Wanted: Your feedback - Employee Engagement Survey kicks off this month

The 2015 Employee Engagement Survey launches Monday, March 23 and runs through Friday, April 10.

With the theme "Teamwork," this year's confidential survey will be conducted simultaneously throughout Yale New Haven Health System and include employees at Yale New Haven, Bridgeport and Greenwich hospitals, the Grimes Center, Health Services Corporation and Northeast Medical Group (NEMG).

"Over the last year, we have talked a lot about our values," said Kevin Myatt, senior vice president and chief human resources officer, YNHHS. "This survey reflects our commitment to those values, which includes respecting staff opinion and our promise to be accountable for survey results and take appropriate actions."

The survey probes various aspects of employee engagement, including teamwork, professional growth and feedback and recognition. Throughout the survey period, employees will have opportunities to win prizes for participating.

Engaged employees are those who are fully involved in and enthusiastic about their work. Past surveys have indicated that a large percentage of YNHH employees are engaged in their jobs and that employees, overall, are highly loyal and emotionally committed to the hospital.

Strong employee participation on prior surveys has led to important changes throughout the organization. As a result of feedback from past surveys, the hospital has added or expanded several employee benefits, programs and initiatives.

For example, in response to nurses' requests on last year's survey for more communication, nursing has established an email box for nurses to submit questions directly to nursing leadership; is revamping the nursing website; and has launched a new video series with information directly from the hospital's nurse leaders.

Employees can access the anonymous Employee Engagement survey electronically from links on the intranet home pages or from the Employee Self Service dashboard. The links connect to a landing page that lists the YNHHS organizations. It is important that YNHH employees click on the YNHH link to take the correct survey. The survey should take approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Nurses will be prompted to answer nine additional questions that support Magnet re-designation. Once survey questions are completed, employees will be invited to enter the prize drawings.

Advisory Board Solutions, the independent company administering the survey, will compile responses and provide results in summaries to maintain confidentiality — no individual responses will be shared. Survey results will allow leadership to identify the organization's overall strengths and opportunities.

Concurrent with the Employee Engagement Survey, Advisory Board Solutions will administer a physicians' survey. Members of the medical staff, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, fellows and residents will receive a link to this electronic survey, which will help assess employee and physician engagement.

Again this year, participation in the Employee Engagement Survey will be a measure in YNHH's Performance Incentive Plan (PIP) program. Survey participation will be measured at 93 percent of employees completing the survey for the threshold goal; 93.5 percent to meet target; and 94 percent to achieve the maximum goal.

"We hope every member of our health system team will take advantage of the opportunity to share their ideas and feedback again this year," said Myatt. "We need everyone's input in order to continue to strengthen our team and move our organization in the right direction."