NSW People Matter Employee Survey opens for 2017

The New South Wales Public Service Commission buried the lead when it announced yesterday that the 2017 People Matter Employee Survey is now open.

All you really need to know is: “It is a shorter survey than last year.”

So, yes, you do have time. It takes maybe 15 minutes.

The Australian Public Service also has its staff survey, the APS Employee Census, out now — in fact it closes next Friday. Could anyone let us know if they’ve shaved off a few questions?

Here’s what the Australian Public Service Commission had to say about take-up so far:

“As at 1 June 54% of employees have responded.  The agency leading the way with the highest response rate at this point is DSS where 87% of employees have responded.”

NSW, however, has had difficulty getting its large public sector workforce (which is almost 400,000 employees) to fill out the anonymous, non-compulsory survey in past years — even with the help of former Premier Mike Baird making a personal plea on camera.

“There are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers to the survey,” says the FAQ this year. “You are asked to be thoughtful, honest and candid when you complete it.

It also confirms that employee email addresses are not attached to their survey response. Responses cannot be traced back to individuals by employers or the Public Service Commission. Nor are the results re-identifiable as the results are merged and any small groups not published.

As with every People Matter survey, the results are used to improve the workplaces, identify areas where employees are unhappy and spot patterns across the sector.

What did employees say in the last survey?

• 85% agreed their workgroup strives to achieve customer/client satisfaction
• 76% said that their job gave them a feeling of personal accomplishment
• 69% feel that their manager communicates effectively with them
• Only 48% agreed there was good co-operation between teams across their organisation
• Only 41% said change is managed well in their organisation.