We have some wonderful, dedicated people working at Richardson Care in roles that require many different qualities, such as; compassion, patience, resilience, resourcefulness or creativity. And we aim to provide a positive, open, inclusive, friendly and professional environment for our staff as well as the service users that they care for. In addition, we provide training and support so that they can develop within their roles and learn new skills to progress within the organisation.

Each year we invite all of our employees to complete a questionnaire (anonymously if they wish) about how satisfied they are at work. This is in addition to regular one-to-one appraisals and team meetings.

In this year’s survey, 94% of employees strongly agreed or agreed with the statement: “I feel valued by Richardson Care”. In addition, 95% of employees feel that they are listened to by their Senior Support Worker or Manager when they make suggestions or provide feedback.

As well as providing an overall picture of employee satisfaction and identifying any trends, the survey enables us to address specific issues and receive suggestions. These may relate to additional training needs or changes to improve the working environment.

Job satisfaction

We also ask employees what they like most and least about their job, and what gives them job satisfaction. We weren’t surprised to learn that many of our employees derive satisfaction from seeing the service users’ happiness and joy during their daily activities, or supporting them to achieve their goals (however small) and become more independent.

When asked about what they enjoyed most about their roles, many of our staff cited the difference that they are able to make to people’s live, providing a safe and supportive home, the variety in their role or working as a team.

The closed questions

In the first part of the survey, each employee was asked if they strongly agreed, agreed, neither agreed nor disagreed (neutral), disagreed or strongly disagreed with the following statements:

Q1. My SSW/Manager is available or approachable when I need help

Q2. I feel listened to by my SSW/Manager when I make suggestions or provide feedback

Q3. My role and responsibilities are clearly defined

Q4. I feel that I am supported to do my job to the best of my abilities

Q5. I feel that I need additional training or support to do my job

Q6. I feel that Richardson Care offers career development or promotion opportunities

Q7. I feel that Richardson Care offers a positive working environment

Q8. I am happy at work

Q9. I find my work meaningful or fulfilling

Q10. I am satisfied with the benefits package that I am offered

Q11. It’s important to me to know what’s happening in the organisation as a whole

Q12. I feel valued by Richardson Care

You can see the results below

 

There is always work to do and we want our staff to feel that they can talk to their line manager about any issues at work. This questionnaire provides another opportunity for our staff to provide feedback, which is followed up by our senior management team.

 We are grateful to all of the staff who took time to complete the survey.