APS Employee Census 2026
The APS Employee Census ran from Monday 4 May to Friday 5 June 2026. This year, 113 APS agencies and entities that engage staff under the Public Service Act 1999 participated. A total of 149,668 APS employees responded, resulting in a response rate of 80 per cent.
What is the APS Employee Census?
The APS Employee Census is an annual employee perception survey of the Australian Public Service workforce that has been conducted since 2012. The APS Employee Census collects employee opinions and perspectives on a range of topics, such as employee engagement, leadership, communication, innovation, and wellbeing.
All eligible employees engaged under the Public Service Act 1999 are invited to participate.
Where can I find more information?
The 2026 Participant information sheet details what is involved in participating in the APS Employee Census, as well as information surrounding frequent asked questions.
The APSC Privacy Policy (Part A) provides information about the APSC’s privacy practices.
The APSC Privacy Policy (Part B) provides information about the kinds of personal information usually collected and held by the Commission.
How is my confidentiality maintained?
When Census data is collected and shared, methods are applied to ensure that the data is able to be used in an effective way, while preserving the confidentiality of both individuals and groups of people.
Reporting outputs to agencies only include aggregated results for groups of 10 or more respondents. Your full, individual response is not made available to your agency and no identifying information (e.g. email address) is attached to your response. More information can be found in the 2026 Participant information sheet.
The 2012 to 2025 APS Employee Census datasets are available on data.gov.au. To protect the privacy and confidentiality of respondents, the datasets include responses to a limited number of demographic or other attribute questions.
Using your results
The APS has developed a number of resources to support you in understanding your results and developing action plans.
APS Employee Census Explanatory Guide
The APS Employee Census Explanatory Guide provides detailed information about the APS Employee Census, including its development, the key topic areas addressed in the questionnaire, and how to interpret and understand results.
Action Planning Guides
The action planning guides are intended to assist agencies and teams with creating action plans. The guides include information about how to explore Employee Census data, identify areas to target, and develop action planning initiatives.
- 2026 Employee Census Action Planning Guide - Agency Edition.pdf
- 2026 Employee Census Action Planning Guide - Team Edition.pdf
Tip Sheets
The tip sheets supplement the action planning guides by providing more detailed guidance on specific topic areas:
- 2026 APS Employee Census tip sheet - Autonomy.pdf
- 2026 APS Employee Census tip sheet - Building Speak up Culture.pdf
- 2026 APS Employee Census tip sheet - Responding to bullying and harassment.pdf
- 2026 APS Employee Census tip sheet - Role Clarity.pdf
- 2026 APS Employee Census tip sheet - Social Support and Connection.pdf
Further information
For further information please contact Nathan Borgelt, Director, Workforce Research and Analysis at APSSurveys@apsc.gov.au or 1800 464 926.