Frank, fearless, but not so free-style? Staff survey changes raise eyebrows

Welcome to Brisbane Times’ Queensland public sector column, Public Circus. This week: a Working for Queensland survey prompt, “vacancy management” hits Child Safety, and wage ruling saga lands senior teachers on par with their juniors.

It’s everyone’s favourite time of the year. No, not the seasonal change of spring – Working for Queensland survey month!

By everyone, of course, we mean those with thoughts about their public sector employment they would maybe only dare lay out in the free-text general feedback box of the anonymised questionnaire. This year, however, it seems there could be a catch.

Word has reached the Circus tent from multiple agencies the no-holds-barred rant box has disappeared from some surveys, or been replaced with a more restrictive prompt for others.

Since landing in inboxes from late August, some eager (only about 20 per cent of the 330,0000-strong workforce filled it out in 2025) and eagle-eyed public servants have clocked the curious changes.

But it’s not uniform across the sector, with the separately collected free-text section included at the discretion of each agency and sent directly, unedited, to the boss.

We’ve caught whispers some folks receiving surveys have this year found no open feedback section at the end.

Other departments we’ve had intel from are said to have replaced the general feedback prompt with one asking what you’d tell someone considering a job there, or what is one thing you would change.

“It’s not as open-ended as it has been in previous years,” a department source said, speaking to us on condition of anonymity for perhaps the obvious reason of not being authorised to do so.

They noted it seemed to be an attempt to steer staff away from airing more detailed or specific gripes.

One former agency chief, also granted anonymity, told us they viewed it as one of the most important parts of the surveys because of the freeing, anonymised nature of the comments.

They suggested any removal of or constraining of this would reflect a lack of willingness to “really hear what people think”.

With a couple of weeks left to complete, we imagine more will discover the changes as they open them closer to the due date – a practice Circus members are certainly not immune from on our workplace feedback forms, either.

But what to do if you discover you’re cut off from the trauma dump you were hoping to give, or have already been confronted by such an injustice? We’ve got you covered.