City hall aims to boost employee engagement

City hall will try to improve employee engagement after a 2017 survey showed about half of Saskatoon’s civic employees who responded feel engaged.

The survey was conducted from June 7 to July 5; just over half of the city ’s 3,257 employees responded. The survey results suggested 48.7 per cent of employees felt engaged, while 26.9 per cent said they were almost engaged.

Eleven per cent of respondents said they were disengaged and another 13.4 per cent said they were indifferent.

A City of Saskatoon report accompanying the McLean & Company survey results says the city reached its desired benchmark of 75.6 per cent of employees feeling engaged or almost engaged.

“To address the results of the survey, management and staff are developing action plans to strengthen and improve employee engagement,” the city report says.

Employees rated the workplace environment highly, and most said they did not feel discriminated against (78 per cent) or emotionally harassed (74 per cent), the report says.

Senior management and employee recognition fared poorly in the survey, which was presented at Monday ’s meeting of city council’s environment, utilities and corporate services committee.

Overall, three-quarters of employees rated their workplace experience as a seven or higher on a scale of one to 10, the report says.

The survey sprang from a city council initiative to ensure a healthy work environment.

While 79 per cent rated the working environment highly, just 36 per cent did the same for senior management relationships. Rewards and recognition were rated even lower, at 26 per cent.

On the city’s potential, 61 per cent said the organization has a bright future, while just 36 per cent said the municipal government encourages innovation.

Among respondents, 37 per cent said they were inspired by their division’s director, 28 per cent were inspired by the city’s general managers and 24 per cent were inspired by the city manager. The city manager when the survey was taken was Murray Totland, who has since retired.