2022 Public Service Employee Survey: Highlights

The 2022 Public Service Employee Survey took place from November 2022 to February 2023.

This report contains highlights of the results.

Participation

• 91 departments and agencies participated
• 335,957 employees invited to respond
• 189,584 responses received
• Response rate: 53% (61% in 2020)

Themes

These highlights cover seven themes:

• workplace well-being
• anti-racism
• leadership
• mobility and retention
• duty to accommodate
• future of work
• harassment and discrimination

Workplace well-being

Mental health in the workplace

• 68% of employees would describe their workplace as being psychologically healthy, the same result as in 2020
• 72% of employees feel their department or agency does a good job of raising awareness of mental health in the workplace, down from 81% in 2020

Work‑related stress

The survey asked employees about the extent to which 22 factors cause them stress at work. The top five factors were as follows:

• Not enough employees to do the work: 31% of respondents
• Heavy workload: 27% of respondents
• Pay or other compensation‑related issues: 23% of respondents
• Competing or constantly changing priorities: 21% of respondents
• Difficulty balancing work and personal life: 20% of respondents

Anti-racism

The 2022–23 survey contained three new questions about racism in the workplace:

• 77% of respondents said that, in their work unit, they feel safe to speak about racism in the workplace without fear of reprisal or negative impact on their career
• 76% said that, in their work unit, they feel safe to speak about racism in the workplace without fear of reprisal or negative impact on their mental health
• 50% of respondents feel that racism in their department or agency has had an adverse or negative impact their mental health

Actions to address racism

• 11% of respondents who said they had experienced race-based discrimination are satisfied with how concerns or complaints about racism in the workplace are resolved in their organization, up from 10% in 2020
• 69% of respondents feel that their organization implements initiatives that promote anti‑racism in the workplace, down from 75% in 2020
• 49% of respondents feel that the Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion has had a positive impact on their organization

Leadership

Senior management

• 64% of respondents have confidence in the senior management of their organization, down from 68% in 2020
• 55% of respondents feel that senior management in their organization makes effective and timely decisions, down from 60% in 2020

Change management

• 51% of respondents feel that change is managed well in their organization, down from 59% in 2020
• 57% of respondents feel that essential information flows effectively from senior management to staff, down from 61% in 2020

Mobility and retention

Intention to leave

In 2022, 38% of respondents said they intend to leave their current position in the next two years, up from 24% in 2020.

Reasons for leaving

The results for the reasons for leaving break down as follows:

• To pursue another position in the same department or agency (42%)
• To pursue another position within a different department or agency (24%)
• To retire (13%)
• End of the term or contract (9%)
• To pursue a position outside the federal public service (6%)

Duty to accommodate

Requests

• 13% of respondents requested workplace accommodation measures in the last two years, the same as in 2020
• 58% of those who said they had requested an accommodation measure said the request was related to a disability, up from 50% in 2020

Implementation

• 74% of respondents who had requested an accommodation measure said the measure was implemented, down from 79% in 2020
• 80% of those who had requested an accommodation measure said they were satisfied with it, down from 82% in 2020

Hybrid work (These responses were captured during a specific time period (November 2022 to February 2023))

Work arrangements

In 2022–23, respondents’ work arrangements broke down as follows:

• 14% work on-site
• 42% work remotely
• 45% do a combination of on-site and remote work

Work location

Nearly three‑quarters of respondents (71%) usually work at a Government of Canada (GC) location on the same day(s) every week.

Time spent working at a GC location:

• 1 day a week: 35% of respondents
• 2 days a week: 31% of respondents
• 3 days a week: 11% of respondents
• 4 days a week: 7% of respondents
• more than 4 days a week or less than 1 day a week: 15% of respondents

Perceptions of work location

Respondents were asked to choose which of 11 activities are best completed at a GC location. Respondents could choose as many activities as they liked. The top three responses were as follows:

• participating in team‑building activities: 54%
• collaborating on projects: 44%
• attending meetings 38%

Perceptions of hybrid work

• 89% of respondents indicated that having the flexibility to choose where they work allows them to have a better work-life balance
• 24% of respondents are concerned they will miss out on career opportunities if they are not at the GC worksite as often as others
• 32% of respondents believe team members who attend meetings virtually would feel less included than those who attend in person

Harassment and discrimination

Harassment

11% of respondents said they had been the victim of harassment on the job in the previous 12 months, the same rate as in 2020.

Top three types of harassment on the job:

1. offensive remarks (55%)
2. unfair treatment (51%)
3. being excluded or being ignored (46%)

Discrimination

8% of respondents said they had been the victim of discrimination on the job in the previous 12 months, up from 7% in 2020.

Top three types of discrimination on the job:

1. sex (27%)
2. race (27%)
3. age (24%)