We are happy to announce that the results of the 2023 State of the Community survey, released in May, are now available for all members to view via the member portal at https://my.acfo-acaf.com/.

The State of the Community Survey is one of the most important tools that our team at ACFO-ACAF utilizes when it comes to advocating for our members at the bargaining table, during grievances and in discussions with senior management. This year’s survey invited members to share their opinions on how their department has performed on numerous priorities including:

• Remote work flexibility;
• The presence of harassment and discrimination;
• Work life balance; and
• Maintaining a healthy and inclusive workplace.

A portion of this year’s survey was also dedicated to gathering demographic information on the CT Community, helping us to evaluate how our membership is changing year after year. The State of the Community survey results are not only a tool for ACFO-ACAF, but it also provides our members with an opportunity to see how their department stacks up against the rest of the public service and how employees have evaluated departments that you may one day find yourselves working in.

Results highlights

One of the goals from this year’s survey was to determine what requirements different departments have put in place for the number of days members are required to go into the office every week. Of the 19 departments for which we prepared detailed reports this year, only two of them had a median of three or more days per week required to work from the office: Correctional Services Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Each of the 17 other departments have a median requirement of two in-office working days per week.

The survey results also showed that departments who are flexible with in-office work requirements, based upon both their required in-office working days per week and how many days are variable vs. fixed, tended to score higher on the likelihood of being recommended as a good place to work. For example, Agriculture and Agrifood Canada (AAFC) requires their employees to work from the office two days a week and both of those days are variable. AAFC finished second in the rankings of respondents stating that their workplace is both healthy and inclusive with a score of 96%, only behind Transport Canada with a score of 97%.

We also asked respondents what two days of the week, given the choice, they would prefer to work from the office. 55% of all respondents said that Tuesdays would be one of their preferred days, followed by Wednesdays and Mondays with 43% and 41% of the votes respectively.  

ACFO-ACAF President Dany Richard will utilize the results from this survey in addition to the PSES survey results in his discussions with senior management representatives in departments where we have members and whose data we can share over the coming weeks and months. Having our own data in addition to the data that the employer collects through the PSES survey enables us to verify that the information we have is both relevant and significant and helps our efforts to justify changes that benefit our members today and in the future.

Where can I find the results?

The 2023 State of the Community survey results, along with the results from previous years, are available exclusively in the member portal which can be found here.

To access the results, members must log in through the portal and the survey documents can be found in the ‘Documents and Videos’ section of the portal under the ‘State of the Community Documents’ tab.

Haven’t registered for the portal but want to see how your department fared? You can find instructions on how to register here.

After logging into the portal, you will have access to all of the information that has been uploaded, which includes:

• A complete survey analysis of the 2023 State of the Community survey: This detailed report examines each individual question of this year’s survey and breaks down how respondents answered the questions. It provides insight into how the CT Community as a whole responded to the survey;
• Departmental report card: The report card document demonstrates how 19 of the largest departments performed on nine handpicked questions, identifying the top three and bottom three performing departments on each question; 
• Departmental summaries: These reports provide key highlights from 19 different departments’ survey results and a chart comparing this year’s results to both the 2023 survey results as a whole and their results in 2021-22; and
• An equity group analysis: This series of four reports compares the results for each survey question from the CT Community at large with those from official employment equity groups – women, Indigenous peoples, people with a disability, and members of visible minorities – and identifies key highlights.

Thank you!

Information from the State of the Community Survey plays a crucial role in our work at ACFO-ACAF, and it wouldn’t be possible without our members taking time out of their busy schedules to complete our survey. This year, 1,353 ACFO-ACAF members responded to the survey, which is the highest total number of responses that we’ve ever had!Thank you!Information from the State of the Community Survey plays a crucial role in our work at ACFO-ACAF, and it wouldn’t be possible without our members taking time out of their busy schedules to complete our survey. This year, 1,353 ACFO-ACAF members responded to the survey, which is the highest total number of responses that we’ve ever had!

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Andrew Kelly at akelly@acfo-acaf.com.