What is the Public Service Employee Survey (PSES)? The PSES is a survey administered to federal public servants, developed by the Office of the Chief of Human Resources Officer (OCHRO), within the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS). Advanis, a Canadian market and social research firm, will administer the 2019 survey on behalf of TBS. The survey measures aspects of workplace well-being, use of official languages, duty to accommodate and compensation. The PSES has been conducted every three years since 1999. OCHRO transitioned from the triennial survey to an annual survey in 2018 which enabled departments to measure and routinely track progress. The PSES will contain core questions, questions related to current and emerging government priorities, and organization-specific questions.
Why does the federal government conduct employee surveys? The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that ongoing workplace improvement is based on evidence, such as that collected through public service employee surveys. Public service employee surveys allow the federal public service to identify what it is doing well and what it could be doing better to ensure the continuous improvement of people management practices in government. Better people management practices lead to better results for the public service, and in turn, better results for Canadians.
When is the next PSES and when will the results be released? The next PSES will be conducted from July 22, 2019 to August 30, 2019. Survey results will be available winter 2019-2020.
When did the PSES last take place? The last PSES was conducted from August 20, 2018 to October 5, 2018. A total of 163,121 public service employees in 84 federal departments answered the survey. The response rate was 57.7%.
Why is the PSES conducted in late summer? Holding the PSES in late summer allows summer students and seasonal employees to be included in the survey. They make up a sizeable proportion of employees in some organizations. Furthermore, in light of the federal election expected to take place this fall, the survey has been moved forward several weeks to ensure that data collection is completed before the writ is issued.
Who can participate? All employees in the core public administration and participating separate agencies are eligible to participate. These include indeterminate, term, seasonal, casual and student employees, as well as Governor in Council appointees. Ministers’ exempt staff, private sector contractors or consultants, and employees on leave without pay are not eligible.
How can I fill out the survey? You will receive an e-mail invitation from Advanis with a unique identifier to access the online survey. Please note that the link is unique to every employee and should not be forwarded or shared. If you do not receive an invitation after the first week of data collection is complete, please refer to question 12. You also have the option to complete a paper questionnaire. To request a paper questionnaire, you are encouraged to contact your organizational representative for the PSES.
How else can I complete the survey? It is possible to answer the survey via phone or paper. You may call 1-866-539-7829 if you need to complete the survey over the telephone. The help line is available Monday to Friday from 8am to 9pm ET. However, please note that this option is reserved for employees with specific accessibility needs and should only be used if required. If you cannot complete the survey online you can complete a paper questionnaire. Please contact your department’s PSES human resources contact to receive a paper copy.
How long will it take to fill out the survey? The PSES takes approximately 20 to 25 minutes to complete. Employees are to be given time to complete the survey during their working hours.
How is my confidentiality protected? The administration of the PSES falls strictly under the responsibility of Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS). The PSES was developed by OCHRO partnered with Advanis, a Canadian market and social research firm, administering the survey on TBS’s behalf.
Your participation in this survey is voluntary, and your responses are protected in accordance with the Privacy Act. Your identity will be further safeguarded by grouping your responses with those of other respondents when reporting results. Individual responses and results for very small groups of fewer than 10 respondents will not be reported or shared with departments and agencies.
A limited number of employees from TBS will have access to the microdata, for statistical and research purposes only. Treasury Board analysts will be subject to the provisions of the Privacy Act.
What will my department do with the results? Senior management will use your organization’s PSES results to inform the development of corporate and human resources plans. Departments and agencies are invited to discuss the survey findings with their employees, and to work with them and other stakeholders to develop and put in place solutions to issues raised in the survey.
What can I do if I didn’t receive the survey link? If you did not receive a survey email invitation you can request a survey email invitation through the Advanis Support website: https://pses-saff.advanis.ca/en/pses2019. You will be required to answer a series of questions to confirm that you are eligible to participate. You will be asked for your name, email address, department or agency, and employment status (e.g., indeterminate, casual, student). If you are eligible, you will receive the invitation with a unique link to the 2019 PSES in a matter of minutes.
Which department should I base my responses on, if I have recently moved departments? We recommend that your responses be based on your current position and department as the survey is meant to take a snapshot of people management practices as of this date.
Which external/personal devices (computer or mobile phone) can I use to access the survey? You can forward the unique link you received from Advanis to your personal email and complete the survey from your mobile device or computer.
Which questions are mandatory? Can I skip some questions? None of the questions on the survey are mandatory. However, we do encourage employees to respond to all questions on the survey as the results are used for better people management practices in the workplace.
Privacy: We would like to provide reassurance that there are strict measures in place to ensure the confidentiality of your responses and it will be not be possible for anyone to drill down according to demographic characteristics to identify you. Your responses to the survey will always be grouped with those of others and no data will be made available for groups of fewer than 10 respondents. In other words, if there are fewer than 10 respondents of any group for any question (e.g. men, Aboriginal peoples, Anglophones, etc.) the results of this question for this group will be suppressed. There are stricter measures in place for sensitive questions such as harassment and discrimination, which require a minimum of 5 respondents per group, per answer category, in order to be published. Finally, survey responses are protected under the Privacy Act. No data that can be traced to respondents will be released. Email and IP addresses will not be linked to individual responses. Individual responses will never be published or shared with government departments or agencies.
