Vance County commissioners got an update Monday regarding results from a recent employee satisfaction survey. Although there are some positive takeaways from the survey results – valuing diversity and general job satisfaction – the board’s Human Resources Committee has identified several priorities for follow-up attention.
County Manager Jordan McMillen said 70 percent of the county’s employees responded to the online survey, which was conducted in December 2020 and January 2021. The UNC School of Government, which facilitated the survey, reported that the results were “typical of government organizations that are early in the organizational development process,” McMillen told WIZS News.
“On the positive side our employees identify very well with the organization, they feel good about the level of teamwork shared across and within departments and generally employees feel good and are satisfied with their jobs,” he said.
But other employees said they feel “emotionally drained” from the work they do and turnover is higher in some departments than others, he noted. “We intend to bring the School of Government back in to take deeper dives into some of the negative areas,” McMillen added. Among the more negative comments from the respondents were “organizational silence” and “workplace incivility.” McMillen said. Public safety and human services (Department of Social Services) respondents accounted for most of the negative results, he added.
The Human Resources Committee members Carolyn Faines, Archie B. Taylor Jr. and Gordon Wilder met on Mar. 30 to review staff recommendations for priorities and agreed to begin with workplace incivility and organizational silence. The committee also decided to revise a third issue to only include morale/burnout/emotional toll of work, McMillen said.
“We want employees to feel comfortable speaking up if they have ideas and want to ensure our employees feel their ideas are given the attention that is needed, McMillen said.
“As we strive for creativity from our employees, we want them to feel comfortable sharing ideas that can lead to improvements for our county and citizens.”
County staff will coordinate with the school of government to organize small groups of employees that will examine the priority areas and report back to the committee with recommendations later this year.