Career development
The 2025 Public Service Census shows that just over half (51%) of public servants continued to feel that they were encouraged and supported to apply for developmental opportunities. Close to two-thirds (63%) reported that they had access to the learning and development they need to do their job well, almost unchanged from 2021.
Work intentions over the next 12 months
In the 2025 Public Service Census, more than half (54%) of respondents said they had no immediate plans to leave their current position, slightly down from 2021 (59%), compared to 10% who said they were actively applying for another role. Over the next 12 months, 17% expected to apply for a different role while a further 9% wanted to do a secondment or temporary move within their agency or in another agency.
A small number (6%) reported they would like to change jobs but didn’t think they could.
Reasons to consider leaving
In the 2025 Public Service Census, anyone who said they were considering leaving their current role (either permanently or temporarily) was asked why. Lack of career progression opportunities (42.4%), being unsatisfied with pay/remuneration (39.4%) and wanting more interesting work (32.7%) were the top 3 reasons.
Reasons for considering leaving
Turnover and tenure
Unplanned turnover measures the rate that organisations lose permanent staff due to reasons they hadn’t planned for such as resignations, retirements and dismissals. The 2024 figure is 11.9% which is down from 15.9% in 2023 and 17.3% in 2022 (the second highest and highest rates respectively since measurement began in 2000) and is similar to pre-covid levels. This decrease is likely being driven by multiple factors, including an easing of post-covid labour market pressures within the Public Service, and across the wider economy more generally, as well as unique labour market influences within the public sector, and a reduction in the size of the Public Service since a peak in December 2023.
The 2024 Workforce Data shows that the average length of service of Public Service employees increased slightly by 0.1 of a year to 8.0 years. This measure is based on tenure within a single organisation, not the Public Service as a whole, and excludes those on fixed-term employment agreements.
The average length of tenure, which peaked at 9.5 years in 2016, had been in decline prior to 2024. This decrease was largely attributable to the rising annual influx of new recruits into agencies.
The number of new recruits as a share of all employees (15.4%) in 2024 is down from last year’s record high (21.4%) and at its lowest since 2016 (14.2%).