2020 Public Service Employee Survey (PSES)

Prepared For:

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer

• Supplier Name: Advanis Inc.
• Contract number: 24062-180203/001/CY
• Contract Value: $201,179.58 incl taxes
• Award date: September 3, 2020
• Delivery date: June 28, 2021
• Registration number: POR 089-17

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) conducted the comprehensive Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) every three years from 1999 to 2017. Beginning in 2018, the Government of Canada conducts the survey annually.

The objective of the PSES is to provide information to support the continuous improvement of people management practices in the federal public service. The PSES provides federal departments and agencies with ongoing evidence on key people management issues and allows them to address these issues in a timely manner. Topics covered by the 2020 survey relate to Treasury Board policies and government priorities, such as harassment and discrimination, performance management, leadership competencies, respectful and ethical practices and workplace well-being, including questions related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The target population was all active Government of Canada employees of participating departments and agencies in the core public administration and of participating separate agencies listed in Schedules I, IV and V of the Financial Administration Act. The target population included indeterminate, term, seasonal, casual and student employees, as well as Governor in Council appointees. Ministers’ exempt staff, contracted individuals and employees on leave without pay were not included.

The 2020 PSES was a voluntary census and was completed by employees online, in PDF format (printed and mailed back to Advanis), or by phone (calling in to speak to an Advanis interviewer).

A total of 87 departments and agencies chose to participate in the 2020 PSES, representing 99% of the federal public service population. Of the 311,684 employees eligible to participate, 188,786 completed the survey, for a response rate of 60.6%. 160,662 (85.1%) completed the survey in English and 28,124 (14.9%) completed in French. 188,737 (99.97%) completed the survey online, 45 (0.02%) completed it via PDF, and 4 employees completed it via the phone. Considering that the survey was administered as a census, the results can be extrapolated to the broader population of employees within the core public administration and participating separate agencies.