Staff at Home Affairs have given the department the thumbs down in its latest employee census.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
An analysis of the 2022 APS employee census results by The Canberra Times found the department scored lower than any other agency, with 1000 employees or more, in almost every indicator of staff satisfaction, including engagement and wellbeing.
Home Affairs officials also gave their immediate supervisor and senior leaders led by Mike Pezzullo the lowest scores among the large APS entities.
About half of Home Affairs employees (49 per cent) would recommend the workplace to others as a good place to work - a feat not shared by any other major APS entity in 2022.
Barely a third (37 per cent) feel they are fairly compensated at the agency, but job security rated very high at Home Affairs (85 per cent).
It also scored the worst on witnessed unacceptable behaviours - bullying (13 per cent), discrimination (14 per cent) and corruption (4 per cent).
In a note on its website next to the published results, the agency says it takes the results into consideration.
"The Department of Home Affairs uses APS employee census results to assess and monitor staff engagement and gauge what is important to our most important asset - our people," the agency website states.
Despite the poor and lowest ranking overall, staff didn't rate Home Affairs any worse a workplace than their last year according to 2021 responses, and had seen an overall improvement across most themes of the census.
A Home Affairs spokesperson said the department and Australian Border Force placed a strong focus on the iterative improvement of census results.
"Our response rate shows our staff remain committed to having their say, and especially in the changing circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic," the spokesperson said in a statement.
They acknowledged the areas which staff were saying were important and required focus.
"We are proud of our people and their strong contribution to achieving government priorities, notably at times when there was a call for action or assistance, such as surge requests."
Biggest fall & best improved
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade saw the largest decline from last year across all the major indicators, including a 5 percentage point drop to 63 per cent in wellbeing, and a 6 percentage point drop to 64 per cent saying they would recommend the workplace as a good place to others.
On the opposite end of the rankings, the Department of Social Services saw the biggest boost in ratings from last year across all the major indicators.
Wellbeing jumped 9 percentage points to 71 per cent at Social Services and those claiming they would recommend the agency as a good place to work climbed 17 percentage points to 73 per cent. This coincided with the ability for Social Services staff to work from home for the first time outside of mandatory isolation due to public health orders.
READ MORE PUBLIC SERVICE NEWS:
Top five most recommendable agencies
While Home Affairs was the least likely to be recommended by staff, other agencies scored highly.
According to the public servants who work in them, these were the top five agencies to work at, as ranked by the proportion who would recommend their workplace as a good place to work:
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (89 per cent)
- Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (85 per cent)
- The Treasury (84 per cent)
- Attorney General's Department (83 per cent) equal with;
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (83 per cent)
The Department of Defence was the only large APS entity to not publish its results in November. A spokeswoman told The Canberra Times it would do so later in December.
Fewer than half of Defence's employees completed the survey last year, the lowest response rate among large APS organisations.
The whole-of-APS overall employee census results were first published two weeks ago along with the State of the Service report revealing a large rise in the proportion of public servants who did not feel they were fairly compensated for their work.
A total of 120,662 APS employees participated in the employee census across 99 agencies. The survey ran from May 9 to June 10, 2022, encompassing most of the federal election caretaker period and the first weeks of the new Labor government.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.