Comhairle prepares to survey staff over job satisfaction 3/6/14

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar intends to stage an anonymous survey to see if staff have better morale and job satisfaction than previously.

It can also help to investigate how employees feel after swingeing within the council.

A similar survey on 2012 generally showed big improvements four years on from the Comhairle’s first comprehensive employee survey.

The latest survey will take place next year and will provide evidence over how well an action plan to support staff has worked.

In 2012, some 12% of employees said they they were bullied by their line manager or supervisor, 9% by colleagues and over 14% by service users. A huge percentage - some 59% - of employees who stated that they were bullied or harassed did not report it.

The Comhairle also poor in communicating with its staff with over half saying they are not informed and 38% reporting it was not as “open and honest” as it could be.

The employee survey raised concerns that managers failed to effectively tackle employee performance issues, where the majority of employees stated that it was not being dealt with effectively; The equalities information, especially with regard to disadvantage will be considered in detail in the action plan.

The Accounts Commission has highlighted the Comhairle approved an improvement plan in response to the issues raised in the staff survey in an effort to beef up communication, performance, support and training.

The council has now delivered most of this action plan and implemented a number of developments, including the introduction of a respect at work policy, a new Learning and Development Strategy and a greater emphasis on performance appraisal and departmental training plans