Employee surveys and the health of Manitoba’s public service

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This article was published 04/05/2024 (883 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Employee surveys are a fashionable management tool used in both the private and the public sector. Done properly, they can provide insights into both organizational problems and potential ways to improve them.

The Government of Manitoba has conducted employee surveys for several decades, and done so annually since 2020, as one component of the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) Employee Perspectives program. Given the public service’s important contribution to the well-being of Manitobans, the survey findings deserve more attention than they usually receive.

Annual surveys allow governments to track employee sentiments on selected topics over time, but thoughtful consideration of their limits and risks is needed. A cardinal rule of surveys is to avoid questions on issues which management has neither the capacity nor the willingness to address.

Annual surveys asking the same questions, without sufficient time to productively address problems that have been recently identified, can deepen disillusionment and yield cynical responses.

Delays in survey reporting can lead to analysis of “yesterday’s” problems. In any case, survey findings are the starting point for questions and discussions, and do not provide actual prescriptions for solving problems.

Turning to the Manitoba public service, if it once operated in relatively calm waters, recently it has faced continuous white water of numerous disruptions and challenges.

A list of political events would include: a failed cabinet revolt in 2014 to remove an NDP premier, the election of Progressive Conservative governments in 2016 and 2019, the selection of a new premier in 2021, several cabinet shuffles, and the replacement of the PCs, in October 2023, by the NDP government of Premier Wab Kinew. That government includes only one minister with cabinet experience and is committed to an extensive and expensive public policy agenda.

On the administrative side, the PC governments boasted of their belief in the need for a strong public service, but their actions sent the opposite message. A 2018 discussion paper argued that because the public service, unlike private firms, lacked the disruptive pressures of competition, it had to be pushed hard to transform itself.

For the PCs, that transformation was mainly about balancing the budget and squeezing more productivity out of the public service. Budgetary restraint across the public sector was pursued through the elimination and consolidation of organizations, layoffs, hard­line collective bargaining, wage restrictions, and attrition, causing heavier workloads for remaining employees.

All of this was happening during the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic and a related economic downturn. New programs needed to be designed and delivered hastily. It also forced remote work by public servants and debates over when a return to in­-person work should occur.

In the midst of these difficult times, the employee surveys recorded a significant decline in morale within the public service. For example, fewer respondents said they were proud to identify as public servants (49 per cent in 2021, down from 60 per cent several years earlier), recovering slightly to 56 per cent in 2023. Only 60 per cent indicated they were “inspired to give my best at work”, down from 71 per cent earlier, and satisfaction with work dropped from 74 per cent to 66 per cent.

There were areas of continuing high satisfaction scores such as a good fit between employee skills and job requirements, positive relationships with coworkers, and access to respectful workplace resources, all of which stayed in the 80­-90 per cent range.

There were slight improvements in understanding how one’s work contributed to departmental goals, and in the belief there were ongoing career opportunities within the public service. Confidence in the senior leadership of departments and satisfaction with the flow of information from the top remained in the low 50 per cent range.

As observed in similar surveys within other jurisdictions, newer employees expressed more positive feelings than “veterans,” who had survived many upheavals over many years of service. Newcomers were more positive about working in the public service, more satisfied with their jobs, and had more confidence in senior leadership.

Those respondents saying they would prefer to stay in the public service dropped slightly from 57 per cent to 53 per cent. Given the substantial number of both regular employees (33 per cent) and managers (47 per cent) eligible to retire in the next five years, this drop takes on more significance, and creates challenges in terms of recruitment, retention, and succession planning.

To the credit of public service leaders, the most recent annual report from the PSC lists a number of initiatives which have grown out of the surveys, such a Learning Fund, an Ideas fund to support innovations, programming to support new entrants, and an exit survey to assist with retention efforts.

Public servants are meant to be impartial and professional in executing the decisions of their elected political masters.

Given the past seven tough years, however, the change to an NDP government last October was probably welcomed by many of them. At this early stage in its mandate, the NDP appears more open than the former government to listening to the policy advice of the public service and trusting it more fully to implement decisions effectively.

We will have to wait and see if the Winter 2023­-2024 employee survey records a more positive climate in the crucial institution of the public service.

Paul G. Thomas is professor emeritus of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba.