The Australian Research has had an ok couple of years – insofar as the four riders of the apocalypse did not stable their horses at 11 Lancaster Place, Canberra

But on other bases the times have been terrible, what with aggrieved researchers and ministers with culture warring complaints.

And yet morale was ok.

The agency’s results in the Australian Public Service Census are bang on average across just about all criteria, with results that managers at TEQSA and ASQA would likely wish for (CMM Friday). And even when the ARC’s are bad, they are still pretty good. Just 42 per cent of staff thought, “change is managed well in my agency” – but that is 3 per cent better than the figure for all small APS organisations.

And ARC people believe, really believe, in what they do, – 91 per cent agreed with “I understand how my role contributes to achieving an outcome for the Australian public.”

True believers also at the National Health and Medical Research Council

The overall employee engagement score in the APS ’21 census is 79 – five above the service as a whole. 88 per cent of people responding reported they were “proud to work” there and 96 per cent, “believe strongly in the purpose and objectives of my agency, (12 per cent up on the all-APS score).

And they believe their leaders make work worth it , 85 per cent agreed their SES manager, “ensures that work effort contributes to the strategic direction of the agency …” – that’s 11 per cent above the all-APS score.