42 Comments - Anon221 - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:11 am: Any chance we could see what questions the survey had? - There is power in a union... - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:11 am: We had multiple reports of workers being ordered to take it. Supervisors would stand behind them. Had questions about the union and proposals in there. Cms eventually had to put out something saying no one is required to take it. - Allen D - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:14 am: If I remember correctly, they were all workplace/departmental related, how things are ran, what do you think could be done better/differently, very similar to one that comes out every year, this one had much more input areas for comments/suggestions. - Skeptic - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:15 am: Well, making it truly anonymous would have also been a good start. It claimed to be but the fine print said “Do not forward this email, it’s tailored specifically for you.” (or words to that effect.) And some of the questions…”What’s your job title?” “How much do you earn?” “How big is your agency?” make it pretty darned easy to figure out exactly who is on the other side of the keyboard. So, my suggestion? Take the results with a grain of salt. There’s a demographic that didn’t respond. - Anonymous - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:15 am: Lets see…it is 2016 and you somehow woke up to realize people work for you and decided to issue a survey? So behind times. - Allen D - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:17 am: here is the gist of the first letter received with the link for the survey: Dear colleagues, This email contains a link to the State’s first-ever Statewide Employee Engagement Survey. Your job satisfaction, training opportunities, and work environment are tremendously important to the State’s overall ability to serve taxpayers. It is our hope that this survey will help us to understand what we’re doing well and where we need to improve. Please allow twenty minutes to complete this survey. This survey is anonymous because we want to encourage candid feedback. So please, be honest with us about both the good and the bad! CMS employees should note that this statewide survey is not the same as the previous CMS Employee Engagement Survey. CMS employees should therefore still complete this survey. Surveys must be completed by noon on December 17th, 2015. Click below to begin the survey. Regards, Tom Tyrell - Crescans - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:19 am: Only AFSCME would politicize and oppose a boring HR survey. That’s acting in the extreme - Allen D - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:19 am: no one here was forced to take it, only 3 of us out of the 12 here did partake in the Survey .. at least the ones that are willing to say they did. - Allen D - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:20 am: – Crescans - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:19 am:– I agree… - There is power in a union... - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:20 am: A lot of people started it, got scared by the questions, and went and got a steward. Many people weren’t comfortable taking it. A lot didn’t finish it. Or only opened it to look at it. And yeah once you closed it, it was locked. I tried to warn people nothing you do on the state computer is really anonymous. - There is power in a union... - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:21 am: In many offices workers were ordered to take it and management stood behind them and watched them do it. - RNUG - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:22 am: Anybody with half a brain knows any surveys done by the State of their employees will not be anonymous … and will answer accordingly. I’d take the responses with a whole shaker of salt. - There is power in a union... - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:23 am: These weren’t simple workplace suggestion questions. At least one had to do with merit pay. Basically so management can go and say, “see this many employees really want it!” - Spliff - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:24 am: Maybe making it accessible to all employees would help. IDOC has over 10,000 employees and most work in facilities and do not have a work computer. That’s a good sized chunk of people that were not given a voice. - in all fairness - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:30 am: It asked things such as what agency do you work for, job title, are you a union member, if yes full or fair share? Lots of questions that made people feel they may be targeted. And yeah, pretty darn easy with some of the questions to figure out where you worked. - Phil - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:33 am: I took it. I don’t remember the exact questions but I didn’t think it was too heavily slanted; there were a few that aligned with the turnaround agenda but that is expected. I remember after finishing it that I thought it could actually provide useful feedback if they don’t cherry pick the data. “Could” being the key word. - Norseman - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:34 am: My suggestion is to stop sending out silly surveys where little to no action will be taken to address issues noted in responses. Folks are too busy trying to do their job with no budget, no support from Gov and no hope for the future. - AC - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:35 am: CMS should use the newsletter to publish employee suggestions for policies that actively seek to damage the cause that a day existed to commemorate or raise awareness for. Since its National Wear Red Day, I’m going to suggest a free breakfast horseshoe with extra salt for women who work for the state and free cigarettes for those who also agree to spend their breaks smoking. For Lincoln’s birthday, I’m going to suggest repurposing the library and museum to be a privately funded memorial in the “War of Northern Aggression”. Obviously, there should be bonuses for suggestions that can be implemented in a Friday. - Allen D - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:35 am: only 4 of us here have computer access (work on a computer) the rest were afforded the chance to take it with a link on one of our computers… BCCS provided an open link so anyone could take it, meaning ones without email access to get the survey request could partake in it if they wished… one says he did. you are correct that all computer activity is monitored at the state level, but not keystrokes, the file would be too large, and time consuming to go through for a stripped down computer department to handle… all a supervisor had to do was ask BCCS for an active login for people who did not have email to take it. then they all could take it if they wanted. - Curmudgeon - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:39 am: During Blago’s first term at least one department ran a survey much like this, including the q’s about salary level & job title. Employees were assured responses were anonymous, but there were scattered reports of employees being criticized by their managers for giving the “wrong” answers … - Casual observer - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:39 am: So far, nobody has offered a suggestion, only commenting on the survey itself. I would like to offer a suggestion. I would like the state to look into work from home opportunities especially for employees that do not interact directly with the public. With today’s technology it is very simple to track productivity. The savings are there for the employer and employees. - Gone, but not forgotten - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:53 am: Casual observer: The State has used the work from home theory for a long time, except it’s called “out in the field”. It’s also known as ghost payrolling. State workers do not have enough integrity to have this option (i.e., too much corruption). Go into a facility, on time, and produce! - GetOverIt - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:57 am: I checked in with some friends at Professional Regulation…they were required to take it! Blah…. - Earnest - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 12:00 pm: Not to be painfully obvious, but having a contract would likely go along ways towards satisfaction. - Casual observer - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 12:02 pm: Gone: “state workers do not have enough integrity…”. That’s painting with a pretty wide brush and, frankly, insulting. - Union thug - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 12:20 pm: As a state employee i was told not only that i had to take it but what time to take it. 2 days later CMS put out that it was volunteer to take. I know enough that it’s not anonymous so they didn’t get true response on much of it. I don’t see how this could have any true meaning outside of gov trying to use it against the union - Pelonski - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 12:26 pm: This survey was the type of thing I was hoping Rauner was going to bring to state government a year ago, but it is better late than never. The ability to make detailed suggestions was limited by the format of the survey, so my main suggestion was to foster teamwork within the agency both between divisions and between employees. I’ve worked in many different industries and occupations, and the adversarial nature between management and union employees and the unwillingness to help staff in other divisions within the agency are something I’ve never encountered. - Harvest76 - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 12:29 pm: Gone but not forgotten- “State workers do not have enough integrity to have this option” As a state employee (currently on my lunch break, in case you decided to attack again), I respectfully request you take a long walk off a short pier. - Power House Prowler - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 12:30 pm: Spliff - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 11:24 am: Maybe making it accessible to all employees would help. IDOC has over 10,000 employees and most work in facilities and do not have a work computer. That’s a good sized chunk of people that were not given a voice. This correct and a poor way to do business. I thought the survey was a good idea. - Omega Man - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 12:33 pm: The survey consisted of multiple cycles of similar questions that assumed that the person worked in a very large State Office. These questions gave very little context, leading the responder to have to make a lot of assumptions about just want was being asked, and at what level. This probably led to a lot of confused answers, which (when correlated) ended up producing nothing of value, thereby wasting everyone’s time. Your tax dollars at work! - Anon on purpose - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 12:38 pm: IDFPR employees were instructed to complete the survey by Nov 25. There were told it was voluntary Dec 11. - Anon on purpose - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 12:47 pm: I wondered if some questions pertaining to upper management would be used against them in bonuses or as grounds for dismissal. I responded favorably because they’re good people. - A Jack - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 12:58 pm: Seriously, the Governor and his staff just need to go away. He was amusing for awhile, but the silliness has gotten out of control. - cailleach - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 1:05 pm: I remember there being several subjective questions about my coworkers, like did I feel they worked hard enough? - DPGumby - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 1:27 pm: how much did this feed into the telephone calls I wonder? - jen - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 1:33 pm: I remember that the survey asked a lot of questions about people you work with. I felt like they were trying to get you to speak badly about people you work with. it was definitely slanted towards what it wanted you to answer. I did not give it the answers it wanted, - State-ee - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 1:34 pm: Um, never got my survey. - MasterPiece - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 2:15 pm: What good is a survey that is not tailored to the specific job and agency? If professionals were in charge, something like this would never go out to everyone with an state e-mail address. Each agency or office would take care of their own specific needs. Oh, wait! Did I say “if professionals were in charge”??? Silly me. We have administration by superstar. My bad. - Ghost - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 2:33 pm: deceit by omission….. critical part of the survey, you could only offer non monetary or 0 cost ideas….. - anon - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 2:33 pm: I recently retired from state employment and learned early in my career to never trust being anonymous on an employee survey - Waldi - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 3:30 pm: It is difficult for me to believe that anything the Rauner administration does in respect to State employees isn’t somehow a “gottcha”. I’m not even a State employee, so I have no dog in this fight. That said, I do believe that Rauner has proven himself to be untrustworthy. - Mama - Friday, Feb 5, 16 @ 3:31 pm: My suggestion to improve the state of IL: Pass a budget. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.