Federal public servants have scored Home Affairs as the worst department for bullying or harassment in the 2023 census, followed closely by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The annual survey takes the temperature on public servants' attitudes surrounding the culture, working conditions and leadership of their agencies. This is the first year in which all 104 APS agencies have been required to publish what staff told them, including reports of perceived bullying. The Canberra Times will be publishing more census coverage in coming days, including analysis of all 104 agency results, and you can see how the 18 largest agencies compared below. Staff were asked whether they had been subjected to bullying or harassment in their current workplaces in the last 12 months, in the voluntary survey which took place from May to June this year. Analysis of the 16 departments, inclusive of major agencies Services Australia and the Australian Taxation Office, revealed Home Affairs had the highest rate of perceived bullying. Home Affairs did have a lower response rate than some other agencies, of 72 per cent, and also includes the Australian Border Force in its census results. The results comprised 7655 responses from staff at the department, and 3922 from border force employees. The main types of bullying or harassment identified were verbal abuse (44 per cent), interference with work tasks such as withholding information (41 per cent) and inappropriate or unfair application of work policies (29 per cent). Most respondents who said they felt bullied, also said they did not report the behaviour (57 per cent). The department's result was 2.6 percentage points above the APS overall result of 10.4 per cent. The APS overall also increased in 2023, up from 9.7 per cent in 2022. "We must have a culture of zero tolerance for any form of unacceptable behaviour in the APS, and work together to bring this about," APS Commissioner Gordon de Brouwer wrote in the State of the Service report, also published Wednesday. Staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade reported high rates of bullying compared with others, while the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet had the lowest reported rate, followed by the Department of Education and the Department of Treasury. But those staff who did report experiencing bullying or harassment in PM&C, where the rate was 7 per cent, were also unlikely to report it, with 58 per cent saying they did not speak up about it. Scroll through the chart below to explore your department's results and response rates. Agencies have also released action plans to respond to the results of the 2023 census, and chart how they will improve, culture and leadership. The Home Affairs action plan says the department will establish "workplace respect champions" to promote and support positive behaviour, develop and implement effective communication mechanisms and design new management guidance. The rates of bullying and harassment are a small piece of the large dataset, which reveals how public servants really perceive their workplaces. READ MORE: