Ipswich City Council staff survey ‘less positive’ a year on since administration ended

More than 750 workers will soon start to move into new digs in the heart of the overhauled CBD

More than 750 Ipswich City Council staff will soon move into a new administration building in the heart of the redeveloped CBD.

STAFF morale at Ipswich City Council has taken a slight hit a year on from elected representatives being returned to office and a month before more than 750 workers start to move into new digs in the heart of the overhauled CBD.

Just over half of the 524 staff members who responded to a recent staff survey said they enjoyed coming to work each day.

The council’s sixth employee pulse survey was conducted over late March and early April and was a repeat of the first survey done in March 2020, just prior to the return of councillors.

Employee responses were “less positive” than at the same time last year according to a report presented to councillors last week by acting CEO Sonia Cooper.

About 37 per cent of the council’s 1417 staff responded to the latest survey.

Employees were asked three questions; if they feel good coming to work each day, if their supervisor is interested in suggestions for making the council a better place to work and if they are likely to recommend the council as a place to work to family and friends.

LOCAL NEWS: Woman airlifted to hospital after motorbike, car crash

Staff were asked to respond with either agree, slightly agree, neither agree nor disagree, slightly disagree or disagree.

In response to the first question, 62 per cent said they agreed or slightly agreed that they feel good coming to work each day, which is down on the 68 per cent who said so a year ago.

For question two, 71 per cent said they agreed or slightly agreed which was at 73 per cent this time last year.

In response to question three, 57 per cent said they agreed or slight disagreed, compared to 64 per cent in March last year.

Of the 524 total staff who responded, 142 provided extra anonymous feedback.

The council is aiming to move close to 800 staff from its administration building in South Street and other sites in the city to the new admin building in the Nicholas Street Precinct 500 metres away from June 28.

The organisation, which delivered a $603 million budget last year, employs 1047 full-time, 124 part-time, 107 casual and 117 contingent workers.

Its staff turnover rate has decreased over the past 12 months and is currently tracking at 5.9 per cent.

“(The move) is a major undertaking and the combination of many months of hard work by the small team that’s been coordinating that change,” Ms Cooper said.

READ MORE: ‘We did what we had to do’: Men awarded for bravery

“It’s an exciting move to a new building but any change can bring out behaviour and reactions from people.

“I call on and thank the workforce for continuing to work together to support.

“I do ask for your patience.

“I wanted to highlight also the work that we continue to do to compliment the people and culture strategic plan that was set during the period of interim administration.

“That work will continue over a number of years to support and build the leadership and the positive and healthy workplace culture and employee engagement and trust that we seek to build across the council’s workforce given all the change this organisation has been through in recent times.

“That remains a significant body of work and one that will take time.

“There’s much work the leaders across council are doing to implement actions in response to the feedback from employees on the areas where we need to keep improving. There are a number of areas.”

A council spokeswoman said the short, sharp pulse surveys are done to “capture employee experience and sentiment”.

“For consistency and to give a clear picture of how employee experience and sentiment is tracking, Pulse Survey 6 was a repeat of the first Pulse Survey to provide a comparison one year on,” she said.

“Employee response rate and results have remained largely consistent across surveys the two most recent surveys.

“Council’s leadership team is working with leaders across the organisation to take action on the feedback provided in the surveys and is fully committed to supporting the workforce to perform at their best for the community.”

DON’T MISS OUT: Activate your bonus for big rewards

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

Originally published as Ipswich City Council staff survey ‘less positive’ a year on since administration ended