister).

Source: Workforce Profile (2021, 2022), ABS (2021b, 2021)

Representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in government sector, by non-executive grade, 2022 vs 2018

The refreshed Aboriginal Employment Strategy 2019-2025 maintains our commitment to 3% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation at all non-executive salary levels by 2025.

Source: Workforce Profile (2018–22)

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in senior leadership,
2014–22 and 2025 target

Source: Workforce Profile (2014–22)

Note: Senior leaders are non-casual government sector employees with a salary equal to or higher than $169,638 at 1 July 2021, excluding Health roles of a specialist or technical nature with no leadership or managerial responsibilities, and Justice roles with a statutory or institutional character (such as judge, magistrate or barrister).

Source: Workforce Profile (2021, 2022); ABS (2018a, 2018b)

Note: 5.5% of 2022 People Matter survey respondents identified as having a disability.

People with disability, 2013–22 and 2025 target

Source: Workforce Profile (2013–22)

‘Tenure’ refers to the time that an employee has spent in 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, intention doesn’t always translate into action. A certain amount of turnover in any organisation is healthy. The wide-ranging nature of 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 understand what is driving employee turnover within the context of their specific workplaces

Source: Workforce Profile (2021, 2022)

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2021, 2022)  

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

Source: Workforce Profile (2021, 2022)

Source: Workforce Profile (2013-22)

Source: Workforce Profile (2021, 2022)

Note: Employee salary is the full-time base remuneration for the role, regardless of whether the employee is working part time or full time. The PSC used the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) method of calculating the gender pay gap, which measures the difference between the full-time median remuneration of men and women, relative to the median remuneration of men.

Source: Workforce Profile (2021, 2022)

Note: The data includes senior executives in bands 1–3 in the NSW government sector, specifically Public Service senior executives and aligned executive services (Health Service, Transport Service and NSW Police Force)

¹ Australian Public Service Commission, 2021; Queensland Public Service Commission, 2021.

² Diversity Council Australia, 2017