Chapter 3: Job satisfaction, communication and productivity

Abbreviations

A list of the abbreviations used in this report is available in the Glossary

Key chapter findings

The findings for this chapter provide some positive indicators to suggest that, overall, the APS is a healthy institution, with high levels of employee engagement.

The results of the employee engagement factor analysis indicate a healthy APS, with the majority of employees satisfied with eight of the 10 factors relevant to employee engagement.

Job satisfaction in the APS continues to be relatively high. At the same time, a large proportion of survey respondents reported that they are proud to work in the APS (80%), and in their agencies (71%), a substantial increase on the figures for 2005.

Good working relationships continues to be ranked first among the workplace factors that are most important to employees, and achieves the highest satisfaction rating. It is also the only factor to be nominated among the five most important job satisfaction factors for all demographic groups.

The top five ranking job satisfaction factors have remained fairly stable since the employee survey beganin 2003, and have included good working relationships, flexible working arrangements, regular feedback/ recognition for effort, salary, good manager, interesting work provided and opportunities to utilise my skills. These are likely to be the main factors for APS agencies to focus on in considering the job satisfactionof their employees. However, even the bottom ranking factor (chance to be creative or innovative) was selected by almost a quarter of survey respondents. Agencies need to be mindful of the diverse needs and preferences of their employees and the importance of all the job satisfaction factors.

This year’s job satisfaction results, consistent with previous years’ results, suggest that there is a strong relationship between classification and both an employee’s level of job satisfaction and the factors that contribute to them being satisfied. Other than good working relationships which is important at all levels, APS 1–6 and SES employees rank distinctly different factors among the workplace factors that are most important to them, and this has held over the four years of the employee survey. APS 1–6 employeescontinue to put greater weight on management factors such as flexible working arrangements and feedback, and SES employees are more influenced by factors related to the intrinsic nature of their work.

Very positive results were achieved in relation to employees’ strong understanding of the connection between their work, what is expected of them, and the strategy of their organisations. This reflects the strong focus that the APS has placed on aligning the work of employees with the overall business focusof their organisations in recent years.

Employees were also relatively satisfied with the communication attributes of their immediate supervisors. Nevertheless, there is room for improvement in relation to workplace consultation, particularly in termsof involving employees in decisions that impact on them or their work.

Employee perceptions of communication by their senior leaders were lower than their general levels of satisfaction with their immediate supervisors. This is not unexpected and is consistent with other surveys. Employees appear to be more likely to have a positive perception of managers and leaders to whom theyhave close proximity. However, the variation in results between agencies suggests that there is scope for improvement.

The survey results continue to show positive employee perceptions of their own productivity. There is a range of factors that employees believe play a role in increasing individual productivity and this varies considerably among individual employees.That said, good working relationships and the role of managersfeature strongly as factors which can have a positive impact. Notably, both are areas where employees who rate these factors as important express relatively high levels of satisfaction. Overwhelmingly, however, employees identify increased knowledge and experience on the job as the most important contributor to productivity improvements.

The survey results suggest there is an association between perceptions of increased productivity and higher than average levels of job satisfaction. This supports the idea that, by increasing job satisfaction— the foundation of employee engagement—agencies can achieve improvements in productivity. Nevertheless, it is important to recognise that employee engagement is only one element contributing to productivity improvement. Strategies to improve employee engagement need to be part of a comprehensive approach to agency performance.