Staff survey results 2007

Response rates

Our overall response rate was 46 percent (6,338 questionnaires were issued and 2,903 returned) which was up 2 percent from 2004. This is a good response from the public sector. The overall directorate response rate ranged from 38 to 54 percent.

Overall results

In 2004, staff felt that Tower Hamlets was a good employer with 73 percent of staff feeling motivated and 69 percent of staff reporting they were proud to say they worked for the council.

These were good results, but in 2007 staff ratings are even higher on almost every question, sometimes by a large percentage.

About working for the council

83 percent of staff feel that Tower Hamlets is a good place to work and 77 percent of staff feel motivated. This has risen by 6 percent since 2004. As a result of this 74 per cent of staff are proud to tell people they work for the council.

This increase in staff motivation can be seen across all equality groups. The biggest increase in motivation is for disabled staff, where motivation has risen by 13 percent since 2004.

64 percent of staff feel that people worked well together at the council, an increase of 9 percent with 63 percent of staff reporting that if something goes wrong, the emphasis is on putting it right, again an increase of 9 percent since 2004.

69 percent of staff say that Tower Hamlets is a better employer than their previous employer(s).

Equality of opportunity

The vast majority of staff feel that Tower Hamlets has improved the way it provides equality of opportunity to the different equality groups; 65 percent for lesbians and gay men and 73 percent in terms of black and minority ethnic groups. The biggest change since 2004 is staff's view about equality of opportunity for disabled staff, which has increased from 62 percent to 67 percent.

Leadership, vision & priorities

More than 80 percent of staff are clear about the council's vision and what we are trying to achieve. 86 percent of staff understand the council's core values and more than 85 percent of staff understand how their work and their team's work contributed to the work of the council. This has improved by more than 15 percent since 2004.

Staff's confidence in senior management leadership has increased by 2 per cent since 2004 to 61 percent.

65 percent of staff are confident that the council will improve services this year which is an increase of 9 percent since 2004 and there has been a 7 percent increase in the number of staff who believe the council will act on the results of the survey.

Management style

Staff feel that they have good managers with 85 percent of staff reporting that their manager treats them fairly, 82 percent reporting that their manager listens to them and 80 percent say that their manager encourages them to make their own decisions.

The different equality groups all feel that their manager treats them fairly and the proportion of disabled staff who feel their manager treats them fairly has increased by 11 per cent to 86 percent.

There was a big increase reported in the proportion of managers who encourage staff to put the community and customers first up 8 percent from 2004 to 82 percent.

There was a slight reduction in the number of staff who feel that managers deal with poor performance which decreased by 2 percent to 62 percent.

More than two thirds of staff discuss their training and development needs with their manager at their performance and development review and have at least four one-to-one meetings with their managers each year. 76 percent of staff attend regular team meetings.

Working conditions

66 percent of staff now say that they are satisfied with their physical working conditions, an increase of 8 percent since 2004, whilst 73 percent feel that they have the tools or equipment they need to do their jobs. 70 percent of staff believe the council offers working arrangements which offer a good work life balance.

Communications

74 percent of staff feel they have the information they need to do their jobs, a 3 percent increase since 2004 and 64 percent of staff feel they are kept informed about what is happening.

54 percent of staff feel that they are informed about why things happen - this is an area where we need to do more work.

Training and development

84 percent of staff know about the training and development opportunities available to them and three quarters of staff say that training and development has helped them do their job more effectively. 84 percent of staff talk to their managers about how useful the training was while 80 percent discuss how they will use the training in their jobs (an increase of 28 percent since 2004).