Our organisations

Positive perceptions of an organisation’s ethical culture are associated with higher levels of engagement. Senior leaders’ commitment to ethics is particularly important to enhancing perceptions of ethical culture. Among this year’s People Matter survey respondents, 54.5% felt that senior managers model the values of their organisation.

All NSW government sector employees are required and expected to act ethically, lawfully and in the public interest. This is achieved by embracing the government sector core values of integrity, trust, accountability and service. These core values are underpinned by 18 principles that guide their implementation. Our core values and principles are collectively prescribed by the GSE Act as the Ethical Framework for the government sector and are each of equal importance.

The Code of Ethics and Conduct for NSW Government Sector Employees sets out the mandatory requirements and expected standards of behaviour for all government sector employees. The PSC is developing a new updated code in consultation with the sector and unions, which will be issued in 2024. 

A new ethics hub will be launched on the PSC’s website to support the code. This resource will contain the foundational content that all government sector employees need to understand how the NSW Government works and how to make decisions that align with the Ethical Framework. Under the GSE Act, Public Service agency heads need to ensure that the ethical conduct and management of their agencies is in accordance with the government sector core values. 

A strong ‘speak up’ culture that encourages public officials to report wrongdoing is important to ensure the integrity of the public sector.¹ The Public Interest Disclosure Act 2022 (PID Act 2022), which commenced in October 2023, strengthens the framework that facilitates public interest reporting of wrongdoing.

The PID Act 2022 provides a framework for public officials to report serious wrongdoing in the public sector, and to be protected when they do so, repealing the earlier PID Act 1994. The PID Act 2022 applies to all NSW public sector agencies. It expands the permissible recipients of PIDs to include a person’s manager; protects public interest disclosures (PIDs) even if they are made to the wrong agency (’no wrong door approach’); provides more comprehensive protections for disclosers, witnesses and those investigating PIDs; and increases the penalties for detrimental action offences.

The PID Act 2022 requires agencies to have a PID policy and provide PID training to staff. Agencies are required to provide an annual return reporting to the NSW Ombudsman about the voluntary PIDs they received, actions taken to deal with voluntary PIDs, and measures taken during the return period to promote a culture in which PIDs are encouraged.

Employee perceptions of ethics and values, 2023 vs 2022 

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2023)

Note: As the 2023 People Matter survey included two new questions that contributed to the 2023 overall score, a comparison to the 2022 overall score was not possible.

For the first time in the People Matter survey, we asked public sector employees if they understand what ‘ethical behaviour’ means in their workplace and if they know how to report such behaviour. Employees’ perceptions of their organisation’s commitment to ethical behaviours and their support for their organisation’s values both increased by 3pp in 2023.

Employees in the public sector should understand how their role fits into their organisation’s overall mission, vision and strategy. Understanding their role in the context of the wider organisation will enable each employee to know how their individual contribution adds value to the overall mission of delivering high-quality services. This, in turn, will increase employee engagement.

To ensure we deliver the highest quality services, our approach to governance, risk and innovation is critical.

• Governance encompasses the rules, processes and systems by which an organisation is controlled and operates. Broadly, it includes decision making, responsibility, upholding the law and being accountable as an organisation and as individuals. Trust, integrity and accountability are each core NSW government sector values.
• Risk implies the potential for uncertainty or deviation from expected outcomes. Risk is often seen as a negative; however, if considered strategically, it provides opportunities for an organisation.
• Innovation in the public sector context means creating new and better products, processes, services and technologies to improve outcomes for the people of NSW. A healthy appetite for risk can help promote innovation, as do work practices that promote diversity and inclusion.

Employee perceptions of decision making and accountability, 2023 vs 2022

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2022, 2023)

Employee perceptions of risk and innovation, 2023 vs 2022

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2022, 2023)

Organisational and role design involves defining organisational structures, employee roles and workforce plans to support the business in delivering results. This information ensures an agency has the structure and workforce capabilities to effectively deliver services to customers.

Employee perceptions of job purpose and enrichment, 2023 vs 2022

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2022, 2023)

Employee perceptions of role clarity and support, 2023 vs 2022

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2022, 2023)

There is a strong correlation between burnout and role clarity and support. This means as employees’ perceptions of having enough support and time to do their job well increases, their risk of burnout decreases. 

Recruitment is the process of attracting, screening and onboarding people. It is a high-volume activity for the sector, given the sector is the largest employer in Australia. In 2023, over 47,000 roles were advertised across the sector, an increase of 13% from 2022.

When done well, attracting and recruiting a diverse range of people to the NSW public sector leads to the selection of the person best suited to the role and agencies’ needs. Recruitment decisions are some of the most important decisions people managers have to make. Having consistent and equitable recruitment processes supports managers in making informed decisions. The time to hire has decreased each year since 2017 and is now at a record low of 33.2 days.

Employee perceptions of recruitment, 2023 vs 2022

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2022, 2023)

Exploring new employment opportunities is an exciting part of the I work for NSW brand, which is an online portal where NSW jobs are advertised. Having a mobile workforce makes it easier to redeploy resources to match priorities and respond effectively to change and emerging trends. It is an effective way to get the right person into the right job quickly, and to infuse innovative ideas and practices into a workplace.

Employee mobility is also widely regarded as one of the best ways to develop leadership capability, provide enriching careers, and build and retain capability and know-how. In the 2023 People Matter survey, the number of employees considering another role within the sector remained stable at 41.2%; however, only 2.4% of employees actually moved to other agencies.² There is scope to increase mobility across the sector as the mobility provisions in the GSE Act have not yet been used to their full potential. 

Employee perceptions of the barriers to moving to another role, 2023 vs 2022

Source: People Matter Employee Survey (2022, 2023)

A key measure of the performance of the NSW public sector is customer satisfaction. Sector agencies share a common goal – delivering services that make NSW a great place to live, work, visit and invest in. We want our services to be easy to use, high quality and accessible to all.

Increasing digital capability across the NSW public sector is an ongoing priority, including in the understanding and use of artificial intelligence (AI).³

Delivering high-quality services for the people of NSW requires agencies to work together and share knowledge internally and with other sectors. Well-executed collaboration also enables agencies to share ideas, resources, skills, networks and assets, leading to better outcomes for our customers. Across the sector, overall employee perceptions of teamwork and collaboration within and across organisations remained stable in 2023. 

Supporting models of collaboration across agencies brings diverse and up-to-date insights to address complex problems that have proved resistant to conventional approaches. Collaborative processes need to be formally supported and authorised at the executive level of partner organisations. The PSC’s leadership programs have a strong focus on fostering networks to support this authorising environment. 

A collaborative focus is also evident in many cross-agency partnerships that are now driving reforms and that were accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, in 2023 several changes were made to the way key service delivery and emergency services agencies work together during emergency natural disaster events.⁴ These changes reflect learnings from the significant cross-agency effort and consultation from the 2022 flood response.