The Civil Service Employee Engagement Survey (CSEES) is being implemented under the current Civil Service Reform Plan. It is designed to let you have your say on your experience in work,your department and your Civil Service.
The purpose of the CSEES is to measure and evaluate employee engagement, employee well-being, how staff cope with change and staff commitment to the organisation. Participation in the survey is an important opportunity for employees to have their voices heard. The results will also help to inform strategic management decisions and delivery of the Civil Service Renewal Plan.
The Department of Public Expenditure NDP Delivery & Reform and the Civil Service Management Board (CSMB), which includes all Heads of Government Departments and major Offices, has tasked the Central Statistics Office (CSO) with administering the survey and processing the results.
The CSEES will be live for a period of two weeks from 11 to 22 of September 2023.
Access to the survey will be provided to every civil servant via link and password, which will be disseminated to all staff via email by their Department or Office.
If you have any difficulties accessing or completing the survey please email your query to the contact in your Department or Office who is responsible for the survey. For any technical queries, please contact csees@cso.ie.
For further information see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) below.
What is the CSEES?
The Civil Service Employee Engagement Survey (CSEES) is designed to let you have your say on your experience at work, your department, your Civil Service and other work - related matters.
When will the survey be carried out in 2023?
The survey will be carried out for a period of two weeks from 11 - 22 September 2023
What is the purpose of the survey?
The purpose of the CSEES is to measure and evaluate leadership, engagement, performance and operation across the Civil Service. The results of the CSEES will also help to inform strategic management decisions and delivery of the Civil Service Renewal Plan.
Who will be taking part in the survey?
All active civil servants will be given the opportunity to take part in the survey. This is an important opportunity for civil servants to have their voices heard.
How do I take part in the survey?
The CSEES is available online only. Each civil servant will be able to take part by completing an online questionnaire. Access to the survey will be provided to every civil servant via link and password, which will be disseminated to all staff via email by their Department or Office.
How long does the survey take to complete?
The survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete.
Is it compulsory to take part?
No, it is not compulsory to take part, but participation is encouraged so that you have the opportunity to provide your views on important issues that relate to your role in the Civil Service.
Do I have to fill out the survey in one session?
It is preferable to complete the survey in one session. Your responses are automatically saved as you progress through the survey. You can return to complete the survey at a later time using the same generic link and internet browser.
If multiple users are using the same computer/laptop to take the survey, the survey will need to be completed in one session
What Type of questions will I have to answer?
The survey contains questions relating to your job, your organisation as an employer and other work-related matters. Most of the questions capture your opinion on work matters by presenting you with key statements and asking you to select how strongly you agree or disagree with the statement.
Will it be possible to link my answers back to me?
No, this survey is designed so that information cannot be traced back to you. All individual information obtained by the CSO is treated as strictly confidential. The survey system will automatically remove any identifying information such as IP address.
How often will the CSEES be conducted?
This is the fourth iteration of the CSEES following on from the 2015, 2017 and 2020 surveys. The CSEES monitors progress towards improving employee engagement.
Who is conducting the CSEES?
The Civil Service Management Board (CSMB) has tasked the Central Statistics Office (CSO) with administering the survey and processing the results.
The CSMB is the Data Controller for the CSEES. The Data Controller determines the purposes and the manner in which any personal data such as the CSEES response data is to be processed. The CSO is the Data Processor for the CSEES. The Data Processor holds and processes personal data, such as the CSEES response data in accordance with data protection best practice.
Why are the CSO collecting the data and not the specific Department or Office?
The CSO have been tasked by the CSMB to carry out the survey as they are experts in the fields of surveying, analysis and statistical outputs. The CSO has the ability to provide full confidentiality to all staff that partake in the survey and can also produce statistical outputs on the findings for each Department/Office in an impartial and independent manner.
Who will be able to view the response to surveys?
The CSO CSEES team will see responses to the survey. The survey system has been designed to ensure the anonymous collection of data. It will not be possible to link a completed survey return with any individual. Results will be aggregated to ensure no data will be available for groups of fewer than 10 respondents.
What data is being collected?
Survey response data is the only data being collected. This includes responses to blocks of questions relating to employee engagement, well-being, coping with change, leadership and commitment to the organisation. There are new questions added for the 2023 survey relating to Blended Working as well as questions related to the core Civil Service values that were not included in previous iterations of the survey in 2015, 2017 and 2020.
Who will be able to view the responses to the survey?
The CSO CSEES team will see responses to the survey. The survey system has been designed to ensure the anonymous collection of data. It will not be possible to link a completed survey return with any individual. Results will be aggregated to ensure no data will be available for groups of fewer than 10 respondents.
What will be done with the information that is collected?
Your responses to the survey will be analysed by the CSO. A Civil Service report will be published and reports for each Department or Office will also be disseminated. This is the fourth iteration of the CSEES following on from the 2015, 2017 and 2020 surveys and will monitor progress towards improving employee engagement.
It will be the responsibility of each individual Department or Office to act on the findings in the report. The anonymised data from the CSEES will be retained for additional analysis, including comparison with future surveys. It may be analysed in the future by different researchers under strict terms and conditions set down by the CSMB which guarantee the confidentiality of respondents.
Will the survey data be stored securely?
Yes, the data will be stored securely. Data provided to CSO is stored on CSO’s internal IT network with appropriate security, access controls as well as backup and recovery procedures in place. Within CSO, the anonymised survey data is available only to the CSEES team.
The data is initially processed by a 3rd party IT company who support CSO’s systems providing Cloud infrastructure, used to support the platform on which the Survey Data Collection service runs. Data is regularly transferred to internal CSO systems for further downstream processing, any data on the Cloud is then deleted.
How long will the survey data be stored?
Partially complete data is deleted after 14 days if there is no further activity. Submitted survey data is not stored in the Cloud and is sent to CSO internal networks where is it stored indefinitely for further analysis and reporting.