This document discusses employee engagement in the Australian Public Service (APS). It presents data from APS employee censuses conducted in 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 that show levels of employee engagement over time. The APS Employee Engagement Model links workforce and workplace characteristics to employee attitudes, behaviors, and productivity outcomes. Analysis found high-scoring agencies used focused leadership communication, while low-scoring agencies listed generic HR practices. The document outlines plans to further test and improve the engagement model.

1. Employee Engagement and Organisational Performance
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Dr David Schmidtchen
Group Manager, Human Capital Research and Evaluation
Australian Public Service Commission
david.schmidtchen@apsc.gov.au
A view from the antipodes

2. Sources of Data
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Our two primary source of data
In 2012-13
In 2013-14: APS employee census: 99,000 respondents (68% response rate)

4. APS Human Capital Planning Framework
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5. APS Employee Engagement Model
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Characteristics of the workforce that influence the engagement
relationship including: age, work experience, sex, classification level,
education qualifications, professional qualifications, etc…
Characteristics of the workplace that influence the engagement
relationship including: leadership, nature of the work, size of the
organisation, demands of the workplace, conditions of employment
(financial and non-financial), quality of workplace relationships, etc...
Engagement results in a set of
attitudes and subsequent
behaviours in the workforce
including loyalty, commitment,
organisational citizenship
behaviour, motivation for work
advocacy, etc...
The workforce outcomes yield
real productivity benefits for the
workplace in terms of
availability and performance.
These include improved
employee retention, reduced
unwarranted absences, higher
performance, etc...

6. Reflections on Developing the Model
• Theory driven (Kahn; Schaufeli et al)
• Practitioner focused (i.e. linked to work and
organisational outcomes)
• Empirically orientated (test and evaluate)
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7. APS Employee Engagement Over Time
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8. APS Employee Engagement Index – 2012-2014
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9. Employee Engagement – UK Item Comparisons
Source: Employee census, 2012 APS employee census, 2013 Civil Service People Survey
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10. Employee Engagement – UK Index Comparisons
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11. Applying the APS Employee Engagement
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12. APS employee engagement by generations, 2011-12
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13. APS employee engagement by age, 2011-12
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14. Employee engagement and telework, 2012-13
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15. Employee engagement and disability, 2013-14
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16. Employee Engagement and Leadership
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17. Perceptions of Senior Leadership
In my agency, senior leaders are sufficiently visible...
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18. Perceptions of Senior Leadership
In my agency, senior leaders engage with staff on how to respond to future challenges...
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19. Employee Engagement Practices
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20. A preliminary look at organisational practices
• Through our agency survey we looked at the practices APS agencies employ to
increase engagement.
• We then used the workforce engagement scores for those agencies to see if there
was a difference in practices used by those agencies with ‘high’ engagement and
those with ‘low’ engagement.
• Agencies were divided into thirds based on engagement scores from the APS
employee census and the practices of the top and bottom thirds were compared
• We found that:
– High scoring agencies used focussed communications with heavy involvement
of senior leadership
– Low scoring agencies listed a range of generic HR practices: performance
management, learning and development and/or talent management
• Not definitive work but it did give us pause for thought…
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21. Next Steps
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22. A focus on measures, outcomes and practices
• We will trial a more extensive set of employee engagement items in
the APS employee census in 2014 and 2015.
• The focus will be on extending the model and a closer test of Kahn’s
concept—physical, cognitive, and emotional engagement
• Measure psychological conditions of meaningfulness and increase
the range of work and organisational outcome measures related to
performance and availability (possibly safety)
• We will look to do more robust work on organisational practices
that impact positively on engagement
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23. Limitations of our work
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24. We know there are limitations
• We regularly wrestle with these limitations:
– Common method bias
– Interpretation issues due to large sample size
– Measurement of engagement needs improvement
• But, we are working in an environment where we need to
acknowledge and minimise these limitations and move on…
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25. More Information & Resources
• State of the Service Reports relevant to engagement: 2010-11 to 2013-14: http://www.apsc.gov.au/sosr-exchange
• Background to the development of the APS Engagement Model: http://www.apsc.gov.au/about-the-
apsc/parliamentary/state-of-the-service/state-of-the-service-2010/appendices/appendix-3-the-development-of-the-aps-
employee-engagement-model
• Original work on Engagement and Wellbeing (2010-11): http://www.apsc.gov.au/about-the-apsc/parliamentary/state-of-
the-service/state-of-the-service-2010/chapter-2-employee-engagement,-health-and-wellbeing
• Blog Post, ‘Leadership capabilities and change management in the Australian Public Service’:
http://www.apsc.gov.au/sosr-exchange/sosr-exchange-blog/blog-entries/leadership-capabilities-and-change-management-
in-the-australian-public-service
• Blog Post, ‘There are benefits to leading and managing change well …’: http://www.apsc.gov.au/sosr-exchange/sosr-
exchange-blog/blog-entries/there-are-benefits-to-leading-and-managing-change-well-
• Data online:
– APS Employee Census: http://data.gov.au/dataset?organization=australianpublicservicecommission&q=public+serivce+commission
– Australian Public Service Employment Database Dashboard (Public Access):
https://apsc.gov.au/APSEDii/APSEDIIFirstPage_index.shtm
– Australian Public Service Statistical Bulletin: http://www.apsc.gov.au/about-the-apsc/parliamentary/aps-statistical-bulletin
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26. Roundtable Discussion
Web
www.apsc.gov.au/sosr-exchange
Twitter
https://twitter.com/sosrExchange
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