Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from Sir Peter Ricketts KCMG, Permanent Under-Secretary, Foreign
and Commonwealth Office
THE FCO 2008 STAFF
SURVEY
We have just received the full results of our
annual survey of all our staff at home and abroad. I thought the
Committee would be interested to see these.[1]
The overall results are encouraging. They show
that most of our staff like working for us, think our organisation
is a good one, and see us improving in the areas where we need
to improve.
For example:
— we got our highest ever response rate
this year: 71% of our staff around the world, up 22% on last year.
That gives us confidence that our staff think we are listening
to what they say and will act on it. We are and we will;
— most of the ratings were positive. These
cover what staff think about their job, reward and recognition,
career, training, work-life balance, diversity, security, line
managers, leadership, change and communication;
— 92% of our staff understand how their
own work contributes to the objectives of the FCO or their post.
88% think they are doing something worthwhile. 84% are proud to
work for us. Many of these scores are well ahead of the central
government average;
— there were some big improvements compared
with last year's survey. Leadership: 70% of staff now say their
senior managers show integrity (7% higher than last year). Change:
68% of staff now understand why the FCO is changing, up 7%. Diversity:
73% now say the FCO/post is actively committed to it, up 7%; and
70% think their senior managers are, up 10%. Flexible working:
63% now say their manager supports it, up 11%; and
— we are making progress over time. Comparing
each of the surveys from 2004 onwards shows that in each successive
year our staff have given the FCO better ratings overall than
in the previous one. This suggests that the organisation really
is improving.
Of course there are some important messages
for me and the senior leadership team as well. For example, only
36% of our staff think the overall pay and benefits package we
offer is reasonable (though this is also one of the most improved
scores: 8% higher than last year).
Of greatest concern to me was the figure for
discrimination, bullying and harassment: 17% of our staff said
they had experienced it. This is 17% too many. We are looking
carefully at the reasons. Part of the explanation may be that
our recent diversity training has encouraged staff to speak out:
the figure was 2% up on last year, and most now say they would
feel able to report such treatment if it happened to them (up
7% to 63%).
Our policy on discrimination, bullying and harassment
is simple: zero tolerance. We have reaffirmed this to all staff;
told our Heads of Mission and Directors that we look to them to
ensure it; and underlined that we will take disciplinary action
up to and including dismissal against any staff member found to
have behaved in this way.
We have shared all the main survey results with
our staff and told them how we intend to respond to the various
points they raised. We have also shared with staff the detailed
scores for each of our posts and directorates, and have encouraged
our Heads of Mission and Directors to discuss these with their
own teams. We are doing more analysis of some of the points that
emerged from the survey. Finally we are inviting staff to debate
some of the issues which came up in the survey with senior management
during an online conversation we are holding next month, open
to all staff.
17 February 2009
1 Not printed. Back
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