Employee Satisfaction Survey Newsletter

You talked – We listened

Budding flowers. Warming temperatures. Longer days. Spring is finally here. With it comes welcome changes and a fresh outlook. As you are aware, back in October 2008 we conducted an Employee Satisfaction Survey for the purpose of gauging your views, attitudes, and perceptions of Physical Facilities. As we stated in the information-sharing sessions held in February, we would be providing you with survey updates on a regular basis. The following is a brief summary of what was shared in the information-sharing sessions:

Benefits- Physical Facilities was six percentage points higher than the National Norm on this survey dimension. You said you appreciated the following:

• Affordable family coverage
• Tuition reduction
• Comprehensive wellness program

Communication – Physical Facilities posted a score of 51% favorable on this survey dimension, which was 13% below the National Norm of 64% favorable. Your comments included:

• “Lack” of communication or untimely communication
• The leadership team needs to speak with “one voice”
• Little opportunity for two-way communication

Strategy/Mission – Physical Facilities' score of 46% favorable on this dimension was 20 percentage points below the National Norm of 66 percent favorable. You confided:

• You are unsure of Physical Facilities' strategy and mission
• You claimed management's actions were frequently incongruent with Physical Facilities' stated values, mission, and strategies
• You view the development of a strategic action plan as a wholly top-down process and not inclusive

Human Resources/Personnel Policies – Physical Facilities posted a score of 48% favorable on the Human Resources/Personnel Policies survey dimension, which was 16 percentage points below the National Norm. You stated the following:

• Human Resources/Personnel policies were outdated and difficult to find
• Polices are “vague,” “unclear,” or not consistently interpreted or applied.
• Too many “grey areas”

Concern for Employees – Physical Facilities' favorable score of 47% was nine percentage points below the National Norm. Your feedback included:

• Senior management is “unconcerned” with the “average employee” and often acts in their own “self interest”
• Senior management needs to offer more positive feedback and acknowledgement of what employees are doing well
• Management needs to welcome unsolicited employee input

Satisfaction with the Work – The National Norm of 75% was twelve percentage points above Physical Facilities favorable score. You said:

• You are not given enough training opportunities
• You desire better “role definition” and clearer expectations
• You do not feel appreciated for your work expertise/knowledge

Supervisory Instruction/Guidance – Purdue PF posted a score of 57% favorable which was 12 percentage points below the National Norm of 69% favorable. You said:

• You were frustrated with being expected to train and retrain your supervisors
• Job-specific training is minimal
• Supervisors are not visible or engaged with their employees

Productivity/Efficiency – Physical Facilities score of 46% favorable was 14 percentage points below the National Norm of 60% favorable. The following main themes emerged from the feedback sessions:

• Lack of communication negatively impacted productivity/efficiency
• Management is resistant to change
• Physical Facilities needs to purchase the correct tools, equipment, supplies, and chemicals required to do the job “right the first time”

Promotions/Career Advancement – Physical Facilities score of 40% favorable for this dimension was 14 percentage points below the National Norm of 54% favorable. During the feedback sessions you stated:

• Management does not value developing employees
• Human Resources needs to improve the applicant recruiting, screening, and hiring processes
• Some of you feel that not all employees are given equal chances to improve or move up based on a system of meritocracy

Okay, you told us how you feel, where do we go from here? At this point in time, the Senior Directors have been reviewing and analyzing their overall area data, as well as drilling down into departmental specific feedback. There is an abundance of information to be analyzed and thoroughly understood from the survey feedback, and therefore, this stage of the process has and will take some time.

Directors have also received access to their departments' feedback results and will be spending the next couple of weeks reviewing the data. Once the Directors have had time to digest their results, we will begin to provide access to departmental information to managers and supervisors, with a goal completion by the end of April.

Your input will be needed for the action-planning stage. Your supervisor and your PFHR representative will be meeting with you to share summary information for your workgroup, your department and your organizational unit. Work groups with less than the four-employee respondent threshold will not receive specific work group data, but will still be able to create action plans using departmental and organizational-wide data.

We are asking that in these meetings you and your work group clearly define and agree upon one to two opportunities for improvement. And, that you develop a desired outcome statement and discuss potential solutions for reaching this outcome. Keep in mind that a solution not only entails a good idea, it must be a coordinated effort of individuals to make it a reality. Developing any action plan includes a clear list of steps to follow to reach the goal. We encourage you to play an active role in the action planning process. Remember that you never know where good ideas will come from – so speak up. Your HR Specialist will provide an overview of the action-planning process in your upcoming meetings.

While you are working on your action plans, senior management will be developing organization-wide action plans with your assistance.  

With only 48 percent of the Physical Facilities staff scoring Human Resources/Personnel Policies as favorable, we have already started to review Physical Facilities polices/procedures not only for consistency purposes, but also to ensure they are in alignment with Physical Facilities' values and objectives. Human Resources will continue to train all supervisors on the organization's policies and administrative practices and the importance of consistent enforcement of the policies.

PFHR in collaboration with PF-Training will be developing different types of training programs for all Physical Facilities employees, e.g., technical, supervisory, change management, and leadership for example. We will also be working with supervisors to develop and/or improve on job-specific training that could be instituted as part of the new hire departmental orientation program.

In the future we will provide you with progress reports, make you aware of various action plans across the organization, and “quick fixes” that departments have implemented. If management decides not to implement a change, we will report the reasons why the changes could not be made.

Your participation in the survey was invaluable in that it allowed us to tap into your thoughts. We believe that this is the single most important project we will conduct this year. Let us assure you that when you talked, we did listen.