Is CSWS A Good Place to Work?
When asked ‘How satisfied are you with Carers Support West Sussex as a place to work?’, Over 87% of responses fell into the very satisfied and satisfied category. This was with a 77% staff engagement rate. We can safely surmise, that Carers Support is an excellent place to work.
Working At Carers Support West Sussex
With 98% of staff saying they are provided with the materials and equipment to do their work and 75% stating they received praise or recognition for doing good work in the last seven days, there is no surprise, that the Chair at Carers Support said:
“Any organisation would be extremely happy with the % scores achieved, especially the scores for staff, as it would mean they would easily enter into the top quartile for the ‘Best Companies to Work For’ awards.” Neal Young, Acting Chair.
The importance of employee engagement is not to be underestimated and often recognised as an indicator of organisational health. Any employer worth its salt should regularly measure how engaged their employees are with the organisation.
Carers Support have been regularly conducting the Gallup 12 survey since June 2019.
In 2021, 77% of employees completed the survey, which is virtually the same as in previous years. The results are consistent with other external surveys and shows high levels of engagement in the charity, even maintained with the challenge of home working throughout 2020.
The scores were “extremely high” with no staff score below 74%. The year-on-year analysis clearly shows a significant improvement with three of the twelve measures improving by more than 10%. Our main challenge is maintaining that level, as the work we do continues to be of high volume and increasingly complex.
What is Employee Engagement?
Despite employee engagement having inspired many organisations to adopt progressive people management practices, there is no one definitive definition. Some descriptions focus on employee behaviour, some on attitudes or feelings while others draw attention to the conditions of work and what the organisation does.
To give an example, Forbes, provides an attitudinal definition: “Employee engagement is the emotional commitment the employee has to the organisation and its goals. This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company.”
At Carers Support West Sussex we understand the importance of monitoring engagement levels of our employees and volunteers. Not only from a performance perspective but as a responsible local employer. Following research into different approaches, the Gallup Q12 employee engagement survey became the natural choice, with its simple methodology; ‘you don’t have to ask a lot of questions. Just the right ones’.
What happens when engagement levels are high?
The Board and Leadership Team at Carers Support West Sussex aim to inspire and cultivate a happy and motivated workforce to enable top service delivery to carers living in West Sussex. They would like to keep receiving staff feedback such as, “I feel happy and fulfilled at work and have enjoyed stepping up into a new role which I hope will continue. CSWS are a flexible and adaptable organisation.”
According to Gallup’s, the most engaged teams experience an average of 41% lower absenteeism and 10% higher customer metrics. So it makes perfect sense to understand employee engagement levels, so management are steered in the direction of creating the optimum work environment.
The most recent survey results tell us that 95% of our staff are strongly committed to doing quality work. No one could ask for more from any team.
What does this mean for the future?
Carers Support will continue to monitor staff and volunteer engagement levels to notice any blips to remedy. As mentioned above, the biggest challenge is to now maintain such high levels of engagement. One staff member commented: “Our organisation is forever evolving to best meet the needs of our carers. What we do really matters.”
As we launch into our new strategy, with our clear vision:
“To bring the day forward when unpaid carers are seen, heard, and included”
and following our values of being focussed, acting together and leaders in enabling carers to be identified, it is a very exciting time to be part of the Carers Support family…
…watch this space.
If you are looking for a new challenge and would like to work in a progressive and encouraging workplace, check out our roles here.
What does this mean for the future?
Carers Support will continue to monitor staff and volunteer engagement levels to notice any blips to remedy. As mentioned above, the biggest challenge is to now maintain such high levels of engagement. One staff member commented: “Our organisation is forever evolving to best meet the needs of our carers. What we do really matters.”
As we launch into our new strategy, with our clear vision:
“To bring the day forward when unpaid carers are seen, heard, and included”
and following our values of being focussed, acting together and leaders in enabling carers to be identified, it is a very exciting time to be part of the Carers Support family…
…watch this space.
If you are looking for a new challenge and would like to work in a progressive and encouraging workplace, check out our roles by clicking below.