Pinellas County Employee Voice Survey
Challenge
Pinellas County employs thousands of people in several departments that ensure that the residents experience quality government. To ensure a quality workplace for its employees, Pinellas County required an employee satisfaction survey that would engage as much of the workforce as possible and originate from a trusted third party.
Solution
The County engaged HCP to conduct an independent, confidential study of Pinellas County employees, and to assist it in the creation of promotional materials to spur engagement. In 2013, Pinellas County launched a Unified Personnel System (UPS) survey. The survey’s initial launch was successful but experienced steep year-over-year declines in employee participation. HCP was called upon to engage Pinellas County employees and manage the UPS survey. Pinellas County Administration and the Human Resource leadership team expressed interest in revamping the survey. Changes were made, such as modifying survey topics, reporting on employee demographics and tenure, and conducting outreach to encourage employees to respond. HCP created a series of videos with senior leadership officials with Pinellas County imploring their employees to participate in the survey. HCP also visited each department to inform them about the survey. Employees were asked to offer ratings of Pinellas County in general as an employer and rate their department, workgroup, supervisor, and Appointing Authority on a series of metrics. The metrics each reflected one of the dimensions from The Great Place to Work, TrustIndex, an industry tool used to assess and rate workplace culture through an employee perspective: credibility, respect, pride, camaraderie, fairness.
Results
With the results, County leadership engaged in activities that boosted comradery, communication, and involved employees more through elements such as staff retreats, team-building exercises, and employee workshops. Throughout our tenure, the participation rate rose from 58% to 84%. Effective promotion and third-party administration are critical to earning employee buy-in. Employee surveys are vital to give leadership insight into employee satisfaction, opportunity, culture, communication, retention, and more.
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