| Title | Monitoring the Pulse of Employees, Pennsylvania DOT Employee Retention |
| ShortDescription | The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation uses ongoing internal surveys to monitor and improve their workforce condition, satisfaction, and engagement. Surveys were initiated in 1992. Since then, survey tools and utility have grown significantly. |
| LongDescription | As part of their commitment to quality and customer service, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) employs ongoing internal surveys to maintain open lines of communication, improve operational efficiency, regularly evaluate organizational climate, monitor employee morale, and reduce employee turnover. PennDOT uses three survey instruments. Since the surveys' initiation in 1992, PennDOT has added online survey capabilities enabling managers to create and conduct online surveys to address specific workplace issues. All managers are trained and receive an Organizational Climate Survey (OCS) Feedback Manual which provides detailed steps for interpreting OCS results for use in feedback sessions with employees to identify ways to improve operations. The OCS includes 100 questions to assess employees' perceptions in 17 different areas such as communication, outlook for change, recognition, teamwork, and job satisfaction. Survey results are broken down by organization and the feedback reports generated are distributed to each PennDOT unit. Each manager is required to conduct feedback sessions within the work unit to further clarify issues for resolution and to develop action plans to address them. The PennDOT Employee Morale Survey (MS) focuses on local work units and measures employee opinion about changes resulting from local or department-wide initiatives. Units are encouraged to use the MS before and after implementing an initiative to track changes. The survey also gauges opinions on organizational operation, quality of work, and communication efforts. The Exit Information Program survey instrument collects and analyzes exiting employee information to identify reasons for termination and employee satisfaction with a variety of work factors. The survey is mailed to the former employee's home with a postage-paid return envelope to provide confidentiality. The instrument can help spot trends or other issues in the organization that should be addressed. Responses are maintained in a database. The OCS is conducted annually. The MS can be conducted online as needed to evaluate any initiative in the work unit. Managers can use survey result comparisons to determine the degree of change from year to year and how results compare across the PennDOT organization. |
| SourceAuthor | Jacob S. Simonton, Director, Bureau of Human Resources, Pennsylvania DOT |
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| Organization | Bureau of Human Resources, Penn DOT |
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http://www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov/transworkforce/IP_PA.PDF
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