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Employee Engagement in the Civil Service

Research shows that among other benefits, such as improved staff wellbeing, an engaged workforce can lead to improved performance.

Last updated - 6th December 2010

The Civil Service People Survey ran between 27 September and 29 October in 103 organisations.

Our aim is to create an environment in which civil servants are positive advocates of everything they do, are fully committed to shaping better quality and better value public services and contribute all that they can to achieve this collective goal.

Our objectives are:

  • To establish employee engagement levels as a key people management metric across government, and for organisations to assess its link to performance levels

  • For organisations to understand their own drivers of employee engagement and use this knowledge to improve their people, business and change strategies

  • For line managers to understand engagement levels among their staff and manage people according to priority employee engagement drivers

  • To embed the employee engagement concept in Civil Service management thinking.

What is employee engagement? 

‘Employee engagement is a process by which an organisation increases the intellectual and emotional commitment and contribution of its employees to achieve superior performance’
National School of Government

‘Engagement is about creating opportunities for employees to connect with their colleagues, managers and wider organisation. It is about creating an environment where employees are motivated to want to connect with their work and really care about doing a good job... It is a concept that places flexibility, change and continuous improvement at the heart of what it means to be an employee and an employer in a twenty-first century workplace’
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

‘A positive attitude held by the employee towards the organisation and its values. An engaged employee is aware of the business context, and works with colleagues to improve performance within the job for the benefit of the employer. The organisation must work to develop and nurture environment which requires a two-way relationship between employee and employer’
Institute of Employment Studies

Find out how we measure employee engagement across the Civil Service? 

Employee engagement

‘The Civil Service faces unprecedented challenges tackling complex policy issues every day. In order to meet these challenges we must harness the talents of all our staff to the full.’

‘Our employee engagement programme enables us to do this by understanding and improving civil servants’ experience of work, helping to ensure that they have access to the opportunities they need to achieve success in their roles.’

‘This, in turn, supports our drive to deliver improved public services and better outcomes for citizens.’

Sir Gus O’Donnell, Head of the Civil Service


Find out more...

For more information about employee engagement, see: