Public Service Employee Survey (PSES)

Detailed information for 2024

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and Statistics Canada will administer the 2024 Public Service Employee Survey (PSES). This public service-wide survey is designed to provide information to support the continuous improvement of people management practices in the federal public service.

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology

Description

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and Statistics Canada will administer the 2024 Public Service Employee Survey (PSES). This public service-wide survey is designed to provide information to support the continuous improvement of people management practices in the federal public service.

The survey results allow departments and agencies in the Government of Canada to identify their areas of strengths and opportunities on topics such as employee engagement, official languages, equity and inclusion, and workplace well-being. Departments and agencies can use the results to benchmark their performance, track progress over time, and develop and refine strategies.

Employee responses contribute to making the public service a better place to work, which in turn leads to better outcomes for Canadians.

Information given by employees may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes. Although voluntary, employees' participation is important so that the information collected provides the most accurate and complete picture of the public service.

Subjects

• Government
• Industries
• Labour

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The survey targets employees of organizations in the core public administration and of participating separate agencies listed in Schedules I, IV and V of the Financial Administration Act who were active in the public service on September 6, 2024. Indeterminate, term, seasonal, casual and student employees, as well as Governor in Council appointees are eligible to participate. A list of participating public service agencies for the 2024 PSES can be found in the "Additional documentation" section. Three non-public service agencies are also participating in the survey: Royal Canadian Mounted Police (regular and civilian Members who are not public service employees), Global Affairs Canada (Locally Engaged Staff), and National Capital Commission.

• Additional documentation

Instrument design

The content of the 1999 survey was developed by an interdepartmental committee, led by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, with the support of Statistics Canada. In 2002, the survey was modified extensively, retaining 39 questions from the 1999 version. In 2008, the survey underwent a major revision, including changes to the response scale for the majority of questions, which precluded comparisons with results from previous survey cycles. Recent questionnaires have evolved to address current issues and allow for benchmarking with other government employee surveys. The 2024 survey content was developed through extensive consultation with departments and agencies, central agencies, bargaining agents, Human Resources policy groups, functional communities, and employment equity group committees.

The 2024 PSES questionnaire underwent qualitative testing by Statistics Canada's Questionnaire Design Resource Center (QDRC), to ensure that respondents could comprehend the questions, and to ensure that they were meaningful and would yield valid results.

Qualitative testing in the form of one-on-one interviews were conducted virtually with employees. Interviewees included a mix of Public Service employees with different demographic and work-related characteristics, including gender, race, sexual orientation and language of preference. All comments and feedback from qualitative testing were carefully considered and the questionnaire was revised accordingly.

The 2024 questionnaire was formatted as an electronic survey (to be completed online).

Sampling

This PSES is a census with a cross-sectional design.

Data are collected for all units of the target population; therefore, no sampling is done.

The PSES sample frame was built from lists of employees provided by human resource services from participating organizations. In doing this, they provided a list of fields requested by Statistics Canada to conduct the survey, as well as a list of employees meeting the in-scope population criteria. These lists were verified, cleaned and combined by Statistics Canada to form the final survey frame. This sampling unit is a person.

A total of 93 departments and agencies are participating in the 2024 PSES.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2024-10-28 to 2024-12-31

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .