A wave of voluntary redundancies and tightening budgets has taken its toll on public servants' morale, with staff rating the service lower across wellbeing, engagement and confidence in executive leadership over the past year.
The 2026 staff census revealed employees had rated the public service lower across almost all key performance metrics compared with 2025.
The results showed the senior executive service (SES) manager index, which assessed their leadership behaviour, fell from 71 to 69.
