The Alternative People Survey
Senior Researcher
Today, Re:State, in partnership with Civil Service World, has published ‘The Alternative People Survey’, which provides a sobering insight into the experience of civil servants in Whitehall. Over 1,200 civil servants responded to our 25-question survey, which explored everything from career progression and talent management to the use of AI and the burden of bureaucracy. As a former civil servant, three things struck me:
- The HR function is broken
HR can be unfairly maligned in all organisations – public and private. But these survey results suggest a function in crisis; one no longer able to deliver on its core responsibilities. The stats speak, for themselves:
- On performance management: Only 8 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that “The civil service in general manages poor performance well”. 78 per cent said it did not. (The remaining 13 per cent responded either “Neither agree nor disagree” or “Don’t know”).
- On talent management: Just 29 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement that “The civil service takes talent and performance management seriously”. 57 per cent either disagreed or strongly disagreed (with 15 per cent either unsure or neither agreeing nor disagreeing).
- On career progression: Only 38% agreed with statement “There are opportunities to progress which makes a future career in the civil service an exciting prospect”; 45% did not (with 17 per cent either unsure or neither agreeing nor disagreeing).
- On the hiring model: Whilst not directly surveyed, this came up so frequently in free text responses that we decided to include a separate section on it. Reflections included, “processes do not favour genuine talent or recognise potential in the right way” and “the application system is performative, formulaic, and inaccessible to those outside the civil service.”.
It is not enough to tweak the model at the margins – genuine and radical reform is needed, urgently.
- Process gets in the way of high performance
70 per cent of respondents said they agreed with the statement “I often feel that processes get in the way of me performing my job”. This will not come as a surprise to those who know Whitehall well.
What surprised me though, is that this figure rose to 83% amongst the Senior Civil Servant (SCS) respondents. One might assume seniority brings latitude, but apparently the opposite is true – the closer you are to the top, the more you can see how constrained you and your colleagues really are.
And it raises a deeper question: if senior civil servants acknowledge that process is stifling delivery, who is accountable for changing that if not them? In a healthy organisation, leadership should come with ownership. Process has long been a barrier to delivery. Leaders need to fix it.
- The myth of the civil servant as a slow adopter
One of the few bright spots: 30% of civil servants report using AI tools in their work, and of these, 78% would agree with the statement “The AI tools I use help me to do my job better”. This challenges the tired caricature of civil servants being allergic to innovation.
Interestingly, 52% of respondents said the Civil Service does little to encourage or reward innovation. The implication is striking – ingenuity is thriving not because of the system, but in spite of it.
My final reflections:
The Alternative People Survey makes for a frustrating read.
Whilst the Government has committed to “rewiring the state” and set objectives for better performance management, strategic workforce planning, and agreed exits, ministers can’t make that happen alone. The Civil Service as an institution must take ownership of these failings, own the solutions and themselves drive their implementation.