Civil Service Survey - top ten facts

Last week saw the publication of the Civil Service People Survey results. Here are the top ten things I learned…

1.?????? Overall satisfaction (65%) is down slightly from its peak in 2020 (67%), but still up considerably since 2015 (57%)

2.?????? There are big differences between departments, with 70% of employees at DCMS being satisfied (the “Ministry for Fun” joke is well placed) whilst only 56% of those at HMRC are, and 58% at both Home Office and Cabinet Office. These big differences remind us that the civil service is more like sector than a single organisation, with lots of different parts with very different cultures.

3.?????? The biggest risers were Cabinet Office and FCDO with a rise in 4ppts. This could be explained by last year’s results being coloured by some challenging ministerial-official relationships

4.?????? The biggest change in theme was in satisfaction with pay and benefits, rising 5ppts to 32%, probably reflecting this year’s one-off bonuses, albeit this is still low. (Though note - people are much more (~20ppts) satisfied in Scottish Govt and Welsh Govt.) This is comparable to EY’s findings in our Workforce Reimagined Survey, which shows pay has rocketed up the agenda in the last few years, driven by the cost of living crisis and inflation

5.?????? Satisfaction with managers ranged from 72% in MoD, to 81% in DLHUC – it will be interesting to track the impact of the big push on “line manager capability” lauded in the recent Civil Service People Plan

6.?????? Whilst being middling in terms of overall satisfaction, DWP’s employees were the most motivated by their organsiational purpose (86%), which is good news for anyone jobseeking

7.?????? 22% of people said they wanted to leave in the next year, with 50% of those citing pay as a driver. Again, this chimes with our global surveys

8.?????? 8% of people had been bullied or harassed (slightly up on last year), of whom only 40% of these people reported it, only 23% of whom reported it formally (rather than informally) – this suggests like many organisations, there is work to do on a culture of speaking up

9.?????? Unsurprisingly, the big operational departments (HMRC, DWP, Home Office, MoJ) were most focused on efficiency and productivity, whilst the policy departments were less so. One to watch as the Chancellor’s review of public sector productivity develops

10.?? My learning team will be interested to know that people in DWP are most satisfied with the L&D provision (62%) whilst HMT, Cabinet Office (ironically) and DSIT are least satisfied (all at 50%).

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