HILO — Many Hawaii County employees see little cooperation between departments. They aren’t comfortable voicing their opinions and are hesitant to raise sensitive issues because they fear retaliation. And they think the workload isn’t evenly divided in their department.
HILO — Many Hawaii County employees see little cooperation between departments. They aren’t comfortable voicing their opinions and are hesitant to raise sensitive issues because they fear retaliation. And they think the workload isn’t evenly divided in their department.
On the plus side, most feel safe at their workplace. They’re proud of their department, they say they truly enjoy their work and they believe it’s important. They understand the ethics code and they think their department conducts business in an ethical manner.
That’s according to a survey the county sent to 2,700 employees in April that was completed by about 1,000 employees.
The administration conducted the survey to provide a baseline for the beginning of Mayor Harry Kim’s four-year term, said county Managing Director Wil Okabe.
“We’re going to try to improve on some of the things to better serve the community,” Okabe said Thursday. “Sometimes when people grumble, it’s something that needs to be addressed. … Any company would like to see it all positive, but there’s always room for improvement.”
Okabe said the next step is meeting with department heads to start working on the lowest scores, showing the areas for improvement.
The survey included 35 questions over eight categories, such as collaboration and teamwork, communication, engagement, ethics, resources, motivation and leadership. There were also questions of tenure with the county, department and bargaining unit.
The lowest score was for the statement, “I see effective teamwork between departments,” and the highest score was for, “I know how to find out what job opportunities are open to me.”
The questions were posed as statements, for example, “If I observe misconduct by a co-worker I would report it,” with answer choices ranging on a five-point score from “no, not at all,” to “yes, completely.” For this particular question, 21 percent said either “no, not at all,” or “to a little extent,” 53 percent said either “to a great extent,” or “yes, completely,” and 25 percent fell in the middle, answering “to some extent.”
The question about raising sensitive issues without fear of retaliation scored 39 percent saying not at all or to a little extent, and 36 percent saying to a great extent or completely. Again, 25 percent scored in the middle category, creating a weighted average of 2.9, one of the lowest scores in the survey.
Questions related to employee safety, morale and ethics were among the highest scores. The statement, “My work is important to this department,” scored a weighted average of 3.9, with 12 percent replying not at all or to a little extent and 72 percent saying to a great extent or completely. Just 16 percent fell in the middle.
The questions were created by a committee consisting of Okabe and representatives from Corporation Counsel, Human Resources and Information Technology. Answers were collected with SurveyMonkey to maintain confidentiality.
HR Director Sharon Toriano said all the answers are important, not just the ones scoring lowest and highest. The scores will be compared with a future survey to check on improvements being made.
“It’s start,” Toriano said. “It’s not the end-all.”
The anonymous survey, conducted in-house, was available to the entire workforce either online or on paper forms. The survey was announced in envelopes holding their paycheck or stub and they were allowed time off work to complete it.