The National Environment Service (NES) has recorded strong results in the 2026 Employee Engagement Survey, with staff feedback placing the agency above the wider Cook Islands Public Service average across eight of the nine areas assessed.
The survey, prepared by the Office of the Public Service Commissioner (OPSC), achieved a 100 per cent response rate, with all 38 NES staff participating. This provides a strong representation of staff views and experiences across the organisation.
NES recorded an Overall Employee Experience score of 4.10 out of 5, compared with the Public Service average of 3.85. Eight of the nine assessed domains were above the Public Service average, while Work-Life Balance was on par. No NES domain was identified as a priority area for improvement.
NES Director Halatoa Fua welcomed the findings, saying the results reflected the commitment of staff and the workplace culture developed across the Service. “These are encouraging results for NES, but what stands out most is what our staff have told us about their commitment to the organisation. Every staff member said they take initiative to improve their work, while almost 98 per cent said they genuinely care about the success of NES and try to find solutions rather than simply identifying problems.”
These were among the highest-rated individual measures in the survey. Fua said the results also provided clear areas where NES management could improve.
Regular manager engagement with staff was identified as the most significant opportunity, with 50 per cent responding favourably when asked whether managers held regular one-on-one or team meetings to determine staff needs. Rest and recovery, communication, staffing and workload, and training and development were also identified as areas requiring continued attention.
“The employment engagement survey is a good barometer of where NES can strengthen its organisational culture and performance, to optimise its service delivery to the public as a Government agency and environmental regulator. The survey is timely given NES is moving into a new era of implementing the new Environment Act 2026, and accelerating ocean governance matter through the Marae Moana framework,” Fua said.
The 2026 results will establish NES’s baseline under the new combined Employee Engagement Survey, enabling progress to be measured in future survey cycles.
