Agenda item

The Employee Engagement Survey Results 2025 was introduced by the Leader of the Council.

In July 2025, South Kesteven District Council undertook the annual employee

engagement survey and invited all employees to participate. The survey was open from 7th July 2025 until 31st July 2025.

Colleagues were asked to rate 41 statements on a scale from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’. There were a further 10 questions with opportunities to add comments to provide suggestions, feedback and explanations to how they have rated the statements.

539 out of a possible 620 employees completed the survey (including casual

workers). This resulted in an 87% response rate, which was an increase from last year’s survey, which received an 85% response rate.

Some key findings from the survey are summarised below:

-       82% of respondents would recommend working for SKDC, were happy with their current job, and find the work they do interesting.

-       66% of respondents believed that morale was good at SKDC. This was a 19% increase since 2023.

-       The highest response rates were from CMT, Human Resources, and Building Control. The lowest were Markets, Waste, and Economic Development.

-       80% of respondents believed that the hybrid working approach worked well for them personally, 20% were neutral, and no respondents disagreed with the statement.

-       85% of respondents stated that they had not been bullied or harassed at work in the previous 12 months. The HR team highlighted this to be a positively high figure but noted a 2% decrease from 87% in 2024.

-       80% of respondents also stated that they planned to be at SKDC in 12 months time, a 2% increase from 78% in 2024. Given the uncertainty across the industry with the upcoming Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) this was highlighted as a positive figure.

During discussions, Members commented on the following:

-       Praise was given to both the HR Team and CMT for the leadership shown in setting the positive culture.

-       It was confirmed that office staff were required to spend a minimum of two days in the office and attend further days if business demands warranted. Heads of Service and above worked from the office a minimum of 3-4 days. This was monitored.

-       Given the 2% change in respondents who stated that they had not been bullied or harassed at work, the HR team stated they were currently breaking down the results to identify specific department areas, potential hotspots, and would consult with relevant Heads of Service. The Head of Paid Service noted the responsibility Members had, given that any Member to Officer contact could influence the results.

-       It was confirmed that members of staff on long-term sick had been invited to undertake the survey.

-       The disproportionality between the response rates and the engagement index of the Arts department was noted.

-       The suggestion was made that the high response rate to the survey demonstrated that staff felt that their opinion was listened to. Furthermore, the suggestion was made to include staff turnover figures in the 2026 report.

The Employee Engagement Survey Results 2025 was NOTED by the Committee.