A survey by Ernst & Young has found Government employees think they are significantly less productive than employees in the private sector believe they are.
Ernst & Young estimates this means the cost of running the Government each year is $280 million more than it need be.
Only 22 percent of Government employees believe they are working at their lifetime best compared with 27 percent in the private sector.
And only a quarter of Government employees feel they're making a difference compared with 33 percent in the private sector.
E&Y public sector partner Alan Judge said the responses from workers in the public sector suggests a number of issues should be looked at.
Continual cost-cutting, restructuring and redundancy may be causing "change-fatigue".
And there were perceptions that some out-sourcing was resulting in work of lower quality and higher cost than carrying out the same task in-house.
Despite some of the negative findings, the survey estimates New Zealand's productivity is improving overall.
Based on a 10 point scale, Ernst & Young said productivity has risen from 7.3 points in February 2012 to 7.54 points now.
