A union survey has found ACT public servants are working themselves sick.

The CPSU study found that over 30 per cent of ACT public servants have had to take sick days due to their ballooning workloads.

Forty per cent of the 500 respondents said their workload had “increased significantly” over the past 18 months, while 31 per cent said that increase was so harsh it had impacted their health.

A majority said their workplace had been restructured in the past 18 months, commonly leading to increased workloads.

The union says public servants are being run down in a bid to save money.

“That's resulted in a range of measures which have seen ... people dealing with workloads that are ever increasing,” CPSU ACT secretary Vince McDevitt said.

“We've got hundreds of members indicating they're having real problems dealing with workload, to the extent that it's causing stress at home with the family.

“Coming and going in the dark, and you're stressed out all the time — it's just not sustainable.”

Over 30 per cent of respondents said they sometimes had to skip meal breaks due to workload pressures, while 21 per cent rated their workload as “very difficult” to get through within normal working hours.

Mr McDevitt said constantly piling more work on the public sector was not sustainable.

“Certainly the ACT Government has reaped millions and millions of dollars in savings through running down the capacity of the local service through these efficiency reviews and restructures,” he said.

“But in relation to the service's capacity to deliver quality outcomes for the Canberra community, to do their job properly, to have a healthy and safe workplace, then absolutely, we're in a bad space.”