- The overall results of the 2017 Civil Service Survey are very positive
- Improvement in 22 out of the 24 areas measured
- Civil servants continue to feel highly engaged
- Staff feel an increased level of support from their organisations
- Internationally, the Irish civil service compares favourably in many areas
The Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD, today (Wednesday) published the Report on the results of the 2017 Civil Service Employee Engagement Survey. The Survey, the second in a series of three to be carried out across the civil service, is an important action under the Civil Service Renewal Plan. The result of the Survey, which shows an improvement in 22 out of the 24 areas assessed, are both positive and encouraging.
Speaking at an event to mark the launch of the report Minister Donohoe said: ‘I am very pleased to publish the report on the second Civil Service Employee Engagement Survey. Overall, the results are very positive and I can see the significant progress that has been made in key areas since the first survey was carried out in 2015. The improvement in results since the last survey is evidence that the civil service is continuing on the path to a more unified, professional, responsive, open and accountable place. I am also very pleased to note the increased level of participation in the Survey, which represents the views of over 21,300 civil servants’.
The Minister further added: ‘While the survey results show many strengths, they also highlight areas for improvement in regard to, for example, providing opportunities for greater levels of involvement, creating a more innovative culture and improving performance management. The Civil Service Management Board will continue to consolidate the improvements made to date and will seek to make changes in areas where most work is required’.
The Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Robert Watt, said: ‘The civil service has seen enormous change since we initiated the Civil Service Renewal Plan in late 2014 and embarked on other major significant reform strategies. We recognise that our staff are critical to achieving the ambition in our reform plans, which is why we introduced a series of three biennial Civil Service Employee Engagement Surveys beginning in 2015’.
“The 2015 Survey results provided a baseline to measure employees’ views and perceptions on the performance and operation of the civil service in Ireland. We welcome this latest set of survey results, which reflect the success of the initiatives that have been implemented across the civil service since the first survey which is evident in the increase across all 24 themes, with the exception of ‘Competence’ and ‘Well-being’. We also recognise that further improvements are required in certain areas and this set of results will allow us to focus our efforts where they are most needed’.
Minister Donohoe concluded by saying: ‘I would like to acknowledge the continuing engagement of staff on the renewal agenda and their willingness to embrace the programme of change in the Civil Service Renewal Plan. I also want to acknowledge the work of the Civil Service Management Board (CSMB) that collectively oversees the delivery of the plan and commend their strong leadership on this agenda’.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
What is the Civil Service Renewal Plan?
The Civil Service Renewal Plan was launched in late 2014 to renew the vision for the civil service and take action to make the vision a reality within three years. It is a fundamentally new direction for civil service in Ireland. The Plan forms a central strand of the overall Public Service
Reform Programme and is included in the Government’s Public Service Reform Plan (published in
January 2014).
The Renewal Plan focuses on driving practical change through 25 specific actions in four key areas:
- Unified – Managing the civil service as a single unified organisation;
- Professional – Maximising the performance and potential of all civil service employees and organisations;
- Responsive – Changing our culture, structure and processes so that we become more agile, flexible and responsive;
- Open and Accountable – Continuously learning and improving by being open to external ideas, challenge and debate.
What is the Civil Service Management Board?
The Civil Service Management Board (CSMB) is made up of all Secretaries General and Heads of Offices and is chaired by the Secretary General to the Government. The Board’s immediate focus is on overseeing the implementation of the priorities set out in the Civil Service Renewal Plan.
What is the Civil Service Employee Engagement Survey?
Under Action 25 of the Civil Service Renewal Plan, the Civil Service committed to carrying out a series of three biennial surveys, beginning in September 2015. The survey is developed and run by the Central Statistics Office. It asks civil servants for their views on working in the civil service, focusing on areas such as employee engagement, well-being, coping with change and commitment to the organisation. Departments and Offices put in place a variety of initiatives in response to the results. The second survey was carried out in 2017 and the report being launched today details these results and how they have changed since 2015.
What are the Key Messages of the 2017 Civil Service Employee Engagement Survey?
- The overall results of the 2017 Civil Service survey are very positive
The results of the survey are very positive overall and reflect the impact of the interventions implemented by the Civil Service Renewal Programme, the Civil Service Management Board and Departmental action plans. All scores have increased across the 24 themes, with the exception of Competence and Well-being. These results show the value of regularly surveying staff followed by acting on their feedback.
- Civil servants continue to feel highly engaged
A key aim of this survey was to measure levels of engagement. Engagement levels across the civil service continue to be high (72%) and show that civil servants have a strong sense of connection with their work. Staff also feel that their work has value, meaning and purpose. The increase in response rate from 39% in 2015 to 56% in 2017 is an indicator of the increase in engagement by civil servants and an appreciation of the value of consultation and subsequent action.
- Staff feel an increased level of support from their organisations
Increases are most evident in organisational areas, for example in ‘Organisational Support’, ‘Manager Career Support’, ‘Career Development’ and ‘Mobility, Leadership and Learning and Development’. These improvements reflect the initiatives which have taken place across the civil service since the 2015 Survey.
- Themes which had lower scores in 2015 have experienced the highest increases
Themes with lower scores in the 2015 Employee Engagement Survey generally saw the largest increases. The improvements in these challenging areas are evidence of ongoing measures and initiatives made across Departments/Organisations following the 2015 Survey.
- Civil servants continue to feel more positive about their own work and areas over which they have individual control
The results show that civil servants continue to feel more positive about their own work and areas over which they have individual control, for example ‘Competence’, ‘Employee Engagement’ and ‘Autonomy’. Civil servants are highly resilient and are able to deal with work-related challenges, they have a belief in their own ability to carry out the work required for their role and they feel they have the right skills for their role.
- Staff still feel less positive about their organisations than their own individual areas of work
While the results suggest that civil servants are confident about their own area of work, they are still markedly less positive about their organisational domain. They have concerns about the management of underperformance and climates of involvement and innovation in their organisations. These findings, whilst showing improvements since 2015, contrast with civil servants’ positive view of their own work and their immediate working environment.
- Staff continue to feel that there is not a sufficient culture of involvement
The result for Involvement Climate is the joint-lowest result in the 2017 CSEES. This measures the extent to which civil servants feel that they are involved openly in decision making in their organisation. The result shows that only a minority of civil servants feel openly involved in decision making in their Department or Office, particularly those at lower grades.
- Staff still feel that the public does not value their contribution
Although staff are increasingly aware of the impact of their work on the general public, despite some improvement, they feel that this contribution is not valued by the wider public. There is evidence of a disparity in relation to the extent to which civil servants feel that their work has an impact on the public and their perception of the value placed by the public on their work. This challenging finding is also in stark contrast to the results of the Civil Service Customer Service Survey 2017 and previous iterations, which consistently showed that citizens are satisfied with the civil service.
- Staff at lower grades feel less positive than those at higher grades
There are significant differences of perceptions between grades across some of the themes, e.g. ‘Commitment to the Organisation’, ‘Autonomy’ and ‘Meaningfulness’. In general, the higher the grade the more positive the result, which may reflect a higher level of autonomy at more senior levels and a hierarchical culture in the civil service.
- Staff still do not feel their organisation supports a culture of innovation
The result shows that staff do not believe that ideas are readily accepted in their organisation. They believe that their organisations are not quick to spot the need to do things differently and are not sufficiently searching for new ways of solving problems. There is a disparity across the grades with higher results at senior grades, decreasing to lower results at lower grades which may indicate that staff at higher grades feel they have more freedom and space to be innovative.
- Staff do not see any meaningful improvements in the management of poor performance
This result is one of the lowest in the survey and one of the more challenging results to emerge. The majority of staff continue to feel that poor performance is not being effectively addressed throughout their Departments. There is a disparity across age profiles with younger staff having significantly more positive views with regard to the how performance is managed.
- Internationally, the Irish civil service compares favourably in some areas but not in all
Internationally, the Irish civil service compares favourably in some areas but not in all. The results for ‘Engagement’, ‘Citizen Impact’ and ‘Commitment to Civil Service Renewal’ compare favourably with international civil service survey results. For some themes, a direct international comparison is unavailable. However there are a number of areas where the score is less favourable than our international counterparts, for example ‘Organisational Support’, ‘Manager Career Support’, ‘Career Development and Mobility’ and ‘Job Skills Match’. These are important areas that require further attention and focus going forward.