The latest civil service survey shows a mixed picture as the civil service goes through a period of huge change and job cuts. Civil servants are still interested in their work, but have concerns about pay and the way they are managed.
A large number of civil servants, 274,080, took part in this year’s survey in October 2014, which covers about 60% of the workforce in 101 different organisations. But many civil servants do not fill in the survey. The PCS union, which initially supported the annual survey when it began in 2009, has become increasingly concerned about the way the results are used, or ignored, and took a decision at its annual conference to ask its members not to fill in the survey.
Cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood, writing for Guardian Public Leaders, said the headline figures show a civil service “not apprehensive about change but embracing it and getting on with the job”. Heywood pointed to the high scores for the numbers who are interested in their work (89%), believe they have the skills and tools they need to do their jobs (89%), feel trusted to do so effectively (89%), and are confident in the respect of their colleagues (84%). He said sickness absence in the civil service, which is not part of this survey, has fallen to its lowest level, with an average of 6.3 days a year – down from 7.9 days in 2009.
“This is not to ignore the very real concerns that civil servants have over the impact of change,” said Heywood. The survey shows that civil servants are particularly concerned about pay, changing working conditions and leadership and management.
Of the 10% of respondents who feel they have experienced some form of discrimination at work, a third feel this relates to their grade, pay band or responsibility level, which bears out what the Guardian Public Leaders Network has been hearing from a wide range of civil servants about changes in their work, particularly the move to a performance ranking system which identifies the lowest 10% of staff in departments.
Three quarters of civil servants are unhappy about their pay – only 24% feel their pay is reasonable when compared with staff doing a similar job in other organisations.
Only 44% of those in the survey have confidence in the leadership of their organisation, only 31% feel change is managed well, and only 30% said that when changes were made, they were for the better. A further 35% did not feel valued for the work they do.
- This article was corrected on 20 November to give the correct number of respondents who had experienced discrimination at work due to grade, pay band or responsibility level.
Read more:
- Heywood: Despite dispiriting tales, civil service morale has held up well
- Civil service morale: ‘You dread going into work in the morning’
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