Australia fares reasonably well in the survey, particularly compared to our UK and US counterparts and came second in the world behind the Netherlands in the ability to deliver flexible working arrangements.
The majority of respondents see the retirement of older workers as a key challenge, and most believe the ageing population will put intense pressure on the public sector to deliver more with less.
The loss of important skills and knowledge is of particular concern to respondents from Australia, South Africa and Canada, with specific concern about the lack of nurses and teachers.
KPMG believes this an opportunity to create leaner organisations and careful strategic plans need to be put in place now to deal with the potentially huge impact of demographic change.
Rising to the challenge is based on responses from more than 800 public sector employees across eight countries including Australia, the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Singapore, Canada and South Africa. These were augmented with 25 in-depth interviews with selected senior public servants.