Dear Colleagues,
I wanted to update everyone on the results of the Employee Engagement Survey. By early February, we will have sent the results of the survey to all of our leaders for their areas and we will post the UHN results on line. I'll begin by thanking the 5,834 staff members who took part in the survey – 56% of our total work force which means that we are completely confident that the results are an accurate description of the overall engagement of employees at UHN.
Our survey was conducted by Aon Hewitt, a company which specializes in measuring employee engagement and conducts over 300 surveys a year in many of Canada's leading organizations. Employee engagement is the measure of intellectual and emotional commitment to an organization. It is reflected in three key behaviours – what people SAY about their organization, whether they intend to STAY, and the extent to which they STRIVE to achieve above and beyond what is expected in their daily role.
The survey told us that 80% of UHN employees rate UHN as a good, very good or excellent employer which is an important piece of data. Our overall engagement score of 58% is slightly higher than the average for the Canadian healthcare organizations and Canadian public sector surveyed by Aon Hewitt. UHN is lower, however, when compared to their Best Employer category whose range starts at 65%. Our challenge in the coming months is to take the information from the survey and continue activities that will ensure that you are engaged in your work, able to celebrate your achievements and able to work to the very best of your ability.
There is much strength in the organization and some very encouraging results. You see this as a place that works hard to support patient safety. You get a strong sense of accomplishment from your work. You feel that people are respectful of their co-workers with different opinions and differences of race, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation. You know that UHN is committed to health and wellness of our employees and you appreciate this focus. You are proud to work here and you appreciate UHN's commitment to learning and development.
The encouraging news about the areas for improvement is that they are all areas identified in the round table discussions with clinical managers conducted by Human Resources last year which means that some work has been done with more work to do. We learned that you want clear expectations, goals and feedback and we need to free up time for leaders so that this can happen. You want more opportunities within the organization to develop your career. You want the tools and resources to be productive, your workload to be manageable and you want to be recognized for your work. We also heard that compensation levels play a role in reducing engagement for some staff.
I'll end by saying that this survey has confirmed that we are working in the right areas and that we have more to do. By the end of the month our managers will have more information about their areas and we will work with everyone to understand the results and the strategies that we need to put in place to create a workplace where everyone is engaged and excited about what they do each day. I am committed to making UHN a workplace which fully engages its employees and I look forward to working with everyone to achieve this state.
Bob
