Many provincial government workers feel their stress levels are not manageable | Shutterstock





A majority of provincial government workers surveyed last fall say they can handle work and stress but claim to be underpaid.

That is according to the latest BC Stats Work Environment Survey report, which was released under Freedom of Information.

The 2015 “Exploring Employee Engagement in the B.C. Public Service” showed a 58 out of 100 score for workload and stress manageability on a weighted scale. On a percentage basis, 48% of respondents gave a neutral or negative answer when asked whether their workload was manageable. Only 50% of respondents agreed that their work-related stress was manageable. The stress and workload score was one point better than the previous study in 2013, but only three points better than 2006 when the survey was conducted annually.

A 2007 BC Stats report said there was “likely no silver bullet that will eliminate stress and boost productivity” but it was more complex to solve than simply hiring more staff.

“Stress and workload is an important driver for three reasons: it directly influences both organization satisfaction and commitment, as well as being a very strong driver of pay and benefits,” the 2007 report said. “Since pay and benefits [are] very costly to influence directly, it is certainly more cost-effective to improve perceptions of pay and benefits by improving perceptions of stress and workload.”

The lowest-scoring ministry on the stress question in the 2015 survey was Children and Family Development (53), though it improved by two points from 2013.

Pay and benefits satisfaction reached only 47 out of 100, unchanged from 2013.

Only 31% of respondents agreed with the statement “my pay is competitive with similar jobs in the region” and only 37% agreed “I am fairly paid for the work I do.”

That may be because of higher pay in other government jobs. An October 2014 B.C. Public Sector Compensation Review by EY found higher rates of pay in big city governments like Vancouver and Victoria than in the provincial government. But the study said the province should use “financial levers if necessary” to bring regional and local governments in-line with the province.

“In regional and local government, there is no entity, policy or procedure across the sector that is intended to support the establishment of sector-wide rules on executive compensation and mandates for bargaining unit compensation,” the EY report said.

A telling question in the Work Environment Survey was whether the previous survey led to workplace improvements. Most respondents said no or were neutral.

Of the 25,009 eligible B.C. Public Service employees, 19,756 responded to the survey, which was conducted by mail and online from October 6 to 30, 2015. The 79% rate was 1% lower than 2013. Participation peaked in 2009 at 87%.

Respondents answered questions on a five-point scale, 1 for strongly disagree and 5 for strongly agree. Answers were collapsed into three categories for the percentages, while average scores were converted into a 100-point scale and averaged by the number of respondents.

Looking closer at organizations, the Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation job satisfaction scores dropped by 35 points since 2013. Other drops came from Advanced Education (-15), Health (-13) and Government Communications and Public Engagement (-9).

On the other end of the scale, satisfaction scores for Emergency Management B.C. ballooned 245 since 2013. Public Guardian and Trustee (152) and Environmental Assessment Office (86) also registered increases.