Kirklees Together

Why your feedback matters

One of our people pledges is: “You’ll know what’s going on and we’ll listen to what’s important to you and how you’re feeling.”

The survey helps us understand how it feels to work here, what we’re doing well, and what needs to change. It’s a key part of shaping the future of Kirklees Council as an employer.

What will happen with the results?

During the autumn People Services will facilitate discussion groups. ‘Employee Voice Groups’ will bring together colleagues from across the council to deep dive into this year’s survey data and explore trends from previous years.

Groups will discuss Kirklees Council employee policies, processes and procedures, the quality and impact of engagement with Kirklees Council employees, and activities designed to empower the workforce.

Voice Groups will use the survey data and suggestions gathered from it to identify opportunities to improve the employee experience and will put forward ideas for developing and updating our People Strategy, which will then be prioritised and costed.

Steve, thank you for giving up some of your time today. I know that you and the executive team have been heavily involved in our new annual survey, which some staff would know as My Say, and it’s been relaunched as Our Conversation. Why is participation in the new staff survey really important to you?

I think from the first time I arrived at the council, I was really surprised just how there’d been a lack of engagement in staff surveys and an apathy built across the organisation about filling them in. Now, that’s data management — about what they do with that — and that’s up to us to follow through on those promises.

But for me, it’s really important to get the views of staff and make sure that we’re listening, giving people the opportunity. I know we spent a bit of time going through the questions and making sure we’re asking comparable questions to other organisations. I can’t underestimate just how important that is — to make sure we’re listening, whether it’s positive or challenges.

So some staff might ask: what are you actually going to do about it?

Well, if Kirklees results end up similar to other places, there’ll be positives we should celebrate and share back. There’ll be middling stuff — not bad, but nothing special. And there’ll be some real challenges. We need to look at those, dig deeper and understand them.

Did we think we were better than that? Did it match our own expectations? Then we build a proper action plan, bring it back through management teams, make sure people can see we’re doing what we said, and monitor that action plan.

That’s what I’m used to. I’m surprised that hasn’t always been the case here — maybe that’s been shaped by previous low response rates. So it starts with: get the response in. Then we can act and build something real behind it.

We’ve got a clear action plan between now and December, including how we’ll feed back to staff. We’re aiming to use as many new channels as possible and increase participation rates.

You’ve heard from Steve why Our Conversation matters. Please do get involved. The survey launches 19 June, and we look forward to hearing your views. Thank you.