The research was conducted among 46 civil servants at the Pontianak City Personnel and Human Resources Development Agency in 2026. The study comes amid several workforce management challenges at the agency, including changes in employee discipline, participation in training programs, workload, and career-related opportunities.
The agency had 57 employees in 2026, consisting of 47 civil servants, five Government Employees with Work Agreements (PPPK), and five honorary employees. Civil servants represented the largest employee group, with many assigned to the Mutation and Apparatus Procurement Division.
Workforce Challenges Behind the Research
Official personnel records cited in the article show that absenteeism among civil servants declined from 0.66 percent in 2022 to 0.18 percent in 2024. However, the number of employees leaving work early increased by 165.15 percent in 2024 compared with the previous year.
Disciplinary cases also increased substantially, rising from five cases in 2023 to 24 in 2024 and 27 in 2025. Interviews with the agency indicated that absenteeism, staff shortages, heavier workloads for remaining employees, and tasks extending beyond normal working hours were among the issues affecting the workplace.
Employee participation in education and training also fluctuated. Participation reached 85.71 percent in 2022, fell to 38.46 percent in 2023, and recovered to 62.50 percent in 2024. The article identifies budget limitations, training duration, and the absence of sanctions for employees who declined training as factors affecting participation.
These conditions provide important context for understanding why career development and job satisfaction may matter for work engagement in a public institution.
How the Researchers Studied the Issue
Azzahra and Yasmin used a quantitative associative approach to examine the relationship between career development, job satisfaction, and work engagement. Instead of selecting only a portion of the employees, the researchers surveyed all 46 civil servants included in the study population.
Data came primarily from questionnaires and interviews. The researchers also used official agency records covering employee numbers, absenteeism, tardiness, early departures, disciplinary violations, participation in education and training, performance achievements, promotions, rank advancements, and transfers.
The researchers measured career development through career clarity, self-development, and improvements in performance quality. Job satisfaction covered the work itself, salary, promotion, supervision, and relationships with coworkers. Work engagement was assessed through employees’ energy, dedication, and ability to become deeply involved in their work.
The collected data were analyzed using multiple regression and statistical significance tests to determine whether each factor was related to work engagement and whether the two factors had a combined effect.
Career Development and Satisfaction Both Matter
The analysis found positive and statistically significant effects for both factors.
Career development had a regression coefficient of 0.245, with a significance value of 0.042. The result indicates that higher levels of career development were associated with higher work engagement among the civil servants studied.
Job satisfaction produced a coefficient of 0.281, with a significance value of 0.028. Within the statistical model, its coefficient was somewhat larger than that of career development, indicating a stronger estimated contribution to work engagement in this sample.
When the two factors were considered together, they had a statistically significant relationship with work engagement. The combined test produced an F-value of 8.379 and a significance value of 0.001.
The overall correlation coefficient was 0.530, indicating a moderately strong relationship between career development, job satisfaction, and work engagement. The model's R² of 0.280 means the two factors together explained 28 percent of the variation in work engagement. The remaining 72 percent was linked to other factors outside the research model.
Implications for Public-Sector Management
The findings suggest that improving employee engagement cannot rely solely on disciplinary measures or performance monitoring. Public institutions can also strengthen engagement by creating clearer professional pathways and providing employees with opportunities to develop their skills.
Azzahra and Yasmin recommend that the Pontianak City Personnel and Human Resources Development Agency optimize career development through greater access to education and training, clearer career paths, and stronger competency development. They also recommend improving job satisfaction through a conducive working environment, fair rewards, and more proportional workload management.
In practical terms, the findings indicate that employees may become more engaged when they can see opportunities for professional growth while also experiencing a workplace that meets their expectations. This is particularly relevant for public institutions, where employee engagement can influence how consistently organizational responsibilities and public services are carried out.
However, the researchers caution against viewing career development and job satisfaction as the only explanations for work engagement. Because the model explains 28 percent of the variation, future research could examine leadership, organizational culture, workload, working environment, motivation, and individual employee characteristics.
As Azzahra and Yasmin of Universitas Muhammadiyah Pontianak conclude, improvements in career development and job satisfaction have the potential to increase civil servants’ work engagement. Their findings provide empirical evidence that human-resource policies focusing on both professional growth and workplace satisfaction can play an important role in strengthening employee engagement.
Author Profile
Nadira Azzahra is the first author and is affiliated with the Faculty of Economics and Business, Management, Universitas Muhammadiyah Pontianak, Indonesia.
Devi Yasmin is the second author and corresponding author, with the same institutional affiliation at Universitas Muhammadiyah Pontianak. The published article does not state the authors’ academic degrees or provide more specific individual fields of expertise, so those details cannot be reliably added without external information.
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