Feedback shapes new Employee Survey themes
This year’s employee survey will focus on six key themes identified following consultation with colleagues.
Workload and capacity, wellbeing and culture, communications and leadership, career development, ways of working and environment and tools (see graphic pictured below) were highlighted during a review of the employee survey carried out by Organisational Development (OD) and will inform questions for 2026’s version.
Directly from responses
Team manager Rebecca Grangeret explains: “The themes have come directly from the responses we had to our consultation. We were really pleased with amount of feedback that we received. People were interested and supportive of what we were trying to achieve and took time to share their views, which we really appreciated. A lot of people provided us with questions to ask and we have used their wording in the questions.”
The review’s survey was hosted online with a separate version for school staff while the OD team visited all teams who were in John Muir House, Penston House, Musselburgh Library and the Bleachingfield Centre to capture views from people working in as many areas, including frontline services, as possible. Respondents offered ideas and shared their perspectives to help shape a refreshed survey that measures employee’s experiences and what they think is important.
Person-centred
“One of our East Lothian Way core values is that our organisation is person-centred,” explains Rebecca. “The new survey will help us to understand what is working well and what needs to be improved and help us to improve employees’ experiences at work. It will give us data and evidence that we can act upon.”
The way that survey results are interpreted and actioned is also key, says Rebecca. Anonymised data is shared with service managers and they are expected to identify actions they can take forward within their area to address feedback and drive forward improvements. The Council Leadership Team will also be monitoring actions being completed.
Confidential to complete
Equalities information collected such as gender is kept completely separate to the survey data and provided only to HR to understand are there any particular groups who are more impacted by a topic than others. This information is not shared with managers further strengthening confidentiality.
“We want everyone to feel that the employee survey is useful and worth completing,” says Rebecca. “Focusing on relevant topics developed by our staff, ensuring that all answers are anonymous and providing a clear link between feedback and action will mean that the survey is valuable for everyone.”
The employee survey will be shared in May. Look out for further details in your inbox, on the intranet and in Inform.
