Kyle city employees recently took a job satisfaction survey; while the city scored high on overall satisfaction, 40 percent of employees did not participate – a 10 percent drop from last year’s survey. Some employees said nothing would change so why bother. Others said the survey is a good opportunity to fix problems. (Photo by Kim Hilsenbeck)
by KIM HILSENBECK
Ninety percent of Kyle city employees who took a recent internal survey rated their overall job satisfaction high.
But the response rate – how many people participated in the survey – dropped 10 percent from last year, according to the city’s human resource department that conducted the survey.
Just under 60 percent of Kyle employees took the survey this time around.
Why the drop?
City employees say there was a perception that nothing would come of the survey so why bother, a general distrust of management, and the notion that answers would be used against an employee.
“Some of them thought negative responses might be used to fire people,” said one employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
However, Kristiana Spencer in Kyle’s Human Resources Department said the survey was anonymous so employees would feel comfortable giving input.
“The survey did not ask the respondents for any identifying information,” Spencer said.
Indeed, the survey did not ask employees to identify names, departments or number of years with the city. However, a few employees noted that without any demographic information, city leaders would have a hard time determining any potential hot spots.
“They won’t be able to see issues in a certain department,” said an employee who took the survey. “And maybe they need to look more closely at some departments.”
City Manager Lanny Lambert said he initiated the survey last year to gauge his performance and that of his department directors.
“I do this survey so I know how I and my managers are doing,” Lambert said. “And then I know what areas we need to work on next year.”
Verbatim comments made by employees on the survey may also shed some light on the issues. One employee wrote, “Would not do any good to comment. Nothing has changed for the better since the last survey. It has actually become worse.”
Another said, “We are encouraged to suggest changes or improvements, but I really haven’t seen where anything that came from an employee suggestion has been implemented or resolved.”
Lambert said responses of that nature are not uncommon.
He also didn’t believe the 59 percent response was low; in his previous cities, the response rate was less than 40 percent. Lambert said the survey was new last year and may have contributed to the higher response rate.
In his experience, Lambert said happy employees are sometimes less likely to take a satisfaction survey because they have nothing to gripe about.
The Kyle employee job satisfaction survey asked questions in six core areas: working conditions, training and supervision, job perception, employee/staff communications, organization quality and city services.
Based on the data, Lambert said the city will target five areas for improvement:
• Better communication between city departments
• An improved performance evaluation system
• Upgraded IT systems
• More money for training
• Salary and benefits
Lambert said none of the findings was a surprise.
“I expected lower ratings after last year’s budget,” he said.
He was referring to zero salary increases and a hiring freeze except in the police department, cuts to training and travel budgets, and additional fiscal austerity measures.
Several of the handwritten comments on the survey referred to the lack of training opportunities, including this one:
“I don’t know why, but our department did not budget for any training. But [management] wants us to get 18 hours of training in for the year. So far the free training we have been given is remedial.”
