engagement08

Analyzing, Understanding and Communicating Results

Thank you to all the University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC) employees who showed their commitment to positive change by participating in engagement08, the Health Center’s first employee engagement survey. Human Resources, through Know Better Place, sought to measure and evaluate the level of employee engagement at the Health Center to determine employee perceptions, identify best practices, plan for necessary improvements, and create a benchmark for future surveys. According to industry experts such as Gallup, health care organizations with engaged employees have better staff retention, better productivity, better financial results and higher patient satisfaction.

The web based and paper survey was administered from October 22 through November 12, 2008. A total of 1,595 Health Center faculty and staff completed the survey, representing 30% of the Health Center’s overall workforce. A solid return by industry standards. (CustomInsight, Focus 24 Research & Consulting).

Overall, the findings from engagement08 are encouraging.  To allow for more translatable results, the survey questions were sorted into four key components (Figure 1). As you will see in the accompanying charts, correlations across the qualitative and quantitative data clearly illustrate areas of strength in two components: Vision/Mission and Connection & Commitment.  Results also highlight opportunities for improvement in the remaining two components of Teamwork & Respect and Manager & Organization Support (Table 1).

 
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Drawing on the results of the 2005 UCHC Culture and Diversity Survey, the importance of employee engagement was realized. Thus three questions from the 2005 survey, regarding employee engagement, were included in engagement08. Based on level of agreement (responses of agree and strongly agree), incremental gains have been realized in each of the questions (Table 2).

 
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In addition, 578 respondents, thirty-six percent, shared feedback through unstructured comments. These comments were reviewed and sorted into common themes, and then clustered into the four components. A more in depth review of the comments will taken to further guide action plans (Table 3).

Finally, in order to reveal specific areas of strength and priorities for action planning, respondents’ level of agreement (responses of agree and strongly agree) with each specific question was calculated. Table 4 shows employee agreement to the survey questions by percentage. This will also serve as a benchmark for future surveys.

Next Steps

By conducting this survey, the Health Center has taken an important first step in identifying employee engagement levels and establishing benchmark data to measure continued progress. Senior leaders have reviewed a summary of findings. In the coming weeks and months, through a comprehensive process, Health Center leaders will begin to address priority issues that impact employees across the organization.

As a valued employee of the Health Center, you already know that Know Better Place is committed to being a force of positive change in our organization through engaged employees, communication and leadership. Again, thank you to all Health Center employees for your time and your feedback.