Employee engagement and job satisfaction

Job satisfaction attributes

A variety of attributes can influence a person’s level of job satisfaction. Table 3.2 shows the proportion of employees in 2005–06 and 2006–07 who nominated a range of workplace attributes as being important to how satisfied they are with their job, and the proportion of relevant employees who were satisfied with that attribute.

The top five workplace attributes this year were good working relationships, flexible working arrangements, salary, opportunities to utilise my skills, and good manager. These attributes are similar to those selected last year. Opportunities to utilise my skills, included in the top five this year, was ranked sixth last year.

Table 3.2: Job satisfaction—employees’ most important workplace attributes, 2005–06 and 2006–07
Workplace Attribute	2005–06		2006–07
	Employees who nominated attributes as important to them (%)	Employees who nominated attributes as important who were ‘satisfied’(a) (%)	Employees who nominated attributes as important to them (%)	Employees who nominated attributes as important who were ‘satisfied’(a) (%)
Good working relationships	50	88	56	89
Flexible working arrangements	41	83	50	91
Salary	43	58	46	68
Opportunities to utilise my skills	36	65	39	75
Good manager	40	72	38	75
Interesting work provided	37	74	32	77
Regular feedback/recognition for effort	35	52	31	62
Opportunities to develop my skills	31	58	31	64
Seeing tangible results from my work	31	76	29	80
Duties/expectations made clear	28	70	29	73
Chance to make a useful contribution to society	25	73	27	83
Appropriate level of autonomy in my job	27	74	25	81
Opportunities for career development	31	38	22	49
Chance to be creative/innovative	23	52	21	70
Appropriate workload	25	41	19	55
(a) Of the employees who nominated this attribute as one of their most important and rated it, the percentage of employees who were either ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ with the attribute in their current workplace. Source: Employee survey

The attribute, good working relationships, continues to be the number one ranked workplace attribute. It has been ranked first since the introduction of the employee survey in 2003. Satisfaction with this attribute has also been positive, with nine out of 10 employees consistently reporting that they are satisfied with their working relationships.

Flexible working arrangements has also always been an important attribute for employees in achieving job satisfaction. This year it was ranked second, and nine out of 10 employees who selected this attribute were satisfied.

Over time, there has been an increase in the importance of salary for job satisfaction. This attribute ranked fifth in 2002–03 and third in 2006–07. In 2006–07, just over two-thirds of employees were satisfied with their salary, a significant increase on those who selected this attribute in 2004–05 (49%).

Opportunities to utilise my skills returned to the top five attributes this year for the first time since 2002–03. The proportion of relevant employees who were satisfied this year was higher than in 2002–03 (75% compared to 70%).

The proportion of employees selecting the attribute, good manager, has been similar over the years. The proportion of employees satisfied with this attribute, however, has gradually increased from 65% in 2003–04 to 75% in 2006–07.

The following sample of comments made in the employee survey illustrates a range of employees’ views about what influences their job satisfaction.

My experience in the Public Service is a very rewarding and fulfilling career with good working relationships.

I have an excellent direct line manager who has great trust in my judgement this compensates somewhat for an excessive workload and average remuneration.

Being able to get the job done and achieve job satisfaction is usually ‘hamstrung’ by red tape and the lack of resources.

My direct supervisor is excellent. Any dissatisfaction is with senior management.

There are no opportunities for career development.

I enjoy the work that I am currently doing but this is marred by poor management and how the area is run in general.

Generally I have become bored in my current role. I don’t believe I am given the opportunity to use my skills and attributes to their full potential.

There are times when I feel I would pay to do this work.

Job satisfaction by a range of groups within the APS

As with satisfaction with employee engagement factors, the rates of job satisfaction vary across different groups in the APS workforce. Nevertheless, compared to 2005–06, the majority of groups reported an increase in job satisfaction (see Table 3.3).

An exception was Indigenous employees, who were less satisfied this year than they were last year, and are less satisfied than the APS overall. Satisfaction for employees with disability rose slightly but is still well below the APS average. This year, employees from non-English speaking backgrounds reported a higher level of satisfaction than the APS overall. The job satisfaction of diversity groups is discussed in more detail in Chapter 5.

The SES continue to be much more satisfied than either APS 1–6 level or EL employees. This year there was no difference in satisfaction rates for EL 1 and EL 2 employees which were both consistent with the APS average.

Table 3.3: Job satisfaction—summary index results by group, 2005–06 and 2006–07
Group	Job satisfaction summary index
	Summary index rating >5 in 2005–06 (%)	Summary index rating >5 in 2006–07 (%)
Indigenous employees	86	75
Employees from non-English speaking backgrounds	70	83
Employees with disability	70	73
Employees aged 45 years and over	76	82
Young employees (under 25 years)	73	81
Women	76	83
Men	70	79
Carers	73	81
APS 1–6 employees	73	81
Executive Level employees	73	81
SES employees	90	92
Ongoing employees	73	81
Non-ongoing employees	84	83
Full-time	72	81
Part-time	80	86
All employees	73	81
Source: Employee survey

Job satisfaction for men and women

Overall, women continue to be slightly more satisfied than men with their jobs. This year, for the first time in three years, the top five workplace attributes for women and men were the same (see Table 3.4). The main differences this year are that women have been more likely to select opportunities to utilise my skills, rather than the attribute, regular feedback/recognition for effort, and men have been more likely to select flexible working arrangements than interesting work provided. Flexible working arrangements continue to be more important to women than men, perhaps highlighting their greater caring role. Salary continues to be more important for men, but is now ranked second rather than first, as it had been for the previous two years; however, the proportion selecting salary as important has increased from 38% in 2002–03 to 48% in 2006–07 and the proportion satisfied with this attribute increased this year (63%, up from 52% last year). The proportion of women rating salary as important has also increased from 39% in 2002–03 to 44% in 2006–07.

Table 3.4: Job satisfaction—most important workplace attributes, by sex, 2006–07
	Women			Men
Rank	Workplace Attribute	Nominated important (%)	Satisfied (%)	Workplace Attribute	Nominated important (%)	Satisfied (%)
1	Good working relationships	62	89	Good working relationships	50	90
2	Flexible working arrangements	52	93	Salary	48	63
3	Salary	44	72	Flexible working arrangements	46	88
4	Good manager	39	79	Opportunities to utilise my skills	43	73
5	Opportunities to utilise my skills	35	76	Good manager	36	70
Source: Employee survey

Women’s higher level of job satisfaction is also reflected in the broader community. Research through HILDA¹²found that women were more satisfied overall than men with job satisfaction and also with their total pay, job security, the hours worked and with flexibility to balance work and non-work commitments. They were equally satisfied with the work itself. The national survey of work-life outcomes amongst working Australians also found that 88% of women strongly or somewhat agree that they are satisfied with their present job, compared with 84% for men.¹³

Job satisfaction by classification groups

Job satisfaction was also examined on the basis of classification (see Table 3.5). Good working relationships continues to be the top ranking attribute for all classification groups. Unlike last year, the attributes selected by the APS and EL groups as most important this year were exactly the same. The ranking of these attributes, however, continues to vary, with APS level employees putting more weight on flexible working arrangements and EL employees placing greater emphasis on opportunities to use their skills.

The attributes for APS level employees have been generally similar over the last three years. This year, however, regular feedback/recognition for effort was replaced by opportunities to utilise my skills, in the top five attributes for this group.

For the EL group, two new attributes made it into the top five this year—opportunities to utilise my skills and flexible working arrangements. These replaced interesting work provided and seeing tangible results from my work. EL 1 and EL 2 results were generally similar, with four of the top five attributes being the same. EL 1s, however, put more weight on flexible working arrangements, whereas for EL 2s this was replaced in the top five by appropriate level of autonomy.

Table 3.5: Job satisfaction—most important workplace attributes by classification groups, 2006–07
	APS level employees			EL employees			SES employees
Rank	Workplace Attribute	Nominated important (%)	Satisfied (%)	Workplace Attribute	Nominated important (%)	Satisfied (%)	Workplace Attribute	Nominated important (%)	Satisfied (%)
1	Good working relationships	58	89	Good working relationships	50	90	Good working relationships	62	89
2	Flexible working arrangements	53	91	Opportunities to utilise my skills	45	76	Chance to make a useful contribution to society	59	95
3	Salary	47	67	Salary	43	71	Appropriate level of autonomy	49	90
4	Opportunities to utilise my skills	37	74	Good manager	43	72	Interesting work provided	46	95
5	Good manager	36	76	Flexible working arrangements	41	87	Seeing tangible results from my work	45	92
Source: Employee survey

The SES group only has one attribute (good working relationships) in common with the APS and EL groups. Attributes selected by the SES have been the same for the last three years, although their order has varied, with interesting work provided falling from first to fourth place this year.

Results for the different classification groups continue to suggest that the factors influencing job satisfaction are related to the stage of employees’ careers. The factors driving SES job satisfaction are distinctly different from those for other employees and relate more to the nature and outcomes of their work. Nevertheless, an emphasis on good working relationships is likely to benefit the job satisfaction of all employees.

12 B. Headey, D. Warren & G. Harding 2006, Families, Incomes and Jobs: A Statistical Report of the HILDA Survey, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne and the Commonwealth of Australia, <http://www.melbourneinstitute.com/hilda>

13 B. Pocock, N. Skinner & P. Williams 2007, Work, Life and Time: The Australian Work and Life Index (AWALI), Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies, University of South Australia, Magill, SA, <http://www.unisa.edu.au/hawkeinstitute/cwl/default.asp>