Accelerating APS reform, supporting the “rapid and seamless” transition of a new federal government, and connecting with the changing Australian community are the key themes of the latest State of the Service report.
In a statement, Australian Public Service commissioner Peter Woolcott said that despite “unprecedented” challenges on the health, security and workforce fronts the federal bureaucracy still made great strides.
This included improvements to cultural diversity and representation in the APS 159,469-strong workforce, with 22.7% of government employees reporting they were born in a country outside of Australia (16.8% of those in a non-English speaking country) and 23.2% whose first language was not English.
There have also been gender parity gains at senior levels of the APS in 2022, with more women (52%) holding SES roles than men. Overall, women comprise 60.4% of the workforce but they remain slightly underrepresented at the most powerful SES Band 2&3 levels (46.9%).
Last year’s State of the APS report was the first to record women as having reached and, in most cases, exceeded parity with men at every level up to and including the APS’ collective senior executive cohort.
The report outlined the ways in which the public service faced sustained workforce pressures, noting a “tight labour market” and changing employee expectations had forced public sector leaders to reconsider what would make a job for government more appealing.
With a view to making the APS an attractive, model employer the report noted bargaining to harmonise pay and conditions for public servants across agencies and departments had commenced. It also highlighted Public Sector Interim Workplace Arrangements that would apply to August 2023.
“We are focusing our efforts on enhancing our Employee Value Proposition by exploring options around location and flexibility,” Woolcott said.
“This includes measured steps towards more modern structures and ways of working, accelerating work on culture and capability.”
The APS is growing, ageing and multi-generational
The report revealed the average age of an APS worker has increased to 43.4 years (in 2003 it was 40.2 years) and that the APS workforce overall now comprised five generations.
People aged 35-44 years and the 45-54-year-old cohort both made up 27.6% of the workforce; followed by 25-34 year-olds (20.3%); the over 55s (19.5%); 20-24 year-olds (4.7%); and under 20s (0.4%).
In the past 12 months since 30 June 2021, APS workforce numbers grew by 3.8%, with a total of 17,921 new engagements and just over 11,000 people quitting their public service role for good.
The workforce split of ongoing and non-ongoing employees in 2022 was 140,759 to 18,710.
Workforce reforms led by integrity culture and capability uplift
The commissioner also highlighted the emerging trends he said would help the government’s workforce confidently prepare for the future.
A major government priority was to foster an integrity culture in the APS, he said, pointing to new directions introduced in February which mandate that all new employees undertake integrity training within six months of commencement.
“A great deal of hard work on public sector reform continues to be done by the Secretaries Board. Much of this has flowed from aspects of the Independent Review of the APS by David Thodey,” the commissioner wrote in his report overview.
“The new government has made it clear that it wants public sector reform accelerated and the [Thodey] Review’s recommendations advanced more widely.”
This year the APSC had also moved to implement Stephen Sedgwick’s report into consultations regarding APS approaches to institutional integrity, Woolcott said.
“The APS touches upon every aspect of the lives of Australians. This is a great responsibility and one we continue to carry out with integrity and professionalism,” he added.
The 25th state of the service report was tabled in parliament on Wednesday. To coincide with this release, agency-specific APS employee census data will also soon be published online.
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