Attraction, recruitment and retention

Retention

Strategies for retaining valued employees are as important a part of workforce planning as strategies aimed at attracting and recruiting new employees. As shown in Figure 4.1, most APS agencies reported having a range of retention challenges in the past 12 months, including the loss of valued mature-aged employees and graduates, and higher than acceptable employee turnover.

Agencies’ retention strategies

The majority of agencies (64%) reported using retention strategies in 2006–07. However, this result was lower than that for agencies using attraction and recruitment strategies (81%).

As for agencies’ attraction and recruitment strategies, the primary target group for their retention strategies was people with specific skills sets (63% of agencies). A much smaller proportion of agencies also reported the use of generic retention strategies that were not targeted at any particular group (32% of agencies), followed by strategies that targeted older workers and graduates (both 23% of agencies), and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (21% of agencies).

Agencies’ retention strategies include tailored employment packages targeted at older workers (to keep them at work longer), using the flexibilities available through Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) to tailor valued employees’ employment conditions and benefits, alumni programmes, networks for specific groups such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, enhanced induction programmes, prioritised learning and development, study awards, and career development opportunities.

Only a minority of agencies (23%) had specific retention strategies in place for their graduates (recruited through a formal graduate programme). The most common retention strategies used for this group were:

a graduate mentoring programme whilst on the graduate programme
immediate advancement to APS 4 level or higher on completion of the graduate programme
a graduate network.

Intentions to stay or leave agency

This year’s employee survey explored the issue of retention in some detail. It asked employees if they intended to leave their agency within the next two years, and to identify their reasons for intending to do so. If employees intended to stay with their agency over the next two years, or were uncertain about their intentions, they were asked to identify their reasons for remaining in their agency.

Employees’ intentions about leaving or staying with their agency within the next two years are presented in Table 4.3. The majority of employees, 55%, intend to stay with their current agency, with a minority, 21%, not being sure. A total of 16% of current employees intend to leave for another job, most intending to go to another APS agency. Five per cent intend to find a job outside the APS.

The group most likely to intend to leave the APS is younger employees. This group is clearly the most mobile with only 38% intending to stay in their current agency over the next two years.

Table 4.3: Do you intend to leave your agency in the next two years?, 2006–07
	Yes—retiring %	Yes—job in another APS agency %	Yes—job outside the APS %	Yes—other %	No %	Not sure %
APS-wide	4	11	5	5	55	21
<25 years	0	18	8	15	38	22
45–54 years	3	10	3	4	62	17
APS 1–6	3	11	5	5	56	21
ELs	5	11	6	4	51	23
SES	7	15	4	2	51	21
Service delivery	4	8	6	4	63	15
Policy	3	15	4	3	53	22
Source: Employee survey

Mature-aged employees and those working in service delivery jobs and exercising regulatory authority roles are most likely to intend to stay with their current agency. Those most likely to intend to leave their agency are younger employees, employees in corporate services (for another APS agency) and those working in research (for a job outside the APS).

The proportion of employees intending to stay with their current agency for the next two years varied considerably, from 74% (BoM) to a low of 20%, indicating that the retaining power of agencies varies significantly.

Reasons for leaving agency

Table 4.4 presents data on the reasons why those employees who intend to leave their agency within the next two years plan to do so (excluding those leaving to retire). The top three reasons APS-wide are: desire to try a different type of work or seeking a career change; lack of future career opportunities in the agency; and desire to gain further experience. These are also the top three reasons for employees at the APS 1–6 and EL classifications, and for those working in policy jobs. However, the reasons vary somewhat for other groups.

Younger people were more likely to leave an agency because of their desire to gain further experience, to try different work or to change careers, or because their interests do not match the responsibilities of their job. Reasons that become more common as employees get older are lack of future career opportunities, lack of recognition, and senior leadership being of poor quality.

The reasons for leaving do not vary significantly among employees at different classifications, with the exception being that inadequate remuneration ranks third with SES employees, but does not rank in the top five for the other classifications (inadequate remuneration ranked eighth APS-wide). The top three reasons for intending to leave were much the same for most agencies, but there was still variation. An employee’s immediate manager being ineffective, for example, was a reason that ranked tenth APS-wide, but in one agency this was the most important reason for employees intending to leave.

Reasons for leaving also varied somewhat by type of work. Employees involved in service delivery roles, for example, ranked a lack of recognition for doing a good job and lack of respect as the third and fourth most common reasons for intending to leave, whereas these reasons ranked eighth and seventh for those in a policy role respectively. Respect was not in the top five reasons for any other group.

Table 4.4: Reasons for intending to leave agency, 2006–07
Reasons for leaving	APS wide %	<25 years %	45–54 years %	APS 1–6 %	ELs %	SES %	Service delivery %	Policy %
Different work/career change	38	59	24	38	37	36	51	40
Lack of career opportunities	36	21	38	36	37	25	34	24
Gain experience	34	47	24	34	34	45		43
Senior leaders	23		27	22	26			22
Recognition	22		26	21	23	21	33
Respect							29
Remuneration						30
Relocate		21						21
Lack of development opportunities							26
Interests not matching job		27
Source: Employee survey

Reasons for staying

The top five reasons for staying with an agency were different from the top five reasons for leaving, although there was some commonality (see Table 4.5). APS-wide, the top reason for leaving, the desire to try a different type of work or career change, for example, is inversely related to the second ranked reason for intending to stay with an agency, that is, being content with current job.

When the reason ‘being content with current job’ is considered, along with the reason ‘my interests match the responsibility of the job’, which ranked second and fourth respectively APS-wide, and in the top five reasons for most groups, it is clear that an employee’s satisfaction with their current job is of prime importance in keeping employees in an agency.

The most important reason for employees intending to stay with their current agency, however, was that they are able to achieve a good work-life balance. This is true APS-wide and of all groups, with the exception of SES employees. Good working relationships ranked third APS-wide, and in the top five reasons for all groups with the exception of SES employees and those working in a policy role.

Table 4.5: Reasons for intending to stay with agency, 2006–07
Reasons for staying	APS wide %	<25 years %	45–54 years %	APS 1–6 %	ELs %	SES %	Service delivery %	Policy %
Work-life balance	55	53	51	58	48		56	51
Content with job	52	44	49	53	47	53	50	45
Working relationships	32	41	30	32	31		33
Interests match job	28		28	25	37	48		39
Remuneration	26		28	24	32		29	30
Career opportunities		62						34
Making a difference						46	28
Recognition						39
Development opportunities		30
Working on ‘leading edge’ projects						35
Source: Employee survey

SES employees displayed the greatest level of difference in relation to the top five reasons influencing their intention to stay with their agency. Three of their top five reasons were different from the top five reasons APS-wide. These were the ability to contribute to making a difference to the lives of Australians (third), recognition for doing a good job (fourth) and the opportunity to work on innovative or ‘leading edge’ projects (fifth).

Not surprisingly, younger employees place more weight on good career and development opportunities in their agency, whereas remuneration becomes a more important reason for intending to stay with their current agency as employees get older. Reasons for intending to stay also vary by the type of work that employees do. While the top two reasons are consistent among employees doing different types of work (work-life balance and content with current job), interests that match the responsibilities of the employee’s job was more important to those working in policy and research. Good career opportunities were also more important for those working in policy but less important for those working in legal areas—the legal group put more weight on remuneration than did employees doing any other type of work.

Emplyees in most agencies reported the same top five reasons for intending to stay. The relative importance of reasons varied, however—sometimes significantly. The opportunity to work on innovative or ‘leading edge’ projects, for example, did not rank in the top ten reasons APS-wide but ranked as one of the most important reasons for employees in DHS.

Key retention issues

When the reasons for employees intending to leave their agencies are combined with the reasons for others intending to stay, the top seven issues that appear to affect retention for APS employees are:

work-life balance
satisfaction with current job
career and development opportunities
working relationships
quality of senior leaders
remuneration
recognition.

There is considerable overlap between these retention issues and the job satisfaction attributes reported in Chapter 3. This is not surprising given the strong relationship between the broad concept of employee job satisfaction and retention within agencies. The proportion of employees who intend to leave their agency in the next two years ranged from a low of 14% for those who recorded very high job satisfaction (9–10 on the satisfaction index) to a high of 70% for those who recorded very low job satisfaction (0–2 on the job satisfaction index).

Most of the key issues affecting retention are discussed in other chapters—work-life balance and working relationships in Chapter 3 and recognition and quality of senior leaders in Chapter 7. Remuneration, because it is of interest for reasons other than just retention, is dealt with in more detail later in this chapter. This section looks at the remaining key retention issues—satisfaction with current job and career and development opportunities.

Satisfaction with current job

The Current Job factor, that emerged from the factor analysis of issues associated with employee engagement reported in Chapter 3, is a summary indicator of employees’ views on a range of aspects about their current job. It is narrower than the concept of job satisfaction used in Chapter 3 as it focuses specifically on the actual job (rather than the work environment too). It includes views about how much employees enjoy their job, their job motivation, how the job uses their skills and knowledge, their sense of accomplishment from their job and if their job helps their career aspirations.²⁰

The majority of APS employees, 72%, report being satisfied with the Current Job factor. Results among agencies with individual agency-specific results, however, varied significantly—from a low of 58% to a high of 86%.

Satisfaction with the Current Job factor increased strongly with classification level, ranging from 69% for APS 1–6 employees to 94% for SES employees. Employees younger than 25 years of age had lower satisfaction levels than employees in older age groups.

Career and development opportunities

Employees tend to be less satisfied with their career and development opportunities than they are with their current job. Employees were asked if they were satisfied with the opportunities for career progression and for development in their current agency. Satisfaction levels were slightly higher with development opportunities (53%) than for career progression opportunities (45%). The patterns of variation across groups were similar for both, with satisfaction levels tending to fall with age but increase with classification level. The exception was EL 2s, whose satisfaction levels in relation to career progression opportunities were similar to those of APS 1–6 employees.

Results also varied significantly between agencies with individual agency-specific results, with satisfaction with career progression opportunities ranging from 27% to 66%, and for development opportunities from 36% to 76%. The results suggest that there is room for improvement in these areas for the majority of agencies and, for a sizeable minority, it is likely to be a reason why some employees leave.

Most employees who intend leaving their agencies over the next two years, other than to retire, intend to move to other APS agencies rather than leave the APS altogether. In this sense the APS as a whole has stronger retaining power than most individual agencies. The APS as a whole provides a broad range of career and development opportunities. This is supported by 81% of employees’ responding positively to the question; would you recommend the APS as a good place to work? This result is significantly higher than employees’ positive responses to the same question asked at the agency level (65%).

The UK Civil Service asked a similar question of all its 4,000 Senior Civil Service employees.²¹ SES in the APS were much more positive about recommending the APS as a good place to work (88%), than were senior civil servants about recommending the UK Civil Service as a good place to work (68%).

20 Full details of the factor analysis, including details of the methodology and questions used, are set out in Appendix 4.

21 UK Cabinet Office, Survey of the Senior Civil Service 2006, <http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/reform/leadership/scssurvey.asp>