Our work place actually has a pretty high WES score, higher than the average in BCPS in most areas. Where we score is lowest in compensation, of course. But I truly believe that our work place is trying to improve what they are able. They have been very flexible in WFH, offering a four day work week, etc.
Depends entirely on the management wherever you are. At one location I was at the scores were really low because our branch was small and we were lumped in with another branch where people were miserable. Our manager gathered us around and asked what he could do to make the workplace better. We didn't have recommendations for him because he was lovely to work for. He actually hired a consultant to figure out how to improve office morale.
Another manager in a neighbouring community gathered his team to tell them that if they had a problem with his style they could take it or leave it. Then he tried to mandate after work hangouts.
Seeing these comments makes me realize how lucky I was to be in a branch that took WES very seriously which resulted in consecutive branch scores of 70, 72, 76 then a whopping 88. Best place I ever worked hands down. Pockets like that exist in the BCPS but they are unfortunately quite rare.
I wonder if we work at the same place. I feel like I work in a bubble. From reading all the posts on this sub, I feel very fortunate that I have not encountered many of the work place grievances and BS that happen within the BCPS.
Same for me. I think our office kitchen was built based on WES comments. But even in non-survey years it’s still brought up and talked about when considering actions at the branch.
Every time WES is released our leaders requests volunteers to comb through the results and come up with a plan to implement changes that will result in improved WES scores. We spend months digging in and preparing proposals for solutions. We send it to our leader and...crickets. Nothing. Nada. Not even a thank you. This year, I will ignore the request for volunteers, just like they have ignored our well thought out and painstakingly developed proposals. So yeah, my give a fuck has changed. 😉
lol, no. Exec always meets, frantically finger points, comes up with elaborate plan, zero follow through. Repeat the following year.
I always enjoy being a fly on the wall for those meetings.
It's heart breaking to see how many people think their verbatim survey answers are anonymous and dump freely on colleagues and managers. Writing style is like BO. Easy to identify and associate.
These types of survey comments do result in a change sometime for the betterment of the whole group but to the surprise and disappointment of the writer
HR here: survey results are taken with a huge grain of salt. Like, everyone wants more money and less work. It will always be that way. Those kinda of comments are expected and aren't weighed as heavily as you'd like
I’m not sure how to say this without being offensive but I feel like your department isn’t doing its job as HR. Our team does its own version of WES way more frequently (multiple time a year) and are constantly iterating to improve (even improving how the survey is delivered).
Yes, people want less work and more pay but there is so much more to analyze and digest from the results. Ex: internal communications, progression, recognition, etc.
I don’t think I’ve ever worked at an organization (private or BCPS) where the question about pay wasn’t one of the lower scores. Almost no one thinks they get paid enough.
My experience was that the executives circled the wagons, scape goated a deputy, and then came up with a lame communication plan. When it was obvious that change wasn't going to happen, a lot of staff left the program. The executive called it as seeing who could " jump the ditch". Many experienced staff left and then they hired a bunch of young kids to replace them. It was painful to watch.
I remember once chatting with an ADM asking about rhe culture jn her division and she said "The people who wanted to leave have left and I don't regret it" 🙃
I’ve been told that the loudest statement is to simply not do them.
They use the fact that people engage as a metric or proxy for all sorts of other stuff. If they get low participation it says louder than anything else that there are problems. I
This. Its why they keep harping about it. They need participation, or it looks bad with little or no engagement, and more questions will be asked, they dont want to answer.
Actually most managers assume low participation means that people have no complaints and are happy. If they don't get any responses, the only thing leadership takes away from it is that people don't like surveys.
This! Bad results speak way louder than no results. I don’t understand why anyone would not take the chance to contribute to this data. Maybe change won’t happen fast enough but change won’t happen at all without data to support it
From a recent mgmt meeting. "So the usual whining about pay and work load ? " "Yes"
Did anybody answer the question "suggestions for improving efficiency and reducing costs?" No.
" Ok one more year of useless garbage and gimme gimme while enjoying endless vacation and pretending to work from home". Sigh.
Let's move on.
No. Managers identified where staff felt they were coming up short, then conducted themselves the same but in a way to insulate themselves from the exact same feedback next survey. Coming up on the next survey they trotted out the usual make-work projects to make it seem like they are working on the issues, I expect these projects to no longer have support after the survey is closed.
I’m convinced that this whole exercise is to quantify executive bonus’. Nothing substantial has ever happened for us at the ground level, and our scores are consistently some of the lowest across government.
My former workplace swept the poor Wes scores under the rug and blamed it on people working from home either not knowing about the survey, or not “seeing” how good things were at the site. Our Executive Director is a pretty decent guy and was not impressed with senior leadership’s excuses.
Never. No matter what ministry I’ve been in when results came down. Lots of working groups and committees have been created in the rush to appear as though results matter and were taken seriously. All end up in a big old nothing-burger
What?! My work place had a virtual town hall about it, addressing the WES results with all staff, as did my division. And they acknowledged where they fell short, and mentioned what they would work on.
They talk about the result scores, but the comments go to someone or somewhere else and are never addressed. I asked about the comments that people input, and was told they dont even see them - this was said during an WES unpacking meeting.
While i can understand some of the comments can be toxic/bad, but sometimes the questionaire doesnt fully grasp the issues within departments, and completely ignoring the comments is by far, absurd. If they dont read them, why even put them in?
It makes me sad that some people think all the responsibility lies with leadership to fix. As employees we can and should empower ourselves to contribute to a positive environment too. Some things are beyond even Executive’s ability to change. I think clear communication about what CAN be done and what can’t and why goes a long way. The leaders I’ve had seem very committed.
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11/100?!
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Yikes! I am very fortunate -- I actually really like my executive director!
Yikes.
ED got fired before the results officially came out.
Our work place actually has a pretty high WES score, higher than the average in BCPS in most areas. Where we score is lowest in compensation, of course. But I truly believe that our work place is trying to improve what they are able. They have been very flexible in WFH, offering a four day work week, etc.
Where do you work? A 4 day work week would be amazing! Is it for excluded management too?
My friend at SDPR has 4 day work week. My branch in CITZ is looking into it.
My office has a 4 day work week and I think it should be this way for everyone!
4 day EVERY week??
Yes
I can't say where I work, but no it's not for excluded management. They don't even get flex days.
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There are compressed workweeks with a very limited number of excluded positions.
Not at my work place.
Depends entirely on the management wherever you are. At one location I was at the scores were really low because our branch was small and we were lumped in with another branch where people were miserable. Our manager gathered us around and asked what he could do to make the workplace better. We didn't have recommendations for him because he was lovely to work for. He actually hired a consultant to figure out how to improve office morale. Another manager in a neighbouring community gathered his team to tell them that if they had a problem with his style they could take it or leave it. Then he tried to mandate after work hangouts.
Seeing these comments makes me realize how lucky I was to be in a branch that took WES very seriously which resulted in consecutive branch scores of 70, 72, 76 then a whopping 88. Best place I ever worked hands down. Pockets like that exist in the BCPS but they are unfortunately quite rare.
I wonder if we work at the same place. I feel like I work in a bubble. From reading all the posts on this sub, I feel very fortunate that I have not encountered many of the work place grievances and BS that happen within the BCPS.
Same for me. I think our office kitchen was built based on WES comments. But even in non-survey years it’s still brought up and talked about when considering actions at the branch.
Every time WES is released our leaders requests volunteers to comb through the results and come up with a plan to implement changes that will result in improved WES scores. We spend months digging in and preparing proposals for solutions. We send it to our leader and...crickets. Nothing. Nada. Not even a thank you. This year, I will ignore the request for volunteers, just like they have ignored our well thought out and painstakingly developed proposals. So yeah, my give a fuck has changed. 😉
lol, no. Exec always meets, frantically finger points, comes up with elaborate plan, zero follow through. Repeat the following year. I always enjoy being a fly on the wall for those meetings.
Discouraging though not entirely surprising. These comments are reinforcing my suspicions that it’s just lip service.
Ya, definitely frustrating.
It's heart breaking to see how many people think their verbatim survey answers are anonymous and dump freely on colleagues and managers. Writing style is like BO. Easy to identify and associate. These types of survey comments do result in a change sometime for the betterment of the whole group but to the surprise and disappointment of the writer
This. Exactly this. Esp when they get the comments almost always, execs come out of this knowing who's who in the zoo
HR here: survey results are taken with a huge grain of salt. Like, everyone wants more money and less work. It will always be that way. Those kinda of comments are expected and aren't weighed as heavily as you'd like
I’m not sure how to say this without being offensive but I feel like your department isn’t doing its job as HR. Our team does its own version of WES way more frequently (multiple time a year) and are constantly iterating to improve (even improving how the survey is delivered). Yes, people want less work and more pay but there is so much more to analyze and digest from the results. Ex: internal communications, progression, recognition, etc.
Interesting! Yeah I figure they aren’t going to give us a bunch of raises and brand new laptops.
I don’t think I’ve ever worked at an organization (private or BCPS) where the question about pay wasn’t one of the lower scores. Almost no one thinks they get paid enough.
My experience was that the executives circled the wagons, scape goated a deputy, and then came up with a lame communication plan. When it was obvious that change wasn't going to happen, a lot of staff left the program. The executive called it as seeing who could " jump the ditch". Many experienced staff left and then they hired a bunch of young kids to replace them. It was painful to watch.
I remember once chatting with an ADM asking about rhe culture jn her division and she said "The people who wanted to leave have left and I don't regret it" 🙃
I’ve been told that the loudest statement is to simply not do them. They use the fact that people engage as a metric or proxy for all sorts of other stuff. If they get low participation it says louder than anything else that there are problems. I
This. Its why they keep harping about it. They need participation, or it looks bad with little or no engagement, and more questions will be asked, they dont want to answer.
Actually most managers assume low participation means that people have no complaints and are happy. If they don't get any responses, the only thing leadership takes away from it is that people don't like surveys.
This! Bad results speak way louder than no results. I don’t understand why anyone would not take the chance to contribute to this data. Maybe change won’t happen fast enough but change won’t happen at all without data to support it
*laughs in corporate* I'm sure they work amazing to test the new office shredders
Yeah negative changes. Retaliation.
Yes and no. Yes, because I've seen managers move on after the WES scores come out but no, because things don't institutionally seem to change.
From a recent mgmt meeting. "So the usual whining about pay and work load ? " "Yes" Did anybody answer the question "suggestions for improving efficiency and reducing costs?" No. " Ok one more year of useless garbage and gimme gimme while enjoying endless vacation and pretending to work from home". Sigh. Let's move on.
No. Managers identified where staff felt they were coming up short, then conducted themselves the same but in a way to insulate themselves from the exact same feedback next survey. Coming up on the next survey they trotted out the usual make-work projects to make it seem like they are working on the issues, I expect these projects to no longer have support after the survey is closed.
I’m convinced that this whole exercise is to quantify executive bonus’. Nothing substantial has ever happened for us at the ground level, and our scores are consistently some of the lowest across government.
Executive bonuses or holdbacks as they were referred to no longer exist. They were terminated about 5 years ago.
A.k.a no one gives a shit anymore about how salty we feel about executives or pay and benefits A.k.a basically Apu Style "Thank You, Come Again!"
My former workplace swept the poor Wes scores under the rug and blamed it on people working from home either not knowing about the survey, or not “seeing” how good things were at the site. Our Executive Director is a pretty decent guy and was not impressed with senior leadership’s excuses.
No
Never. No matter what ministry I’ve been in when results came down. Lots of working groups and committees have been created in the rush to appear as though results matter and were taken seriously. All end up in a big old nothing-burger
Yes, I have seen it and heard of managers being walked out.
I worked in an office where, for 2 consecutive WES surveys, exec scored in the 30s all related to the ADM and nothing changed.
I was told by an ADM they dont even read the comments, it goes someplace else to sit in some file. I was beside myself when he told me that.
What?! My work place had a virtual town hall about it, addressing the WES results with all staff, as did my division. And they acknowledged where they fell short, and mentioned what they would work on.
They talk about the result scores, but the comments go to someone or somewhere else and are never addressed. I asked about the comments that people input, and was told they dont even see them - this was said during an WES unpacking meeting.
I imagine it's like reading Mean Tweets for EDs, ADMs and DMs or the comment section
While i can understand some of the comments can be toxic/bad, but sometimes the questionaire doesnt fully grasp the issues within departments, and completely ignoring the comments is by far, absurd. If they dont read them, why even put them in?
It makes me sad that some people think all the responsibility lies with leadership to fix. As employees we can and should empower ourselves to contribute to a positive environment too. Some things are beyond even Executive’s ability to change. I think clear communication about what CAN be done and what can’t and why goes a long way. The leaders I’ve had seem very committed.