DFAT survey shows dissatisfaction among former AusAID employees with merger (ABC)

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A leaked survey of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) staff has laid bare the dissatisfaction of former AusAID employees with the merger of the two agencies.

According to the survey, only 33 per cent of former AusAID staff feel "part of the team" compared to 70 per cent of their colleagues who have always been at DFAT.

More than 4,000 staff from the merged agency responded to the survey, which was taken over February and March as staff were reacting to the new structure and anticipating cuts in the May budget.

It is the first in a series of surveys designed to monitor the progress of last November's integration of DFAT and AusAID.

The agencies were merged to better align Australia's aid and foreign affairs programs, but some AusAID staff have privately described it as a "hostile takeover" by DFAT.

Twenty-one per cent of ex-AusAID staff surveyed indicated they would leave the agency within the next two years, compared to 11 per cent of staff who were at DFAT before the integration.

There has been a fall in the level of pride in working at DFAT - 70 per cent of integrated DFAT staff say they are proud of working there, a decline from two years earlier when 85 per cent of DFAT staff and 90 per cent of AusAID staff expressed pride in their respective employers.

The proportion who would rate DFAT as a good place to work has slumped to 57 per cent, down from around 70 per cent in 2012.

The results of the full survey have not been released. Only the key findings of the survey were distributed to staff earlier this month, and many of the results are not disaggregated by former AusAID and DFAT staff.

Agencies 'do have different cultures'

In a message attached to the findings, DFAT Secretary Peter Varghese acknowledged the lower satisfaction levels of ex-AusAID staff, saying he was committed to stepping up the department's efforts in all areas identified as needing improvement.

Labor MP for the seat of Canberra, Gai Brodtmann, who has worked in both agencies, says the results echo the concerns raised with her by constituents since the merger.

"They [DFAT and AusAID] do have different cultures," she said.

"What is most telling of the number of issues raised in the survey, is people felt the need to strengthen the messaging related to the way the aid program fits within the strategic direction of DFAT and promoting its value to contributing the Government's geostrategic outcomes.

"People want to know why they get out of bed each day, they want to have a sense of purpose both from the DFAT side and the AusAID side, and I think it's particularly important that management communicates that."

Low satisfaction rates 'not unexpected given scale of changes'

In a statement, a spokesman for DFAT said the survey probably reflected considerable uncertainty about job security at the time, but there is more certainty now.

"Now that the integrated department's budget is known, we have precise figures around which to organise our staffing," he said.

"So while staff cuts will be necessary, they will be managed through voluntary redundancies and natural attrition and at least staff will have certainty about numbers."

The spokesman said the relatively low satisfaction rates among former AusAID staff was not unexpected, given the scale of the changes and that the survey was conducted only four months into the integration process.

He said it was pleasing that two-thirds of respondents said they had a good understanding of integration, and that around three-quarters indicated they were satisfied overall with their current job.

DFAT expects about 200 staff to have taken voluntary redundancies by the end of the financial year. So far, 60 per cent of voluntary redundancies are former AusAID staff.

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