Minister of health Tony RyallThursday 22 April 2010, 4:23PM
Media release from minister of health Tony Ryall
Recent employee engagement surveys of State sector workplaces show
staff engagement has remained constant over the last 12
months.
This result should be seen in the context of the recently released
Kiwis Count 2009 survey, which showed that New Zealanders'
satisfaction with the delivery of frontline services has increased
over a similar period.
"This has come at a time when there is increased pressure on public
servants to deliver more services with limited resources." says
Minister of State Services, Tony Ryall.
"These results are encouraging as levels of employee engagement
internationally and in New Zealand have been falling."
Employee engagement measures the commitment employees have towards
their role and employer. Improved employee engagement is
linked to improved employee retention, reduced absenteeism,
increased productivity, and improved service delivery.
Over the past four years, 86,000 State sector employees have been
surveyed about their level of engagement at work.
According to the surveyors, Gallup Organization, employee
engagement in the New Zealand State sector is very close to
overseas benchmarks. In the 2009 survey, 11 agencies scored
above average for public sector organisations, with the remaining
11 scoring either slightly below or at the bottom of the
range.
"These results present an opportunity for leaders and managers to
build on their results and improve levels of engagement and
productivity to deliver better frontline public services," says Mr
Ryall.
In 2009, 8 agencies used the Gallup survey to measure employee
engagement for the first time, while 14 agencies participated for
the second or third time. Of the 14 agencies who repeated the
survey, 71 percent improved their position compared with other
organisations in Gallup's database, 21 percent dropped and 7
percent maintained their position.
Results of employee engagement surveys across the State sector will
be released annually.
Details available at: http://www.ssc.govt.nz/employee-engagement-2008-09
Kiwis Count results: http://www.ssc.govt.nz/kiwis-count-2009