Staff at the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) are more motivated than they were, have a greater personal attachment to the organisation and are more confident in the board’s vision for the future, according to this year’s Civil Service People Survey, managed by the Cabinet Office.
The survey was undertaken in September and October last year, questioning 300,000 staff from 97 civil service organisations.
Some 36 staff members from OSCR responded to the third annual survey of staff attitudes and experiences of work.
The results show an overwhelmingly positive response in most areas in comparison to both the previous year and to other civil service organisations. An area of great improvement on last year’s results was the response to the statement that ‘OSCR motivates me to help it achieve its objectives’. This saw an increase of 22 per cent on last year’s results, with 69 per cent agreeing.
A significant increase in staff agreeing they felt a strong personal attachment was also demonstrated, with 58 per cent agreeing to this statement, up 15 per cent on last year’s results.
Leadership and management
While statements regarding leadership and managing change saw incremental increases, OSCR was let down by a 10 per cent drop in those believing it is safe to challenge the way that things are done at OSCR (47 per cent) and an 8 per cent decrease in agreement that staff have the opportunity to contribute their views before decisions are made that affect them (54 per cent).
It is worth noting, however, that despite the falls in these areas, OSCR performed 9 per cent and 19 per cent higher respectively than other civil service employers.
The percentage of people advising they wanted to leave OSCR as soon as possible dropped by 7 per cent to just 3 per cent, although the number of people advising they would like to leave within the next 12 months increased by 9 per cent to 14 per cent. The percentage who agreed that they wanted to stay working with OSCR for at least the next year dropped by 9 per cent to 44 per cent.
Comparatively positive performance
OSCR performed positively in almost all of the 100+ questions asked in the survey in comparison to other high performers in the civil service, receiving comparatively negative results in just four questions, including a 1 per cent comparative negative difference on the statement ‘I have an acceptable workload’, which 64 per cent of OSCR staff agreed to.
The percentage of people who had personally experienced discrimination at work increased from 5 per cent to 11 per cent, although the number of people who would ‘prefer not to say’ was reduced from 9 per cent to 0 per cent and the increase may have absorbed this change.
OSCR fell under new leadership last year following the resignation of Jane Ryder, who had been the regulator’s chief executive since its inception in 2003. David Robb, former head of the Scottish government's Public Bodies Policy Division, took over as the survey was launched in October.
