On the face of it, things are looking up for those who run Whitehall, judging by the results from this year’s annual survey of civil servants. It’s a large survey, with 279,653 civil servants completing it and an overall response rate of 65%.
The headline finding is that despite five years of cuts and austerity in public services, the engagement score, which amalgamates five survey questions on how civil servants feel about their workplace, has held up since 2009. In its analysis of the survey findings, the Institute for Government thinktank says this is significant: “Despite staff and budget reductions across the civil service morale, measured through the engagement index, has held steady.”
Unsurprisingly, that finding, and the fact that 89% of staff in the survey say they are interested in their work, was welcomed by the head of the civil service Sir Jeremy Heywood. In a blog for civil service staff, he wrote: “The tough financial climate has forced us to make big changes: to reorganise, become more efficient, and deliver more for less. This year’s survey shows again that, despite such changes, most civil servants continue to enjoy their work. Job satisfaction remains at levels I’m sure most organisations would be jealous of.” According to Heywood, the results highlight the resilience and professionalism of civil servants and their dedication to public service.
But as the Institute for Government points out, one reason that civil servants have remained largely positive about their workload, despite reductions in budgets and staff numbers, may be in part because the civil servants who have left in the past five years had more negative views than those who remain.
It also notes a disturbing finding for the government. While there has been an encouraging rise in civil servants’ satisfaction with the way departments are managed – from 38% in 2009 to 43% in 2015 – this still means that over half of staff surveyed this year are feeling negative about leadership and managing change.
In addition, pay and benefits remain a source of unhappiness. Pay and benefits was already the lowest-scoring theme in 2009 (37%) but fell by nine percentage points, to 28% in 2014. Although this has risen to 30% in 2015, it remains the lowest-scoring theme. Only a quarter of civil servants feel their pay is reasonable compared with people doing a similar job in other organisations. The Institute for Government points out that departmental leaders will need to find other ways to motivate their employees as pay restraint continues over the course of this parliament.
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