DESTIN — The city of Destin may be in the midst of an employee morale crisis.
Based on the findings of the city’s biannual employee survey, overall satisfaction has declined from 2011 in 41 of 50 items, with 10 of the declines being “significant.”
“I think this is a critical year in determining how you are going to change things,” said James Percy, who assisted with the survey through the Auburn Technical Assistance Center.
During last week’s Destin City Council meeting, Percy told officials that while there was still plenty of room for improvement, about two-thirds of the employees are “satisfied” with their jobs and the city.
As part of the web-based survey, the city’s 77 full-time and part-time employees were asked a range of questions to gauge their views on the city’s progress and areas of improvement.
For this year’s survey, the biggest declines were in questions pertaining to employee input in decision-making, innovation, and daily roles and responsibilities.
Percy told council members that the question pertaining to “my organization asks for my ideas” dropped by 15 percent from 2011’s survey.
The survey team used an “overall satisfaction index,” which is the mean score of responses to a grouping of statements such as “my organization is a good place to work,” “if I had it to do over again, I would still decide to get a job with the city,” and “I would recommend the city to my friends.”
The 2013 overall satisfaction index came in at a 4.0 on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being good. The index was 4.1 in 2011 and 4.2 in 2009.
While there are many areas of concern, Percy said a greater worry is the decline in the number of employees that are most enthusiastic about their work. This year, the number of respondents who had an average response of 4.25 or higher out of 5 declined by 40 percent, from 20 to 12, according to the survey.
Overall, Percy said there is a general decline in employee satisfaction and engagement compared to years’ past. He said the key is for the city to use the survey’s results as a learning tool to make improvements.
The survey “represents reality as respondents see it,” he said.
Percy said Destin should focus on providing consistent, positive, mission/vision-driven leadership and clarify what needs to be accomplished, derived from an agreed-upon plan and standards that apply to everyone.
Councilman Jim Bagby asked City Manager Maryann Ustick to present a plan to address the survey’s results before the council’s Vision Session April 29-30.
“The trend has been very positive the past three surveys,” Bagby said. “The trend in this survey was definitely a wake-up call.”
Mayor Sam Seevers agreed.
“This indeed is an eye-opener … very hard to hear,” she said. “There is a lot of work that needs to be done up here and internally. I know we can change and turn this thing around.”
Destin Log Staff Writer Matt Algarin can be reached at 850-654-8446 or malgarin@thedestinlog.com. Follow him on Twitter @DestinLogMatt.