Federal public servants view their immediate supervisors more favourably than the senior executives above them, despite investing large sums into training department leaders.
A Canberra Times analysis of the latest Austender data reveals more than $13 million has been spent on leadership training, programs and summits since 2022, of which about $500,000 was spent on SES leadership training.
Although the census results show an improvement in perception of SES compared to 2024, those managers still lag behind on measures of trust, leadership and communication.
The report shows a six-point gap between the immediate supervisors and SES managers.
While the SES manager index score increased by one to 71 in one year, public servants rated them lowest in leadership and teamwork.
SES managers performed best with questions around strategic thinking, where more than 75 per cent of public servants believed their work contributes to the overall direction of the agency and the APS.
On questions of leadership and communication, they were consistently ranked lower by their staff.
Just over half believed their SES manager worked as a team, up slightly since 2024, while two-thirds believed their manager was able to steer staff towards a desired outcome.
In response to the findings, the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) said its investment in leadership reflected "best practice" and was key to solidifying recent gains.
When questioned on the millions spent on leadership initiatives, the APSC said "individual agencies would need to comment on the spends for which they are responsible", but noted that "building the capability of the Australian Public Service is part of the APS Commissioner's statutory responsibilities".
While the trust gap remains, the APSC said there were positive trends in the census, as integrity and innovation had increased in the census.
"Census results show real improvements in the APS, and we seek to lock those gains in through continued investment in our leaders".
The report had a response rate of 81 per cent, with 151,771 responses out of 186,849 participants.