Report to: General Committee Date of Meeting: June 19, 2006

SUBJECT: Results of 2006 Staff Satisfaction Survey

PREPARED BY: Rick Dominico, Mgr. Corporate Quality, ext 6920

RECOMMENDATION:

That the report “Results of 2006 Staff Satisfaction Survey” be received.

1. Purpose 2. Background 3. Discussion 4. Financial 5. Environmental

6. Accessibility 7. Engage ^21st 8. Affected Units 9. Attachment(s)

PURPOSE:

To provide the results of the fifth staff satisfaction survey that was completed in March and April of 2006.

BACKGROUND:

The Town’s quality journey began in late 1996 with the formation of the Markham Management Model and an organizational assessment to identify corporate areas for improvement. The Markham Management Model was created in collaboration with Xerox and includes most of the principles of the National Quality Institute’s quality framework for excellence.

The Management Model provides the management framework for how Markham operates and successful application of the practices contained in the Model contribute to the Town’s goal of organizational excellence. A key component of the Model is the measurement of satisfaction and Markham’s satisfaction measurement program is focused on two types of customers; external customers or citizens, and internal customers or staff. For each customer type there is a two-pronged approach to measuring and improving the services offered. For internal customers this includes the staff satisfaction survey and specific service surveys and for external customers it includes citizen satisfaction surveys as well as specific service surveys.

OPTIONS/ DISCUSSION:

Staff Satisfaction Survey

The staff satisfaction survey program was initiated in 1998 and since then has been repeated in the spring every two years. During the period March 27 to April 13, 2006, 723 employees of the Town of Markham completed the Staff Satisfaction Survey. Overall staff participation rate was 76%, up from 73% in 2004.

After completion of the surveys, the survey data and comments were captured and analyzed by Bench Strength Inc. The results of this year’s survey have been shared with staff through department meetings and postings on the internal intranet site. Overall, the results reflect significant improvement from the 2004 survey.

The most significant improvement occurred with the following items: (Please note that a five point scale was used for measurement, with five representing stronger agreement with the statement.)

	Town Average	Gain from Last Survey
I enjoy working with the people in my work group.	4.18	0.81
In my work group, my immediate supervisor provides positive and constructive feedback.	3.78	0.53
My compensation package is fair in terms of my responsibilities and level of contribution to the Town.	3.32	0.53
In my work group, employee morale is high	3.31	0.50
Overall, I rate the Town of Markham as a good employer	3.94	0.44
I am more satisfied with my job than I was last year.	3.42	0.40

The low scoring items included the following:

	Town Average
In my work group, unplanned priorities often disrupt normal activities and add to our workload.	1.94
I am satisfied with the performance management system.	2.90
In the last six months, time pressure at work has not caused me worry, “nerves”, or stress.	2.97
Over the last two years there has been improvement in the timeliness and effectiveness of the performance management system.	3.08
Decisions on hiring and promotion are made equitably.	3.10
Senior leaders in my commission reallocate resources and rebalance workload in response to changes to our plans and priorities.	3.11
There are clear processes for resolving disputes at work.	3.22
Senior leaders meet their commitments and keep their promises	3.22

The following table demonstrates the trend for overall satisfaction of staff agreeing with the statement “the Town of Markham is a good employer”.

	1998	2000	2002	2004	2006
Overall Satisfaction with Town	62%	67.6%	78%	70%	78%

Improvement Plans

Leaders workshops were held on May 10th to provide Directors and senior managers with an overview of the Town results and to provide specific results for their respective departments. Each Department is required to identify two or more specific areas for improvement. This is a collaborative process that includes all staff in the department, with improvement areas identified by the end of June. Regular progress reporting on these plans will be managed by the Strategic Initiatives Department.

Town-wide improvement areas have been identified as follows:

- Quality of Performance management review meetings

- Workload and its impact, including unplanned priorities

- Increased use of customer satisfaction measurements

- Inter-Departmental communication and cooperation

- Leader’s communication

Specific work programs for each of these Town-wide areas will be developed and implemented, with regular progress updates to CCC.

FINANCIAL TEMPLATE (Separate Attachment):

Not applicable

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Not applicable

ACCESSIBILITY CONSIDERATIONS:

Not applicable

ENGAGE 21^ST CONSIDERATIONS:

The Markham Management Model is a key component of the Quality Services through Quality People initiative and includes a strong focus on improvement measurement for both staff and external customers. The results of the fifth staff satisfaction survey provide the organization and specific departments with direction for improvement efforts that will assist the Town in its goal of Organizational Excellence.

BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:

All business units are affected and have received detailed reports of both their specific business unit results as well as Town wide results.

RECOMMENDED

BY: ________________________ ________________________

Anne Pozywiak John Livey

Director, Strategic Initiatives CAO

ATTACHMENTS: