NEARLY one-quarter of civil servants working for the Scottish Government's £1.8 billion transport agency want to leave their jobs within a year amid growing dissatisfaction over pay and organisational reforms.
A survey of staff working for Transport Scotland in October revealed that 23% said they want to leave "within the next 12 months", and 9% wanted to leave "as soon as possible".
A similar survey in 2010 found 19% wanted to leave within a year, though they improved slightly over the year.
They also reveal a significant decrease in those say they want to stay with Transport Scotland for "at least" three years, down from 53% of staff to 43%.
The findings follow a two-year civil service pay freeze which the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said was having a damaging impact on morale.
An overhaul of Transport Scotland in 2010, which saw the agency take over responsibilities for ferries and aviation as well as road and rail, is also thought to have had an impact on staff.
A number of key staff, including its senior economic adviser, have left over the past few months following publication of the staff survey on the agency's website in January.
The survey, representing 71% of the agency's 453 staff, found that only 32% were positive about pay and benefits. Just 28% agreed that "when changes are made in Transport Scotland they are usually for the better".
However, other results showed a more varied picture, with 53% saying they were proud to work at Transport Scotland and would recommend it as an employer.
A spokesman for the agency said: "These results show that we have a motivated, hard-working and professional workforce who openly share their views on how things can be improved.
"Some staff are employed for a limited time to work on specific projects and would naturally be looking to secure employment elsewhere at the end."
However, Elaine Murray, Scottish Labour's Shadow Minister for Housing and Transport, said: "Services can only suffer when less than half of the staff feels motivated to do their best and where only just over one-third of staff think that poor performance is addressed effectively." Jim Hume, the LibDems' transport spokesman, added: "If there are staff grievances with pay and organisational change, the Scottish Government must investigate why."
John Nichols, secretary of the Scottish Government group within the PCS, said: "This is the first time I've seen such a high number of staff wanting to leave within 12 months and that flies in the face of the economic facts at the moment."
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