Deputy Director
The broad questions asked those taking the survey:
- What is one way you’ve noticed WSDA improve in the past year?
- What are three ways WSDA could improve your job satisfaction?
The Performance and Planning Management Office (PPMO) reviewed more than 700 separate comments submitted by 119 individual WSDA employees.
Because the agency assured that survey responses would be confidential, the actual comments will not be published. We can share some general themes that emerged from the wide array of comments submitted.
What has improved?
Staff comments about improvements ranged from communications to changes in leadership and administrative structure. The weekly Connect employee e-bulletin was called out as improving internal communication.
Others mentioned leadership changes, program-level succession planning, clearer policies and procedures, centralized IT, and process improvement (e.g. Lean) work as ways employees have noticed WSDA change for the better.
What could be better?
Since the second question asked for three things (rather than just one) that could be improved, employees offered many more comments to this question. Below are a few of the general areas into which comments fell.
Feedback loop – Use feedback and value input. Listen to employees, and do something with the information gathered. Use customer feedback better.
Communication and connection – More transparent, effective communication, and less separation between managers and workers. Communicate the agency’s strategy and direction, and provide opportunities for appreciation and teambuilding.
Accountability – Uphold a high level of accountability, adhering to agency values and ethics, and enforcing rules and guidelines. Leaders should lead and walk the talk.
Staffing and training - Hire best leaders and staff; hiring from outside the agency can be a benefit. Improve the promotion and hiring process; no secret appointments and better interview panels. Provide professional development and mentoring; more training and advancement opportunities.
Work environment – Offer more teleworking and flex schedules, better air quality, stress relief, and upgraded technology.
How will this input be used?
I received the verbatim survey comments from PPMO and met with each of the assistant division directors to discuss this feedback from their staff. I’ve directed each AD to organize listening sessions with their division staff before October. And some, such as Pesticide Management Division, have already started holding those meetings.
The second phase of listening sessions for those parts of the agency that do not report to an AD will occur in the next few weeks. You will be contacted by your manager with details on scheduling your sessions.
In addition, PPMO conducted an employee focus group session in April to hone in on areas to target a specific agency improvement project. Watch this Insider blog for a follow-up story about that focus group activity.
The Leadership Team and I take your feedback very seriously. I encourage you to talk to your supervisor about things your team or the agency as a whole can do to help you be the most engaged and productive employee possible.
In summary: WSDA employees who took the 2017 Employee Engagement Survey provided hundreds of comments on both ways the agency has improved and what could be done to boost job satisfaction.
