Preface

Section 44 of the Public Service Act 1999 (the Act) provides that the Australian Public Service Commissioner must issue a report each year to the Agency Minister for presentation to the parliament. The report must include a report on the state of the Australian Public Service (APS) during the year.

The State of the Service Report 2008–09 details the activities and human resource management practices of APS agencies during the 2008–09 financial year. The report outlines some of the key achievements and contributions agencies have made in assisting the government during this period to meet its policy objectives and achieve its stated outcomes.

This year’s State of the Service report is the twelfth annual report on the state of the APS that Australian Public Service Commissioners have presented to parliament. The report has been significantly enhanced since it commenced in 1998, including by the addition of an annual online agency survey and a representative employee survey with up to seven years of data available on key issues. Findings from this year’s surveys have been used to assess the current capability of the APS to meet future challenges.

The State of the Service report draws on a range of information sources but its main data sources are two State of the Service surveys—one of agencies and the other of employees. The agency survey includes all APS agencies employing at least 20 staff under the Act. All 95 APS agencies, or semi-autonomous parts of agencies, that were invited to participate in the online agency survey in June 2009, completed the survey. These agencies are listed at Appendix 2.

To assist with analysis of the agency survey data, and for comparability with previous years’ data, agencies have again been grouped according to size. Of the 95 responding agencies, 23 were classified as large (>1,000 APS employees), 30 as medium (251–1,000 APS employees) and 42 as small (20–250 APS employees). These size categories are generally consistent with those used by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO).¹ Appendix 2 provides information on agencies’ APS employee numbers.

The employee survey involved a stratified random sample of 9,162 APS employees from APS agencies with at least 100 APS employees. A total of 6,077 valid responses were received, representing a response rate of 66%—the highest response rate ever achieved. The sample size and number of valid responses allows a range of cross-tabulations to be used with a degree of confidence. Consistent with last year, this year’s report draws on factor analysis to interpret employee survey data. Agencies with at least 400 employees and all members of the Management Advisory Committee are provided with their own individual agency- specific results for internal management purposes.

While the size groupings for large and medium agencies are the same for the agency and employee surveys, it should be noted that, for the purposes of the employee survey, ‘small’ refers to agencies with between 100 and 250 APS employees. Appendix 4 provides information on the employee and agency survey methodologies.

The Commission engaged the services of ORIMA Research to assist with the design, delivery and statistical outputs of both surveys. When designing the first employee survey, the Commission also engaged the services of the Australian Bureau of Statistics to advise on aspects of survey methodology; this advice continues to be used. Assistance in the development and pilot testing of the agency survey was provided by contact officers in a number of agencies, including the Australian Taxation Office, Centrelink, the Department of Defence, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, and the National Film and Sound Archive. Assistance with pilot testing of the employee survey was provided by a range of individual APS employees from across a variety of agencies. The Commission is very grateful for this input.

The report has also relied heavily on published reports from parliamentary committees and the ANAO. Input has been sought from key coordinating agencies, particularly the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, the Department of Finance and Deregulation, and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet—their assistance is gratefully acknowledged.

Two publications have been produced in association with the State of the Service Report 2008–09: the Australian Public Service Statistical Bulletin 2008–09 and the State of the Service Employee Survey Results 2008–09. A summary pamphlet, the State of the Service 2008–09 At a Glance, has also been prepared.

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