Federal staff hit breaking point under crushing workloads and unrealistic deadlines

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Staff at one federal department have had enough. They are burnt out, juggling too many tasks, and struggling with unrealistic time pressures.

The latest employee census results from the Attorney-General's Department showed excessive task volume (36 per cent), work burnout (34 per cent), and unrealistic deadlines (33 per cent), ranked as its workforce's top three grievances.

Despite an improvement on their workload in 2025, the unsustainable workloads surged again, with 62 per cent of staff responding they were operating above capacity. More than one in five staff said they had far too much work.

Positive ratings for change management fell by eight percentage points to 50 per cent while confidence that teams had the tools and resources to perform well dropped by seven points to 58 per cent.

Although 92 per cent of staff said they were willing to go "the extra mile" at work when required, 36 per cent reported frequent work stress, 8 percentage points above the public service wide average. Staff belief that the department cared about its wellbeing dropped five points to 71 per cent.

A department spokesperson said the census results were being taken seriously with a refreshed 2026 Census Action Plan being published in the coming weeks.

"The department continues to focus on initiatives that support employee wellbeing, effective leadership, workforce planning and the management of workload pressures, including through our Wellbeing Managers and ongoing work to strengthen psychosocial safety," the spokesperson said.

"We have invested in new tools and technology to achieve efficiencies and enhance productivity, including through building our data capability, embracing a digital-first approach and exploring responsible use of AI."

In June 2026, the department released its Priorities, Alignment, Capacity and Execution (PACE) framework to manage competing demands, which was highlighted a major barrier to performing their best work by nearly one-third (31 per cent) of staff.

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