Induction is a crucial moment. The quality of your induction influences how you feel about your new organisation. It provides the foundation for performance on the job, but also for future success in navigating the wider organisation and shaping careers.
The responsibility for induction in government sits with departments and agencies, their directorates and business groups, with teams and with line managers. But being inducted to the Civil Service - understanding that you're joining a national organisation of hundreds of thousands of people with a unique relationship to citizens, Parliament and ministers - is something that isn't unique to one department so needs to be readily available to all new civil servants.
Explore the induction pilot
The Government Skills and Curriculum Unit (GSCU) is piloting a new online course to help new joiners to grasp what it means to be a civil servant. During summer 2021 it has been piloted with over a thousand staff from 30 departments and agencies.
Initial feedback has shown a sharp rise in confidence levels in key areas of knowledge such as the rights and obligations of civil servants, the benefits of being a civil servant, and understanding the wider structures of government.
"I thought this course was an excellent introduction to the Civil Service, particularly for someone like me who has never worked in the CS before. There are definitely some parts that I will go back to in the future and I have saved some of the articles for future reading."
"I found this course really helpful and informative, and the quizzes at the end of each section were a great way to consolidate my understanding. I feel that I have learnt a lot more about how parliament, the government and Civil Service all work together. This will be a useful resource to come back to once I have started my role."
Participants have really appreciated having a flexible online course which is highly accessible, broken down into bite-sized chunks, and in which you can learn from your fellow civil servants.
"Loved the variation of content presentation! I feel much more connected with the current Civil Service and I'm more excited than ever to begin."
