2015 Team Survey Report Executive Summary
2015 Team Survey Report Executive Summary Introduction The goals of our survey process are to measure progress on our efforts to improve employee satisfaction and engagement, to identify particular strengths and improvement opportunities, and to use the information in our strategic initiative to Strengthen Do it Best Corp. as a Great Place to Work. Our Team Survey was administered in March and April of 2015 with results being provided to each Divisional Vice President in June. The results will be shared with team members at their respective RSCs or Divisions during July and August meetings. This Executive Summary provides an overview of the survey process, our key findings, highlights of key measures and comments, and a conclusion that focuses on our next steps.
Overview of the Process We conduct the Team Survey every three years, which permits us a meaningful measure of employee opinions and attitudes separated with sufficient time to assess the impact of changes applied since the last survey. To ensure candor, independence and responsiveness, our Human Resources team personally administered the surveys to each Division and at each location (e.g. Retail Service Centers, etc.) in paper form. Survey participation is voluntary; however, we set aside paid time for our hourly staff and our salaried staff to take the survey.
By the Numbers
10 LOCATIONS SURVEYED
1,269 PARTICIPANTS
The 2015 Team Survey consists of fiftyfive (55) quantitative questions under the broad categories of Company Culture, Workplace Resources, and Pay & Benefits and Demographics. Survey participants rate questions on a standard Likert scale from “1” strongly disagree to “5” strongly agree. The survey also contains a qualitative section that allows participants to provide written feedback on broad categories. We typically add, modify or remove a limited number of questions in each survey; however, care was taken to retain as many questions as
55 QUESTIONS ON THE SURVEY
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72,000+ 87.2% DATA POINTS
PARTICIPATION RATE
possible in order to permit meaningful trend analysis. We strive to shorten, to the greatest extent possible, the time period between administration of the survey and the delivery of a results report to each Division. While a short turnaround time to report on the data and trends is our goal, there are several competing goals that lengthen our timeline to report results. First, is the desire to accurately input the substantial amount of data. With over 72,000 data points derived from a paper survey, it takes time just to input the information. In addition, it takes time to reduce, to the greatest extent possible, errors in the survey data through an audit of all data. Finally, time is required to study the survey results, conduct correlation analysis, and lift out meaningful trends from both the data and the written feedback. Because of these competing goals, our approach to provide results comes in two steps. The first is a RSC or Division meeting, where we fully disclose the survey results; provide each member of our team an overview of the survey, key findings and trends, highlights of particular strengths and challenges, and an overview of our next steps. At the conclusion of each meeting, each team member is given a report of the full 2015 survey results for their Division/RSC and the Company. We are careful to point out that the information gathering process and the analysis of our data is continuing. We will not truly finish the survey process for several months. After these initial reports, we will continue to work through the data, conducting further analysis on trends and areas for improvement. In addition, each Division will work to learn more through further follow-up. The survey may alert us to a concern or area for further inquiry prompting additional interaction to
fully understand the perspective. The further interaction and analysis may result in specific action steps or follow up within a Division. Alternatively, this additional work may produce no tangible next steps.
Key Findings: The 2015 Team Survey reflects very high satisfaction and engagement scores. Overall and on balance, the trends indicate that while these measures are strong, the results are mixed in certain areas when compared to the 2012 Team Survey. For many questions, we experienced improvement but we also lost some ground in others. Overall, the changes (in either direction) were very modest. Also, as noted below, the written feedback broken down by Division or RSC often provided guidance where the responses were less positive than the prior survey.
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Data Analysis and Presentation
In this section of the Executive Summary, we highlight specific survey data points, trends and comments. In order to understand the data summary, it is important to explain our methodology for identifying strengths and challenges.
Survey Methodology:
Survey Methodology:
The surveys were collected by the HR team and keyed into a database. The data was analyzed using SPSS, a specialized statistics software application. In 2012, we started using SPSS to complete a higher level analysis of the data. We looked at both mean values as well as correlations. Mean values allow a simple side-by-side comparison to allow quicker and more accurate comparisons of the data. When the mean values are compared to our Likert scale (1 to 5.0 scale), mean values greater than 3.0 are considered positive results, while mean values less than 3.0 are considered negative. Below, we have listed the top 5 highest rated questions and bottom 5 lowest rated questions. While opportunities for improvement exist within these areas, it is important to note the mean value for each area is greater than 3.0, which is considered positive.
In addition to the Strengths and Improvement Opportunities scores shown below, we compared overall results amongst divisions, locations and 2012 data. For each survey question, we asked participants to circle the response which most accurately described their opinion, from “strongly disagree” which has a corresponding value of 1 up to “strongly agree” which has a corresponding value of 5. This type of rating scale, known as the Likert scale, is the most widely used approach to scaling responses in survey research and can be used to generate mean (average) values for each question.
Mean Values and Statistical Analysis.
Strengths and Improvement Opportunities.
1.0-1.9
2.0-2.9
3.0-3.9
4.0-4.9
STRONGLY DISAGREE TO DISAGREE
DISAGREE TO NEUTRAL
NEUTRAL TO AGREE
AGREE TO STRONGLY AGREE
Company Strengths
2012
2015
Participants
1190
1269
Profit sharing (10% cash, pension, and savings plan) is a valuable benefit.
4.48
4.53
I feel safety is a top priority at Do it Best Corp.
4.28
4.26
I understand how my job contributes to the company’s success.
4.24
4.26
I receive full information about my benefits and their value annually.
4.20
4.25
The company is committed to its goal “Helping our members grow.”
4.19
4.20
Company Improvement Opportunities:
2012
2015
Participants
1190
1269
The company terminates the employment of people who do not meet expectations and do no improve.
3.10
3.01
I have opportunities for career advancement at Do it Best Corp.
3.07
3.09
Company policies and rules are administered with fairness.
3.06
3.12
Do it Best Corp. provides development opportunities to expand my capabilities.
3.40
3.42
Any job stress I feel is reasonable.
3.28
3.43
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By using the resulting mean values, we can compare the results when sorted by RSC location or Division against the entire company average response, as seen in the charts below:
2015
2012
Location average response rating, ’15 vs. ‘12
Divisional break down ’15 vs. ‘12
As noted below, the statistical analysis strongly suggests that effective leadership is the single most important element in an individual’s perception of a “great place to work.” While this is a common belief, it is also one that is strongly supported by our survey responses.
Length of service breakdown by years, ’15 vs. ‘12
Another interesting picture emerges when we analyze the results by other variables. For example, the survey requested that participants identify their length of service with the Company. Again, the range of responses is presented as a five point scale, from less than 1 year of service, with a corresponding value of 1, up to over 26 years of service, with a corresponding value of 5. When we take the total Company mean survey responses and separate the results by length of service responses, we see the following comparison between 2015 and 2012 (right).
<1 Years
4
1-5 Years
6-15 Years
16-25 Years
25+ Years
In addition to the mean values comparisons, advanced statistical analysis techniques were used to identify questions that are most strongly correlated with other questions. We wanted to determine what questions had the greatest and most significant impact on other questions as well as which questions hold the least amount of impact. These primary questions could help determine the causes of high as well as low morale. These data points will help shape future initiatives to make Do it Best Corp. a better place to work.
and location breakdowns. The correlation analysis demonstrated numerous links between a team members’ overall morale and the culture and leadership of the Company. Company culture survey questions, “Company policies and rules are administered with fairness” and “I trust the senior leadership at Do it Best Corp.” demonstrated strong positive correlations with 22 and 20 other questions respectively. Culture questions were significantly positively correlated to questions related to their managers’ and supervisors’ leadership abilities.
To measure correlations, the SPSS package compared all questions against each other to determine response patterns. If patterns were found, the statistical software flagged question pairings as having “statistically significant correlations”. After the question has been flagged, further analysis needed to be completed to measure the strength of the correlation. Strengths of correlations are measured on a -1 to +1 scale, the further away from zero, the stronger the correlation. Positive correlations indicate that the variables’ means values move in the same direction; whereas with negative correlations the variables’ means values move in opposite directions. A simple example of positive correlation, ice cream sales and outdoor temperature, as the temperature increases, so do ice cream sales, as the temperature decreases, so do ice cream sales. The relationship between snow shovel sales and outdoor temperature represents an example of a negative correlation.
Leadership questions also demonstrated frequent positive correlations with other survey items. The survey questions, “I know that I will be given assistance in helping to improve my performance”, “I am satisfied with the training I have received” were strongly correlated with 23 and 20 other questions respectively. Essentially, if team members believe that they have been given assistance to help their performance, they will also have positive opinions on other items such as: willingness to recommend Do it Best Corp. as a great place to work, career opportunities, care and from concern leadership, belief in company mission and philosophy, and stress level ratings. When comparing pay and benefits correlations to questions measuring trust and growth, “My pay is fair for the work I perform” and “Profit sharing (10% cash, pension, and savings plan) is a valuable benefit” these questions were only strongly correlated with 2 and 1 other questions respectively. This finding is also consistent with survey literature that provides pay and benefits are “hygiene” factors preventing dissatisfaction, but do not contribute to high levels of motivation, commitment, and engagement. In summary, as the quality of team members’ relationships with their supervisors improve, so does their overall morale and perceptions of Do it Best Corp. These findings were consistent across divisional and location breakdowns.
In terms of this survey, we deemed correlations greater than .299 to be moderately correlated and correlations greater than .499 to be strong. These strength intervals are consistent scales for social survey research. The analysis yielded some key findings, the most important of which are that culture and leadership questions consistently demonstrated statistically significant correlations across divisional
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Survey Methodology:
Conclusion:
Open-Ended Questions.
We believe the survey data supports a conclusion that our team has very high engagement and satisfaction scores. The data also supports the need to continue to develop strong leaders to further promote Company culture. Based on the initial feedback and data analysis, enhancements to the Company’s dental benefits are being considered, increasing the shortterm disability benefits for hourly team members will be made, a retirement booklet/ brochure will be drafted, and other modest enhancements are being considered (e.g.
In response to the question “What makes Do it Best Corp. a Great Place to Work?” we received many varied responses. The most frequently addressed attributes fell into the following categories:
People and Work Environment Culture and Values Pay and Benefits Financial Stability We also asked participants to “Give us one or two ways we can raise the bar on our performance.” Again, the responses ranged across the board. However, there were a few trends we could identify in the following categories:
a bonus program for employee referrals). Ultimately, we will compile the information, suggestions and comments and apply these findings to our goal setting process on the strategic initiative, Strengthen Do it Best Corp. as a Great Place to Work.
Training and Development Opportunities Staffing Levels Benefits Enhancements (e.g. dental) Wellness Space (Corporate Offices)
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