A big thank you to everyone who took part.
Our overall response rate was 43%.
Our high scoring responses
These are the areas that colleagues felt most positive about:
- 94% of colleagues feel they are respected and trusted by their colleagues
- 90% of colleagues believe that equality, diversity and inclusion are important to this organisation
- 90% of colleagues feel they are respected and trusted by their manager
- 89% of colleagues feel they are able to make a meaningful difference through their work
- 86% of colleagues believe they have access to all the training, resources and support they need to prioritise their safety at work.
These are fantastic results that we should be really proud of and celebrate.
Areas we need to focus on improving
We do have some areas that we can continue to improve on and these remain the same as last year. We acknowledge a reduction in colleagues who agree that action has been taken as a result of last year’s survey (down from 62% to 54%) and appreciate that we haven’t fully resolved concerns that colleagues raised last year around some key areas:
- 49% of colleagues agree that they are rewarded fairly – a 4 percentage point reduction from last year
- 60% of colleagues agree that they are valued and recognised – a 3 percentage point reduction from last year
- 63% of colleagues agree that they are involved in decisions that affect them and their work – a 3 percentage point reduction from last year
- 66% of colleagues believe their wellbeing is important to the organisation – a 2 percentage point reduction from last year.
In addition to these results, colleagues were invited to comment on the question, “If there was one thing that would make Derbyshire County Council a better place to work, what would it be?” More than 2,300 colleagues responded to this question (nearly 60% of all survey responses) and this has provided some real insight into areas that colleagues are saying need more focus.
These key areas include:
- pay rise in line with other local authorities, cost of living and inflation, and suggestions for revised terms and conditions
- the impact of resourcing and workload on wellbeing
- leadership communication and visibility
- improvement ideas, development and working arrangements
- better facilities and maintenance, IT systems and equipment
- budget challenges
- improved communications
- experiences and communication during restructures.
Next steps
In September team results, including the anonymous verbatim comments, will be shared with leaders based on the organisation structure that was included in this year’s survey. They will follow this up with you and your team to discuss the results and develop a team action plan, outlining how you will work together to address any possible issues or improve the things that already work well in your team.
Through the survey more than 200 colleagues volunteered to share their views on a variety of topics throughout the year, so we’ll be in touch with those individuals soon.
We’re now taking some time to plan how, as one council, we can build on the positive responses and make improvements where you’ve told us we need to.