Growing Dissatisfaction Amongst Public Sector Workers

Public sector workers are nearly three times as likely to be critics of the services they provide as private sector workers -- and public sector dissatisfaction has increased over the course of 2005.

The second MORI -- Work Foundation Workers Index finds that unhappiness in the public sector has increased since February, a shift not mirrored in the private sector. One in six (17%) of public sector workers say they would be critical of the services they provide, up from ten per cent in February. This compares to just 6% of private sector workers who are critical of their organisation's services (no change from the 7% in the private sector who said this in February).

Decreased morale in the public sector is also suggested by over a quarter of public sector workers (27%) identifying 'higher morale and more motivated staff' as one of the most important factors needed to help them do a better job, up from one in five (21%) in February. Again this rise is unmatched in the private sector.

Distinctions between the public and private sector also emerge in their views of their senior management. Whilst dissatisfaction with senior managers has risen by ten percentage points since February in both sectors, senior managers in the private sector continue to get better ratings. Sixty one percent of private sector workers think that their senior team has a clear vision for their organisation, compared with 53% of public sector workers.

David Coats, Associate Director, Policy, at The Work Foundation, says:

"These are worrying findings for the government, reflecting declining trust in the public sector as an employer. In part the discontent may be explained by the public service pensions debate, still raging at the time the research was conducted. Increasing the retirement age of public servants was seen as a significant threat to the "implicit contract" with their employer."

"The dissatisfaction with senior managers may reflect a lack of political leadership and a failure to engage employees and their representatives. Public service reform will only succeed if government makes a more determined effort to enlist the workforce and trade unions as partners in the process of change."

Gideon Skinner, Research Director at MORI, says:

"Public sector workers are becoming disgruntled at the same time as the public at large is becoming more critical about public services [note 1], and we should not be surprised if there is a link between these two trends. While public sector workers are more likely to think they make a positive contribution to society than those who work in the private sector, they are less confident that they are viewed as customer focused or quality driven -- two areas where senior management could perhaps provide a clearer vision for those who work in public services."

Notes

1. The latest Deloitte MORI Delivery Index shows a fall in those who think the government's policies will improve Britain's public services from 43% to 34%.

Topline Results

• This is the second wave of the Workers Index, which tracks employees' views towards their organisation, their management, and their priorities for helping them do a better job.
• MORI interviewed a representative sample of 1,028 adults in 197 sampling points across Great Britain. Respondents are all full or part time workers or self employed.
• Fieldwork took place between 6-13 October 2005, face-to-face in respondents' homes.
• Where results do not sum to 100, this may be due to multiple responses, computer rounding or the exclusion of don't knows/not stated.
• An asterisk (*) represents a value of less than one half or one percent, but not zero.
• Data are weighted to the profile of the British population.
• Trend results are shown against the first wave of the Workers Index, which interviewed 970 British adults in work between 17-21 February 2005.

Q1 Which of these phrases best describes the way you would speak about the services your organisation provides to other people?

Q2 How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

Senior management have a clear vision of where this organisation is going Base: All full and part time workers (excluding self employed)

Q3 Thinking about your organisation and your role within it, which three or four of these things, if any, are most needed to help you do a better job?

Q4 I would now like you to think about your customers, clients or people who use your organisation's services or products. These people will often have a different perspective to those who work in the organisation. Which of these words, if any, do you think they would use to describe your organisation?