The 2019 Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) is now live and civilian employees at National Defence are encouraged to complete the survey by August 30 to express their opinions on important aspects of the workplace. This year’s survey will focus on many important themes including workplace well-being, use of official languages, duty to accommodate, and compensation.

The results of the PSES will be made available in December 2019, and will help senior management at National Defence identify what’s going well within the organization and what areas may need improvement. Feedback generated from the 2018 survey led to the development of action plans aimed to address concerns with the work environment, leadership, and harassment which resulted in the following efforts (among others) being made by the department :

• Improving communication between employees and management by scheduling town halls, meetings, and workshops;
• Supporting career development through language training, mentoring programs, and sharing job opportunities internally; and
• Implementing awareness programs about harassment prevention in the workplace.

The more employees who participate, the more useful the results will be in fostering a meaningful change within National Defence.

Who can take the PSES?

All employees in the core public administration and participating separate agencies are eligible to complete the survey. These include indeterminate, term, seasonal, casual, student employees, as well as Governor in Council appointees. Ministers’ exempt staff, private sector contractors, consultants, and employees on leave without pay are not eligible. At all times, the survey administrator will ensure that responses from the participants are kept confidential and only used for statistical purposes.

How to take the PSES

Advanis, a trusted Canadian market, and social research firm, will administer the survey on behalf of the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS). All eligible participants will receive an email invitation with a unique identifier link to complete the survey. This link is specific to the individual user and cannot be shared with other employees in the organization. However, the unique link can be forwarded to personal email and accessed from a mobile device or home computer.

The survey can also be completed via telephone at 1-866-539-7829 or through the limited number of paper copies available only after sending a request through an employee’s manager to the PSES generic mailbox.

If you do not receive an invitation after the first week of data collection (July 22–26), you can request a survey email through the Advanis support website.

The survey takes approximately 20–25 to complete, and employees are to be given time to complete the survey during regular working hours.

For additional information on the PSES, please consult the Public Service Employee Survey intranet page.