In June, staff at Brimbank City Council took part in a staff attitude survey, believed to be the first time this model of surveying has been applied in Local Government in Australia. The survey is linked to Australian Quality Criteria and benchmarks employees attitudes on organisational culture and quality.
An external consultant advised Brimbank City Council on taking its 658 staff through this survey that charted issues such as leadership, job satisfaction, teamwork, organisational competitiveness and performance. Staff were asked to rate the level of importance of such issues against the organisation’s performance. This enabled Council to easily identify perceived gaps in staff attitude.
Results were compiled in such a way as to enable Council to identify consistent attitudes within particular departments, divisions or by other factors such as level of pay. The results show that major issues for staff are those directly related to change management. Staff rated as highly important trust during the change climate, feedback from management and being part of a team.
“We must use the data from this survey in a way that allows us to see the ‘bigger picture’ in terms of our performance against other service industries,” says Brimbank City Council Chief Executive Officer, Rob Spence.
“The survey is a key component of policy deployment, Council’s major corporate strategy, including external and internal customer service surveys, the establishment of customer service and employee attitude improvement plans and the implementation of quality systems within Council.
“We are getting very clear messages about the sorts of issues that have affected staff in the amalgamation process and the problems that continue to plague staff.
“It is now up to management to get some practical systems in place that deal with these consistent issues.”
For further information contact Teena Cardillo, telephone (03) 9249 4509.
