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Survey of employee engagement in public sector
The Sunday Times has published its inaugural annual survey identifying the Best Places to Work in the Public Sector in Britain. Acpo (Association of Chief Police Officers) Criminal Records Office is the first winner of this survey of best employment practices in Britain's schools, local authorities, hospitals and primary care trusts, police forces and statutory bodies.
“People in the public sector are more content with and engaged by key aspects of their working environment when compared with their private sector counterparts,” according to The Sunday Times. Generally, however, staff engagement levels in the public sector have some way to go before they match those seen in the big, mid and small-sized companies lists compiled by The Sunday Times. Across all 207 public bodies that took part in the Best Companies process overall, engagement was recorded at 62.5% positive, compared with 69.3% positive across all 964 firms in the other three lists.
One of the main reasons for lower levels of engagement in the public sector can be found in poorer scores from employees for the quality of leadership.
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Public sector fares better in pay and benefits issues
Overall, the public sector fared best in comparison with the private on issues to do with pay and benefits. The top 10 public sector organisations achieved a 63.7% positive score for all Fair Deal questions, compared with an average of 59.3% for the 125 firms listed in the mid-sized and big companies lists, a lead of more than four percentage points.
Answering a question specifically on happiness with remuneration, public sector employees give a 60.7% positive score, compared with 56% among staff at the 125 firms in the mid- and big-sized lists.
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Title: "The 75 Best Places to Work in the Public Sector", The Sunday Times, 14 March 2010.
Survey sample: The views of more than 45,000 public sector workers across more than 200 public sector bodies of all sizes informed the rankings.
Methodology: The process consists of two elements:
employee survey
company questionnaire.
At least 90% of your company’s score comes from the employee survey and is dependent upon how highly your people score the company according to the eight factors the survey measures. There is a discretional 10% of your company’s score that can be derived from the company questionnaire.
The best companies methodology identifies workplace performance and best practice according to eight key factors. These factors are particularly significant as they are defined through the results from the survey process, and therefore by employees themselves, as critical factors in workplace engagement.
Leadership - How employees feel about the head of the organisation, senior managers, and the company’s values and principles
My manager - How employees feel about and communicate with their direct manager
Personal growth - What employees feel about training and their future prospects
Wellbeing - How employees feel about stress, pressure at work, and work-life balance
My team - Employees' feelings towards their immediate colleagues and how well they work together
Giving something back - The extent to which employees feel their organisation has a positive impact on society
My company - The level of engagement employees have for their job and organisation
Fair deal - How happy employees are with their pay and benefits.
To find out more about the methodology visit www.bestcompanies.co.uk//Methodology.aspx.
Availability: For more details of the "75 best" plus a batch of feature articles check out The Sunday Times web site at www.timesonline.co.uk/best100companies.
Best Companies Ltd researches, develops and compiles the Best Companies to Work For lists, published annually in The Sunday Times. To find out more and participate in next year’s listing visit www.bestcompanies.co.uk.