Employee health and wellbeing
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Flexible work
Flexible work supports both performance and wellbeing. Over the last 6 years, public sectors everywhere have seen an enormous shift in attitudes and approaches to how we work. This is still evolving. Flexible work encompasses many different arrangements, including part-time employment, job sharing, flexible start and finish times, accrued time, compressed work weeks and working remotely. The Public Sector Commission’s Flex-connect framework contains principles supporting implementation of flexible work approaches.
| Responses | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part-time work | 11% | 10% | 13% |
| Remote working: a location other than your official place of work and other than your home e.g. distributed work centre, on-site | 9% | 9% | 11% |
| Remote working: from home | 51% | 54% | 77% |
| Flexible work hours (e.g., accumulated hours as 'flexitime') | 42% | 43% | 48% |
| Flexible work hours for example start late or early to meet responsibilities external to work | 30% | 30% | 37% |
| Self-selecting schedules | 6% | 6% | 6% |
| Flexible shifts/scheduling | 6% | 6% | 6% |
| Shift swapping | 6% | 6% | 2% |
| Designing own rosters | 3% | 2% | 2% |
| Job sharing | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Compressed work hours | 4% | 4% | 6% |
| Part-year work/annualised hours | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Term-time working | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Casual/on call | 2% | 2% | 1% |
| Hot desks | 8% | 11% | 9% |
| Purchased leave/extended leave/deferred salary schemes | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Leave at half pay | 7% | 7% | 7% |
| Other | 1% | 1% | 2% |
| None of the above | 23% | 20% | 34% |
Table footnote: In 2025, the Working for Queensland (WfQ) survey changed its structure by combining questions about flexible work and workplace adjustments. As a result, comparisons with previous years are indicative only.
Source: WfQ 2023–2025
WfQ survey data indicates that the uptake of many types of flexible work options across the public sector has increased over time. 77% of respondents indicated they have the flexibility they need to manage work and other interests. There has also been a 9 percentage point increase in respondents indicating their workgroup discusses flexible work arrangements to accommodate individual needs. One of the principles in the Flex-connect framework for the successful implementation of flexible work approaches is teamwork—where teams design approaches that suit all of the team and understand and balance their individual role and collective outcomes.
Work demands
Work demands continue to be a key influence on performance and wellbeing. Research consistently shows that excessive work demands have an adverse effect on employee engagement and wellbeing. Continued excessive work demands can ultimately affect the quality and sustainability of services.
While perceptions of work demands have remained relatively stable over the past 3 years, close monitoring of employee experience in this area is important.
| Questions | Never and Rarely | Once in a while, Some of the time, and Fairly often | Often and Always | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I need to work long hours to meet performance expectations. | 2025 | 35% | 47% | 18% |
| 2024 | 35% | 47% | 18% | |
| 2023 | 34% | 48% | 18% | |
| I am given unachievable deadlines. | 2025 | 49% | 38% | 13% |
| 2024 | 50% | 38% | 12% | |
| 2023 | 49% | 39% | 13% | |
| My work is emotionally demanding. | 2025 | 26% | 48% | 27% |
| 2024 | 26% | 48% | 25% | |
| 2023 | 24% | 49% | 28% | |
| My work is physically demanding. | 2025 | 59% | 31% | 10% |
| 2024 | 58% | 32% | 10% | |
| 2023 | 55% | 34% | 11% | |
| I am overloaded with work. | 2025 | 29% | 52% | 19% |
| 2024 | 29% | 52% | 19% | |
| 2023 | 28% | 52% | 20% | |
| I feel burned out by my work. | 2025 | 36% | 45% | 19% |
| 2024 | 35% | 46% | 18% | |
| 2023 | 35% | 45% | 20% | |
| My work leaves me feeling emotionally exhausted. | 2025 | 34% | 45% | 21% |
| 2024 | 34% | 47% | 20% | |
| 2023 | 33% | 46% | 22% | |
| My work leaves me feeling physically exhausted. | 2025 | 52% | 36% | 12% |
| 2024 | 51% | 37% | 12% | |
| 2023 | 49% | 38% | 13% | |
Source: WfQ 2023–2025
Absenteeism
Absenteeism is another indicator of performance and wellbeing. Low job satisfaction, low employee engagement and sustained high work demands strongly drive high rates of unplanned leave.
The use of unplanned leave, such as sick leave, carers leave and unscheduled leave, are normal and expected and do not by themselves point to issues of performance or culture. To properly understand the underlying drivers of absenteeism, we need a more holistic analysis of leave patterns and other workforce metrics, such as the intention to leave.
In the 5 years to March 2026, there has been a small increase in the different forms of unplanned leave.
Tenure
Tenure is a key metric for organisational stability and retention effectiveness. The length of tenure in the public sector is typically higher than other sectors, with 43.65% of employees having worked in the public sector for 10 or more years. Of these, 24.96% have been in the sector for between 10 and 20 years. A balanced tenure profile that combines corporate knowledge gained through length of tenure with the fresh perspectives of new employees is necessary for both continuity and innovation.
Hires and separations
Workforce hires and separations are important measures for understanding organisational performance. Respectively they represent the attractiveness of an organisation as an employer and the ability of an organisation to retain its staff.
The hire rate is the proportion of permanent employees newly hired into the Queensland public sector relative to the total permanent workforce.
The separation rate is the proportion of permanent employees who exit the Queensland public sector relative to the total permanent workforce.
In the year March 2025 to March 2026, permanent separation rates continued a recent stable trend. In the same period, permanent hiring rates have declined, reversing an upward trend over the previous 4 years.
Intention to leave
WfQ survey data shows that almost half of respondents want to stay in their current position for at least the next 3 years. A much smaller group (8%) want to leave their position as soon as possible.
The top 10 reasons respondents identified for wanting to leave include the quality of senior leadership, a lack of career opportunities, a desire to further skills in a different area, emotional exhaustion, trying a different type of work, pursuing promotion opportunities or making a career change.
| Responses | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Senior leadership is of a poor quality | 22.57% | 23.84% |
| There are a lack of future career opportunities in my agency | 20.29% | 22.73% |
| I am looking to further my skills in another area | 17.71% | 18.67% |
| I am emotionally exhausted | 15.45% | 16.61% |
| I am not satisfied with the work | 14.87% | 15.92% |
| My immediate supervisor's leadership is of a poor quality | 14.50% | 15.43% |
| I want to try a different type of work or I'm seeking a career change | 15.05% | 14.50% |
| I wish to pursue a promotion opportunity | 13.07% | 12.97% |
| I have achieved all I can in my current position | 11.87% | 12.30% |
| I am expected to do more work than I reasonably can | 11.84% | 11.84% |
| I have experienced unacceptable behaviours (such as bullying or harassment) | 9.46% | 9.90% |
Source: WfQ 2024–2025.
Continuous improvement
The Queensland public sector remains committed to fostering a culture of continuous improvement across agencies, functions and service delivery. This commitment reflects an ongoing focus on strengthening capability, enhancing performance and ensuring that services meet the evolving needs of Queenslanders.
Data on continuous improvement has remained relatively stable over the past 3 years:
- 65% proactively seek new and better ways of doing their job often and always
- 70% help co-workers learn new skills or share job knowledge often and always
- 63% help co-workers that have too much work to do often and always
- 63% work with colleagues to identify better practice often and always.
These measures of continuous improvement point to the importance of collaboration to support learning and improvement.
The State of the sector report and the Working for Queensland (WfQ) survey continue to serve as a key mechanism for continuous improvement for our workplaces and workforces. While changes in workforce metrics have been incremental over the past year, the consistency of results provides an important indication of system stability and sustained effort across the sector.
To ensure timely insights, the Public Sector Commission will complement the State of the sector report with a new mid-year workforce update releasing every December. This update will provide an opportunity to track emerging workforce trends, respond to early signals and maintain momentum between annual reporting cycles. Together, these reports support a more dynamic and responsive approach to workforce management and sector-wide improvement.
Looking ahead, the State of the sector report will continue to evolve to ensure it remains relevant, accessible and impactful. From 2027, the report will analyse how agencies apply the public sector principles and embed them in practice. By progressively enhancing the scope, quality and usefulness of reporting, the sector strengthens its ability to drive performance, support accountability and deliver better outcomes for the community.