Have Your Say 2011
Staff Survey Analysis Report
1. / Executive Summary1.1. / This report provides an analysis of the Have Your Say 2011 employee satisfaction survey. The survey took place from 28th November to 16th December and was open to 5,245 SCC staff. A total of 2,279 employees responded, representing an overall response rate of 43%. This is an improvement on the response rate achieved in 2008 (36%).
1.2. / Areas of strong performance
Employees have high self value:
· Staff are proud of the work they do
· Staff gain a sense of personal achievement from their work
· Staff feel sufficiently challenged by their work
· Staff feel that they have the skills to do their job effectively
Satisfaction with immediate line management, regarding the following aspects:
· Line Managers are open to staff ideas
· Staff are largely motivated by their line manager to be more effective in their job
· Staff show high levels of confidence in the decisions made by their line manager
· In general, Staff perceive that they are given responsibility to deliver their work as they see best, albeit this is not the case at different levels (see areas for improvement – empowerment).
1.3. / Areas for improvement
Morale:
· Staff perceive that morale isn’t good where they work[1]
Leadership and involvement:
· Staff do not perceive that they are given the opportunity to challenge the way things are done in the Council
· Staff appear to lack confidence in the decisions made by senior managers
· There is a perception of low levels of trust and integrity in SCC
· Staff aren’t clear about the vision for the future of SCC
Change Management:
· Staff do not perceive that change is managed well in SCC
· Staff demonstrate a weak understanding of the plan for change
Empowerment:
· Staff do not feel empowered to do the job
· Micro-management raised as a common issue among many staff
2. / Background , objectives, context and methodology
2.1. / Background and objectives
The key objectives of the ‘Have Your Say 2011’ employee satisfaction survey were:
· To measure employee opinion and baseline employee engagement levels
· To better understand and improve employee engagement by identifying and utilising strengths and improving upon areas of weakness
· To promote general engagement with all employees, including engagement in the change programme
· To enable comparisons between different staff groups and consider the direction of travel since the last survey in 2008
· To inform the Employee Engagement Strategy Action Plan and Change Management Activity
2.2. / The last staff survey to measure employee perceptions and engagement levels was conducted in 2008. ‘Have Your Say 2011’ is a new survey which was developed in the design phase of the SCC Change Programme in line with the new SCC Employee Engagement Strategy.
2.3. / Work conducted in preparation for the survey identified that
· Organisations where employees are engaged perform significantly better on all measures and are more productive
· The Change Programme will achieve its objectives more effectively if staff are fully involved in the process
· Employees have a key role to play in enabling the Council to achieve the desired and needed change
2.4. / The Council’s objectives from engaging employees and measuring success are
· To show strong leadership through seeking and considering employee views (humility and responsiveness in Leadership)
· To give employees a voice, acting upon staff suggestions and giving feedback where appropriate
· To empower employees to be part of the change ahead and to contribute to it as ‘part of business as usual’
2.5. / Context
The Council is undergoing considerable change. Staff have been affected by recent and ongoing MTFP cuts and will be further impacted by the significant transformation and modernisation programme to fundamentally redefine the way services are delivered and how the Council operates. These changes have led to a degree of uncertainty amongst staff about their position and future within the Council and are likely to have had an impact on employee opinion and engagement.
2.6. / Methodology
The survey incorporated four sections to assess engagement at four different levels:
· My work – seeking employees perceptions of their role within the Council, work environment, benefits and rewards
· My line manager – seeking employees perceptions of their immediate line management
· My Council – seeking employees perceptions of the Council in its organisational context
· My Council’s Leadership – seeking employees perceptions of the Council’s Senior Leadership
2.7. / The survey was made available to all 5,245 employees of Somerset County Council. Employees with regular internet access were emailed the link to the survey and paper copies were sent to a total of 1,923 employees without regular internet access with a Freepost return address, including staff on maternity leave and long term sick leave. Southwest One employees and secondees were not included.
2.8. / To identify potential issues with design, wording and evaluation, the survey was piloted to a focus group in September 2011 and feedback from the pilot informed the final live survey. The survey went live from 28th November to 16th December 2011, hosted on the SCC Intranet using Consultation Finder software.
2.9. / There were a total of 52 questions, 51 attitudinal questions and one open comments question.
2.10. / Attitudinal questions
The majority of attitudinal questions were positively phrased and rated on a five-point scale. In this report the results are mainly discussed as ‘percentage positive’ (Strongly Agree/Agree) ‘percentage neutral’ (Neither Agree nor Disagree) and ‘percentage negative’ (Disagree/Strongly Disagree).
The average score for each question has been calculated to assess the overall spread of employee opinion for each question. This calculation was made by attributing the following scores to each individual response (-2 strongly disagree, -1 disagree, 0 neither agree nor disagree, +1 agree, +2 strongly agree), prior to calculating the average score per response received. An overview of average scores is provided in the appendix on page 23.
2.11. / Open Comments
The open comments question sought suggestions as to how the Council could improve employee satisfaction and productivity. Comments were self themed and analysis of responses has been carried out by these themes.
2.12. / Demographic Information
The data has been analysed by demographic group to provide further insight into the results at a Directorate and Service area level. Any relevant and useful findings has been fed back to Directorates via PowerPoint presentations at DMT meetings (8 Mar – 5 Apr).Directorates have also received a breakdown of results by Service area.
Service area data based on less than 10 respondents has not been reported for reasons of anonymity and statistical reliability.
3. / Response Rates
3.1. / Directorate / 2008
Response Rate / 2011
Response Rate / Trend
Environment / 83% / 62% /
Resources / 21% / 50% /
Community / 35% / 33% /
CYP / 36% / 33% /
All SCC staff / 36% / 43% /
The paper copy response rate was 19% (these responses are included in the response rates above)
3.2. / There is a significant variation in Directorate response rates in 2011, with Environment achieving almost double the response rate achieved in Community or CYP. However, it is worth noting that some teams within the CYP and Community Directorates have limited ICT access, and these employees made up the majority of those 1,923 employees who received paper copies of the survey.
The low response rate in 2008 for Resources Directorate can be attributed to Somerset County Services, which has since been externalised. SCS staff totalled 1100 in 2008 but the response rate for this group was very low and therefore skewed the overall response rate for Resources. Excluding SCS staff in 2008 would have resulted in a response rate for the Resources Directorate just slightly lower to that achieved in 2011.
4. / Highlights and Lowlights
4.1. / Rank / Top 5 most positive scoring questions / SCC Average Score
1 / “I am proud of the work I do” / +1.32
2 / “I have the skills I need to do my job effectively” / +1.13
3 / “I am given responsibility to deliver my work as I see best” / +1.08
4 / “I am sufficiently challenged by my work” / +1.02
5 / “I am clear about what I am expected to achieve in my work” / +0.96
Staff demonstrate high levels of self value; are proud of the work that they do and feel sufficiently challenged by their work. A high proportion of staff feel that they have the skills they need to do their job effectively. Staff also demonstrate that they are clear in what they are expected to achieve in their work and that they can influence how they deliver that work.
4.2. / Rank / Bottom 5 most negative scoring questions / SCC Average Score
1 / “I feel I am given the opportunity to challenge the way things are done in SCC” / -0.65
2 / “I feel that change is managed well in SCC” / -0.64
3 / “There are high levels of trust and integrity in SCC” / -0.43
4 / “Morale is good where I work” / -0.42
5 / “Overall, I have confidence in the decisions made by Senior Managers” / -0.41
A large proportion of staff demonstrate frustration that that they aren’t given the opportunity to challenge the way things are done in the Council; the ability to challenge has noticeably declined since 2008 where 42% of staff responded positively to this statement compared to just 10% in 2011. Staff also perceive change isn’t well managed. Perception of trust and integrity is an issue for the Council, whilst staff also demonstrate a lack of confidence in decisions made by senior managers. Morale has declined significantly since 2008; in 2008 44% responded positively that morale is good where they work, compared to just 20% in 2011.
5. / My Work
5.1. / Overall the responses within the area of ‘My Work’ were positive, the key positive messages and strengths being:
· 89% of staff indicated that they are proud of work they do
· 87% of staff agreed or strongly agreed they have the necessary skills to do their job effectively
· 80% of staff agreed or strongly agreed they are clear about what they are expected to achieve in their work
· 78% of staff agreed or strongly agreed that they are given responsibility to deliver their work as they see best
· 78% agreed or strongly agreed that they are sufficiently challenged by their work
· 77% of staff indicated that they gain a sense of personal achievement from their work.
5.2. / Areas for improvement were:
· 52% of staff indicated that morale is not good where they work, with 23% remaining neutral. Just 25% indicated that morale is good. (average score -0.42)
· 35% of staff agreed or strongly agreed that their pay does not adequately reflect their duties and responsibilities, with 23% remaining neutral (average score -0.30)
· 54% of employees feel valued for the work they do
· 50% feel they have the tools they need to do their job effectively
· 52% feel they can meet the requirements of their job without regularly working excessive hours. This indicates capacity is under pressure, and is further supported by the 40% of employees who indicate that they do not feel they achieve a good work-life balance.
5.3. / My Work Summary
Whilst employees illustrate high levels of self value, are largely proud of the work they do, and achieve a level of satisfaction in their work, the above areas indicate that there are areas for improvement.
Employees do not perceive that they are adequately rewarded for their contribution to the Council, and three quarters of all employees did not indicate that morale is good. Furthermore there are indications that capacity across the organisation is under pressure. This is felt most in CYP (average score +0.15) and least in Resources (average score +0.34); however it is still an issue across all directorates.
6. / My Line Manager
6.1. / The average question scores within the ‘My Line Manager’ section were all percentage positive; although it is worth noting that none reached an average score of +1.0 (Agree).
Key positive messages and strengths were:
· 74% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their manager is open to their ideas (average score +0.86)
· 75% of staff agreed or strongly agreed that their Manager recognises when they have done their job well (average score +0.86)
· 68% of staff agreed or strongly agreed that they have confidence in the decisions made by their manager ideas (average score +0.74)
· 62% of staff agreed or strongly agreed that their line manager motivates them to be more effective in their job (average score +0.62)
6.2. / Areas for improvement were:
· 39% of staff perceived that poor performance is dealt with effectively, with 37% neutral and 24% disagreeing.
· Of concern are the 25% of staff who do not have regular line management supervision (defined as once every eight weeks) with their line manager and 43% who have not received an annual review in the last 12 months.
6.3. / My Line Manager Summary
The majority of SCC staff appear to be satisfied with their immediate line-management from responses given to attitudinal questions (nb. there are some discrepancies with this indicated through the open comments question). However, there remains a clear opportunity to improve performance management and better support employees by making them feel valued and overseeing their work through regular supervision and annual reviews. Whilst a high proportion of staff agreed that their line manager motivates them to be more effective there remains an opportunity to improve this percentage and performance appraisal could contribute positively towards this.
7. / My Council
7.1. / The responses to questions relating to ‘My Council’ were predominantly negative, with those questions recording positive average scores all less than +1.0 (Agree) indicating a failure to completely agree with the question.