Summary reports

Technical information

The Public Service Census is a survey of New Zealand public servants working in departments and departmental agencies. The first Public Service Census ran in 2021, and the 2025 survey ran from 3-21 March. A total of 44,737 people took part in the 2025 survey, or 68.5% of staff working in departments and departmental agencies.

What questions were asked?

We review and update the questionnaire for each iteration of the Census to ensure that the questions remain relevant. We take into account programmes of work that could be supported by information at the system and agency level. Though core topics of the survey will remain so we can monitor long-term trends, we will continue to introduce modules on new topics as needed.

In 2025, we asked questions about:

  • enablers of productivity e.g. clarity of agency priorities and work objectives, manager support, impact of flexible work on productivity, team collaboration, workload and engagement
  • delivery e.g. responsiveness to customer feedback, innovation, interagency collaboration
  • good employer requirements e.g. job stress, bullying, racial and sexual harassment, discrimination
  • integrity and conduct e.g. transparency, political neutrality, free and frank advice
  • demographic characteristics not collected elsewhere e.g. caring responsibilities, religion, disability.

You can see copies of the questionnaires on our website:

Questionnaire — Te Taunaki Public Service Census 2025(PDF, 388 KB)

Questionnaire — Te Taunaki Public Service Census 2021(PDF, 326 KB)

About the engagement index(PDF, 42 KB)

Funding

In 2025, we funded participation for departments and departmental agencies. Crown agents and non-Public Service departments can self-fund if they would like to participate later in the year.

The Census follows the model used in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada who regularly survey their public service workforces. This is more cost effective than individual agencies running their own surveys due to economies of scale and the ability to benchmark by using a consistent set of questions for all agencies. 

Privacy

Participants’ privacy is paramount. Te Taunaki Public Service Census responses are grouped and included in summary reporting at the agency and system level. Individuals are not identified in any reporting. Read more about how we protect your privacy here:

Privacy summary for Te Taunaki Public Service Census 2025

The information is collected securely by Research New Zealand whose Security Policy and Practices meet the requirements set out in the New Zealand Information Security Manual. 

New Zealand Information Security Manual — gcsb.govt.nz   

We securely store an anonymised version of the data in our internal system. 

Accessibility

Our research provider for the Census has been independently assessed as conforming to accessibility standard WCAG 2.2 AA.

Confirmation of Accessibility Testing 2025 - Research NZ

Using the dataset for research

We invite applications from bona fide researchers to use anonymised information from the Census dataset on site at the Commission. Note datasets for research are only available onsite at our office and will not include agency name as a variable. Iwi affiliation is part of the dataset, and we can assist iwi to access summary reporting about public servants from their community. 

For more information about research using the anonymised dataset, contact us at:

census@publicservice.govt.nz

Our name

Te taunaki e anga whakamua ai te Ratonga Tūmatanui means ‘the evidence that moves the Public Service forward’ (Te Taunaki | the evidence)

Technical reports

For information on the methodology of the survey, including participation rates, response times, and margin of error, read the Technical Report.

Technical report 2025(PDF, 473 KB)

Technical report 2021(PDF, 474 KB)

2021 Te Taunaki Public Service Census

The final response rate for the 2021 Census was 63.1%, representing the views and experiences of about 40,000 public servants. This comprised 60.5% (around 38,340) public servants completing the survey, and a further 2.6% (1,640) who partially completed. 

Deep Dive Report: Inclusion 

Deep Dive Report: Tangata Whaikaha Māori and Disabled Public Servants 

Deep Dive Report: Women in the Public Service (PDF, 1.4 MB)

Deep Dive Report: Public Servants with Diverse Sexual Identities (PDF, 1.1 MB)

Deep Dive Report: Gender Diverse Public Servants (PDF, 924 KB)

Deep Dive Report: Transgender Public Servants (PDF, 846 KB)

Deep Dive Report: Intersex Public Servants (PDF, 798 KB)

Contact

If you have questions about the Census, contact us at: 

census@publicservice.govt.nz