I analysed the results of the Staff Feedback Survey delivered by MOA Benchmarking (2022) to members that provide disability support services and I have shared the results here.
Exploratory data analysis
There were 3740 non-missing answers in total, across 27 categorical response questions in the survey. We can see, in Figure 1, that “How likely are you to recommend this workplace to others?” has at least two peaks, one around around 4 and the other around 7. In the net promoter score framework as described by Reichheld (2004), a person responding 0 to 6 is a detractor, a person responding 7 or 8 is passive, and a person responding 9 or 10 is a promoter. The employee NPS computed based on this question are shown in Table 1. While it is difficult to ascertain what is a good NPS for employees, a rough heuristic for consumer benchmarks is that above 0 is good and above 20 is great. However, in reality, what is good will differ by industry.
detractors | passives | promoters | NPS |
---|---|---|---|
40 | 53 | 45 | 3.62 |
For questions on the scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree, most questions appear to have responses that centre around agree. However, the degree of left skew, indicated by a long tail on the left of the peak, differs between questions. For example, “Generally I enjoy my work” does not have a left tail, while “I am appropriately compensated for the work I do” has considerable left skew. Many other questions also have left skew. The skew is worth considering since a similar average but with greater left skew may signal greater discontent or disagreement, even if at the surface they appear to be equivalent.
To compute the averages and standard deviations the categorical responses were converted to integers from zero to one, four, or ten depending on the question. For example, Strongly disagree (0), Disagree (1), Neutral (2), Agree (3), and Strongly Agree (4). Another example is No (0) and Yes(1). The averages and standard deviations are shown in Table 2. I used the same mappings for the rest of this analysis when numerical data was required, e.g., computing correlations.
# | Question | Average | SD | n |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | I would recommend this workplace to other people. | 3.06 | 0.91 | 139 |
2 | Generally I enjoy my work. | 3.23 | 0.65 | 139 |
3 | I would like to be working for this organisation in two years. | 3.07 | 0.93 | 138 |
4 | There is good cooperation between members of my team. | 3.15 | 0.87 | 138 |
5 | I feel comfortable speaking up in team meetings. | 3.18 | 0.75 | 137 |
6 | I am appropriately compensated for the work I do. | 2.77 | 1.01 | 139 |
7 | My workplace helps me to maintain a good work/life balance. | 2.94 | 0.86 | 139 |
8 | I receive the education and training I need to perform my job well. | 2.87 | 0.83 | 138 |
9 | I am satisfied with the opportunities I am given to develop the skills I need to do my job and advance my career. | 2.76 | 0.96 | 139 |
10 | Management is committed to helping me learn and develop a career path. | 2.73 | 0.99 | 138 |
11 | I have had a performance review in the last 12 months. | 0.61 | 0.49 | 135 |
12 | I believe in the vision, mission and values of the organisation. | 3.20 | 0.67 | 137 |
13 | The management of the organisation sets clear directions. | 2.85 | 0.84 | 139 |
14 | The management of the organisation is fair in dealing with people. | 2.83 | 0.87 | 138 |
15 | I receive positive feedback from my supervisor, team leader or coordinator. | 3.20 | 0.74 | 138 |
16 | The leaders in this organisation take a person-centered approach. | 2.95 | 0.82 | 139 |
17 | The organisation has effective communication systems. | 2.65 | 1.01 | 139 |
18 | The organisation’s policies and procedures are clear, easy to follow and enable me to do my job effectively. | 2.91 | 0.81 | 139 |
19 | Management keep staff informed of changes in the disability support industry, legislation, and organisational policies and procedures. | 2.99 | 0.79 | 139 |
20 | Management is committed to implementing continuous improvements to the way support services are delivered. | 2.94 | 0.82 | 139 |
21 | My suggestions for improvements are valued. | 2.81 | 0.85 | 139 |
22 | I have the opportunity to contribute to improving the service. | 2.87 | 0.89 | 137 |
23 | The organisation is committed to creating a safe and healthy environment for staff, participants, and visitors. | 3.10 | 0.78 | 140 |
24 | The organisation consults with staff to identify and resolve work health and safety risks. | 2.87 | 0.82 | 140 |
25 | I have access to the equipment and resources I need to do my job well. | 3.04 | 0.84 | 140 |
26 | This is a safe workplace. | 3.14 | 0.78 | 140 |
27 | How likely are you to recommend this workplace to others? | 7.20 | 2.32 | 138 |
Correlation analysis
A pairs plot is shown for a selection of questions in Figure 3. We can see there is strong statistical evidence that there is a correlation between the question responses. The jittered scatter plots also give a strong visual impression that there is a correlation.
From all 27 questions, the top five highest pairwise Pearson correlation coefficients are shown in Table 3.
Question 1 | Question 2 | Correlation |
---|---|---|
I am satisfied with the opportunities I am given to develop the skills I need to do my job and advance my career. | Management is committed to helping me learn and develop a career path. | 0.82 |
The management of the organisation is fair in dealing with people. | The management of the organisation sets clear directions. | 0.81 |
Management is committed to implementing continuous improvements to the way support services are delivered. | The leaders in this organisation take a person-centered approach. | 0.76 |
The leaders in this organisation take a person-centered approach. | The management of the organisation is fair in dealing with people. | 0.76 |
Management is committed to implementing continuous improvements to the way support services are delivered. | My suggestions for improvements are valued. | 0.75 |
We can also visualise the relationships between questions as a network. The correlation between question responses is visualised as a network in Figure 4. The question numbers corresponding to each question are shown in Table 2.
What matters most for retention?
The response to “I would like to be working for this organisation in two years” is likely to be strongly associated with retention. In Figure 5, the mean response to this question is shown, stratified by responses to questions that relate to modifiable factors.
To determine what is most important for retention we also consider which of these questions are most correlated with the retention question. The top five most important questions for retention, as measured by this correlation, are shown in Table 4.
Question | Correlation with retention |
---|---|
I feel comfortable speaking up in team meetings. | 0.55 |
My suggestions for improvements are valued. | 0.52 |
Management is committed to implementing continuous improvements to the way support services are delivered. | 0.52 |
I am appropriately compensated for the work I do. | 0.51 |
The organisation’s policies and procedures are clear, easy to follow and enable me to do my job effectively. | 0.48 |