YOUR OPINION COUNTS 2021 Staff Survey Results
A
lmost 13,000 people completed the health servicewide staff survey, carried out by the HSE in partnership with Core Research. This represents an overall response rate of 8% and a 12% response rate for HSE services. Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey in what has been a relentless two years for our health service. Some of the positive results from the survey show that nine out of 10 people feel their work makes a difference to patients and service users, and feel they are trusted to do their job. The survey results have highlighted areas where improvements are needed, with only five out of 10 people saying they have the necessary resources to do their job and people’s satisfaction with their job dropped overall in comparison to the 2018 survey. Speaking about the survey’s findings, Anne Marie Hoey, National Director, Human Resources, said, “The last two years have been very challenging for staff dealing with the pandemic and then the cyber-attack last May. The resilience and positive attitudes of those delivering health services shows the high level of staff commitment to work to make the lives of their patients and service users better. “Now we must use these survey results to inform how to make the Health Service a better place to work in the future by improving workplace culture and equal treatment, increasing frontline staffing numbers and allow more flexibility in working conditions, as articulated by respondents.” The survey questionnaire themes remained broadly in line with the 2018 research, with the addition of a section on COVID-19 experience and two open free text questions around staff ideas for improvement. The nine themes covered in the survey were: • My Job • My Role • My Organisation • Leadership and Management • COVID-19 Experience • Training and Development • Standard of Care and Service • Health and wellbeing • Dignity at Work THE FULL REPORT OF THE HSE STAFF SURVEY IS AVAILABLE AT WWW.HSE.IE/ENG/STAFF/STAFFENGAGEMENT/RESOURCES/YOUROPINION-COUNTSSTAFF-SURVEY-20211111.PDF
SURVEY SUMMARY • Overall, staff are enthusiastic (even more so than in 2018), and highly motivated compared to other large organisations. The vast majority feel their work makes a difference to patients and service users. • There is a strong sense of job security among staff. • There has been an increase in satisfaction with the level of care delivered since 2018, however, this is tempered by almost four in 10 saying they feel the service delivered by their organisation is deteriorating. • Staff are more likely to believe their manager takes a positive interest in their health and wellbeing compared to 2018. • More staff say they are involved in decisions that affect their work in 2021 compared to 2018. • The sense of recognition received for ones’ work is one of the lowest performing areas this year, however, it has seen an increase since 2018. • Levels of employee satisfaction and optimism about working in the Health Service into the future have decreased since 2018. • Communication, perceptions of senior leadership, and work/life balance are areas that require focus and improvement. • Bullying and harassment persists. In 2021, the same number of staff report experiencing bullying from a colleague as they did in 2018. • COVID-19 has had a mixed impact on staff. The majority felt supported throughout the pandemic and one third feel more positive towards the HSE since before the pandemic began. However, half feel there has been a negative change in their working environment. • The main suggestions to make the Health Service a better place to work in the future were; improving workplace culture and equal treatment, increasing frontline staffing numbers and more flexibility in working conditions.
NEXT STEPS Each health service area received their own report and were then asked by HR Director Anne Marie Hoey to engage with their staff and communicate their results and to identify a lead person in their area who will be responsible for developing local action plans and for communicating the progress being made to address the Staff Survey findings.
HEALTH MATTERS SPRING 2022 | 41
041_HSE Health Matters_Staff Survey.indd 41
16/03/2022 12:55
