2025 WorkUP Queensland Workforce Survey Report

A capable and courageous workforce

In February – May 2025 WorkUP undertook it’s fourth workforce survey to provide a continued evidence-based understanding of the characteristics, challenges and needs of the workforce in Queensland. The Workforce Survey consisted of two separate surveys, one for individual workers and one for leaders to complete on behalf of their organisation.

The 2025 WorkUP Queensland Workforce Survey Report for Queensland’s sexual violence, women’s health and wellbeing, and domestic and family violence services sector is now available!

Click here to access the report 

These online self-reported surveys were sent to workers and organisations across Queensland using WorkUP’s extensive contacts, networks and communication channels. The two surveys provide rich insights into the strengths and pain points of the workforce.

Key findings include:

  • The workforce is predominantly female, aged between 35-54 years, qualified and employed in a fulltime ongoing basis.
  • The values alignment and purpose driven nature of the work is a strength of the workforce and the work it does.
  • The workforce is growing, and while this growth is necessary, it impacts workplaces and other employees in terms of onboarding time, workload, response times, waitlists, and overall workplace stability and relationships.
  • The continued growth of the workforce will require ongoing support to strengthen pathways into the sector.
  • The sector is experiencing increasing complexity and demand which organisations are not confident in meeting despite the growth of the workforce.
  • The overall engagement of the workforce is strong, with high levels of organisational support and trust in leadership.
  • The workforce is experiencing exhaustion and reports workload and time pressure, understaffing and a high administrative burden.
  • Leaders are doing an excellent job creating and sustaining worker wellbeing, supporting and protecting their teams in challenging conditions and stretched resources.

The survey highlights systems level challenges as well as opportunities for further discussion, planning and action at the workplace level.

For an opportunity to discuss the survey findings and to shape our next steps join us at our workforce planning workshops.

FAQs

The individual survey will ask about:

  • The respondent’s perception of their working environment, leadership, support and culture
  • Workforce demographics (e.g., role, tenure, and organisational size).
  • Workload, stressors, and wellbeing
  • Specific elements for building a sustainable workplace.

The survey will be opened from Tuesday 25 February 2025 to Tuesday 29 April 2025. We recommend that you provide staff with a specific couple of days/time to complete the survey (e.g., block out 30minutes in everyone’s calendars to complete the individual survey).

The survey will take approximately 15 minutes for each individual to complete.

This will depend on the person (only one person per organisation will need to complete this)’s familiarity with the organisation and how readily the data is available. If all the data is readily available, it should not take more than 15-20 minutes to complete.

There is no time limit to fill this survey but please do not close the link or tab as this will not be saved.

Yes, the survey is completely confidential. We will ensure that no individual responses can be identified. Only aggregated findings will be shared in the final report.

Privacy and confidentiality is a top concern for us. No individual line of data (whether it’s individual person or organisation) will be shared with anyone outside of Workup Queensland, Ronan Analytics and Infinite Potential. Data collected in this survey will be conducted with confidentiality of respondents as the first concern. Any data reported will be collated and no individual data will be shared externally.

Yes! The survey results will be analysed and compiled into a report shortly after the survey closes. The final report, including key findings and recommendations, will be shared with the sector when it is ready.

To ensure we get this right, we’ve continued to engage with Ronan Analytics a local, independent and trusted data analytics leader and consultancy and for the first time collaborated with Infinite Potential, an independent think tank with expertise in workforce data and analysis.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email workforce@healingfoundation.org.au. We are here to address any concerns and ensure the process is transparent and inclusive.