The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) has released the 2020 APS Employee Census reports collected by most APS Agencies as well as the combined APS-wide report.
Unveiling the information, APS Commissioner Peter Woolcott congratulated the Agencies that chose to reveal their data, saying that it was by sharing insights from the employee Census that the Service could continue to demonstrate its commitment to transparency and accountability.
“This is the second year Agencies have had the option to publicly release their APS Employee Census results,” Mr Woolcott said.
“It was like no Census we have seen before, so it was encouraging to see nearly 80 per cent of Agencies have elected to share their results publicly.”
He said the Census sought the views of APS staff on a range of workforce aspects such as job satisfaction, leadership, employee engagement and wellbeing.
“In 2020, the Census was shaped to better reflect the unique environment the APS faced due to COVID-19,” Mr Woolcott said.
He said the 2020 Census showed an increase in positive perceptions among staff of effective communication, senior leadership, change management and employee engagement.
He said that across the Service, the Wellbeing Index had increased from 67 per cent in 2019 to 70 per cent in 2020 and the Employee Engagement Index from 72 per cent to 73 per cent.
“A larger proportion of respondents (85 per cent) indicated they believed strongly in the purpose and objectives of the APS than in 2019 (82 per cent),” the Commissioner said.
“Almost half (49 per cent) of all respondents indicated their productivity had improved.”
Mr Woolcott said most APS employees reported that they worked at capacity (32 per cent) or above capacity (59 per cent) with 80 per cent agreeing that their workgroup had used the COVID-19 crisis to improve the way in which they worked.
The Agency-level Census reports are available on most of the relevant Agency websites as well as the APSC’s Employee Census page.
Access to all the reports can be found on the APSC website at this PS News link.
