Employee engagement survey launches today to measure satisfaction, create initiatives

Published on Monday, May 23, 2022

By: Andrea Wright Dilworth, awdilworth@umc.edu

Ask not, want not.

UMMC leaders want to know your thoughts about working here, so they’re asking.

Full-time and part-time employees are invited to complete the Employee Engagement and Culture of Safety Survey, which gauges satisfaction across three domains: employee, manager and organization. Temporary employees are excluded.

The Medical Center’s nearly 10,000 employees will receive the survey link today via email from Press Ganey, the company that creates, distributes, and analyzes the survey results, which are confidential. The survey, which will take less than 10 minutes to complete, must be completed by June 14, when the link expires.

Though the questions primarily ask that employees rank their responses on a 1 to 5 scale, there are also three open-ended questions that allow you to write in more detailed feedback.

Lisa Vaughan, director of budget and finance for the School of Nursing, said she plans to complete the survey.

"It is important that all employees complete the survey so I hope we will have a high participate rate," she said. "The survey plays a critical role in helping our leaders to understand employee needs and identify ways to improve morale and create a better work culture. Research shows that organizations with employee engagement are more likely to have a positive work environment, engaged and productive employees, increased quality of work, improved customer relations, and can recruit and retain top talent."

The most comprehensive portion measures employees’ perceptions of their jobs, their managers, and their organization. Another section focuses on employees’ perceptions of resilience, diversity and well-being. Employees who work in clinical areas will also complete a portion on safety culture.

The last survey, administered in 2018, saw an 80 percent response rate.

Participation alone is a strong indicator of employee engagement, said Molly Brasfield, chief human resources officer. In the four years since, UMMC has welcomed several new leaders, both new to UMMC and in their roles. They’re committed, she said, to turning the feedback into meaningful, measurable changes.

“Our employees and their feelings and opinions matter,” said Brasfield. “We want UMMC to be a best place to work, where our employees feel valued, feel heard, feel a sense of purpose, feel fulfilled professionally and accepted as part of our UMMC community.

“And whether our opportunities to accomplish that arise in the logistics of individuals’ jobs, or through strengthened relationships with managers and their team members, or that arise in the culture at the organizational level, the best way for leaders to understand those opportunities and make meaningful changes come from listening to our employees. This confidential survey invites that sharing in a safe and inclusive way.”

Administered five times over the last 13 years, the four-year lapse following the 2018 survey resulted from both a desire to have more time in between surveys to work on implementing changes, and the pandemic.

After reviewing results from 2018, Brasfield said Medical Center leadership created six teams to address concerns, focusing on communication, going above and beyond, diversity and respect, professional development, employee experience and culture of safety.

As a result, one measurable change to come from that survey is more competitive pay, the lowest performing area, said Brasfield.

“UMMC now has a dedicated staffing partner, HMP, developed specifically to offer a different composition of total rewards including higher levels of take-home pay through its combination of heavier emphasis on direct compensation than on employer-paid benefits,” Brasfield explained. “UMMC has contracted with Sullivan Cotter for both RN and faculty/provider pay initiatives. And Through Dr. Woodward’s fall 2021 Workforce Compensation Plan Memo, initiatives for staff compensation were captured and communicated.”

The only way the Medical Center can continually address areas of concern is to hear from employees, said Brasfield.

Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs, said she hopes for 100 percent participation this year, as well as honest responses.

“Provide meaningful data, and it can turn into meaningful initiatives,” said Woodward.

“The survey doesn’t take long to complete, but the information it provides the Medical Center’s leadership team is invaluable,” she said. “This survey is intended to provide us an improvement road map drawn by you, and give us follow-up data on actions taken based on previous years’ survey results.”