The research found that employment benefits are one of the highest motivators for keeping people in the Civil Service, with 88% of employees rating job security as important or very important.
At the same time, 86% of staff also pointed to pension packages as important or very important. It is interesting to note however that new Civil Servants actually see pensions as a less important reason to stay in the service, which could be due to the changes to pension laws for the public sector which were implemented earlier in the year.
Unsurprisingly, providing a public service is another top motivator for employees, with nearly three quarters (72%) of staff believing that it is an important or very important motivation for staying in the Civil Service. Over half (51%) of staff also felt that being a civil servant was a key influence, emphasising the point that many stay in this sector because of their passion for what they do.
It’s interesting to note that career development opportunities are less important in encouraging people to stay in the service than they are in encouraging people to join. This suggests that a significant opportunity is to improve training programs and processes in order to fulfil the expectation that led recruits to apply in the first place. This could potentially substantially increase retention. This is especially evident amongst a younger generation of employees.
Understanding what drives and motivates employees is more important than ever nowadays where there is a growing skills shortage and lack of talent to fill positions. Therefore, it is highly important for HR professionals in the Civil Service to understand what their employees want and how they can achieve this. Organisations which fail to tap into this may risk having a disengaged and unenthusiastic workforce, whilst those which get it right will reap many benefits and see an improved productivity amongst staff.
To read the full report, click here.