Office of the Mayor: Employee Pulse Surveys during Coronavirus Pandemic

The Challenge

In the early stages of the COVID pandemic, everything was changing fast: employees who could were shifted to work remotely; employees whose work could not be performed remotely needed to learn to manage physical interactions differently; and employees juggled multiple generations of family members being in close quarters for longer periods of time together. This level of workplace disruption was unlike anything City employees had experienced. How well were employees coping? Was there anything the City could be doing more of, less of, or doing differently to help? How could we get information about all of these questions? The answer: you ask the employees! 

The Idea

With the support of the Mayor and his Cabinet, the Director of innovation took advantage of a pulse survey product from Qualtrics - free to municipalities during the pandemic - to ask employees how they were feeling and what made them feel that way. In April and May, the surveys were deployed bi-weekly, then the pace slowed to every other month. The survey questions were intentionally kept vague so that topics of most concern could naturally surface. For the first four surveys, the only questions were: “How have you been feeling this past week?” (1-terrible to 7-fantastic), and “What made you feel this way?”. Demographic questions about the employee’s level within the organization and their department were also collected for different analyses.

As a result of the first surveys, some vulnerabilities in remote work technology and guidance were resolved, more specific information about the City’s plans for safely reopening buildings was provided, and more specific information about COVID support resources was distributed.

Due to the trend of a request for “more information,” survey #5 added 2 new questions: "What action could the organization do, do more of, or do less of that would be helpful to you and your teammates at this time?" and "What communication/updates would be valuable to you at this time?" 

The Cost

The cost of the pulse surveys includes the Innovation Director’s time and effort to distribute, and analyze them, along with the time of employees who choose to fill them out (feedback is optional). Otherwise, there is no cost for the surveys as Qualtrics is offering this tool for free to municipalities during the pandemic.

The Benefit

The surveys allowed City Administration to see the sentiment of the organization as a whole in addition to its parts, understand the needs and pressures associated with each group, and take targeted actions.

The surveys revealed many disconnects in understanding the support available (i.e. childcare, mental health support, etc.), the pace for remote workers to return en masse, and the kind of information employees were interested in hearing from the Mayor. As a result, Department Directors redoubled their efforts to keep employees connected - sometimes by employing the use of weekly newsletters or additional departmental meetings; and the Mayor added an all-employee Town Hall meeting to his bi-weekly video addresses.

Surveys will continue to be issued at least through the end of the year to collect info on the effects of and adjustment to the pandemic. The use of pulse surveys may also be employed post-pandemic at specific reflection points throughout the year.

Metadata

City Departments: Office of the Mayor, Innovation Department

City Point of Contact: Devta Kidd

Partners: n/a

Partner Point of Contact: n/a

Type of Innovation: Technical/Data Analysis

Date Implemented: April 2020