Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center (ANHC) is the largest and longest established community health center in Alaska, providing full-service health care (medical, dental, pharmacy, lab, etc.) to residents in the area. It is staffed by approximately 160 employees and serves around 12,000 patients annually. ANHC has utilized staff satisfaction surveys to great success when improving their staff’s happiness and wellbeing. Below is a template of how they achieved this success.

• Emphasize employee safety in sharing honest answers. Prior to a change in management in 2015, responses to staff satisfaction surveys were hindered by a lack of trust in the confidentiality and anonymity of responses. To combat this perception, new management spent several months communicating the purpose of these surveys and assuring the confidentiality of any responses prior to rolling out the new survey.
• Engage all levels of leadership and management. All levels of leadership and management (C-suite, directors, managers, supervisors, etc.) were engaged in improving staff satisfaction. This shared vision aimed to address the following key factors: Productivity, Retention, Absenteeism/Presenteeism, and Ability to recruit top talent.
• Use a holistic approach. The survey addressed all aspects of staff satisfaction including compensation/benefits, work schedule, management, work culture, growth potential, mission, and sense of purpose. ANHC administered two surveys in regular intervals.
  • An Employee Engagement survey was delivered quarterly to determine current staff sentiment (e.g. Happiness while at work, understanding expected roles/duties, feeling recognized for a job well done).
  • An Employee Satisfaction survey was administered annually to focus on factors that remained more consistent throughout the year (e.g. satisfaction with compensation/benefits, trust and communication with management, meaningfulness of work)
• Be transparent in the results. Leadership and management reviewed the survey data to gain an understanding of what areas they needed to improve and build on in the future. These results as well as the methodology of how this data would be used moving forward were then shared with the staff.
• Be consistent with administration of surveys. These surveys were administered in a period of two weeks with five email reminders. In order to maintain confidentiality, no compensation was offered. The respondents were asked to identify the division they were in to ensure equal representation; however, the data was only presented in aggregate form in order to protect anonymity. Trends in the data survey-to-survey were examined to ensure progress was being made.

Below is a sample of questions they used for each survey.

1. Employee Engagement Survey: Employees are asked to rank their agreement or disagreement with the following statements on a 5-point Likert scale
   1. Most days I feel happy at work.
   2. I feel valued for the work I do at ANHC each day.
   3. I have meaningful relationships with my coworkers.
   4. I view my supervisor as a mentor.
   5. I clearly understand what my supervisor expects of me.
   6. I have the tools and support to do my job well.
   7. In the past 2 weeks, I have received recognition for a job well done.
   8. My supervisor encourages professional learning opportunities, growth and development.
   9. I receive excellent service and support from fellow ANHC employees, especially when I have asked for assistance.
   10. If offered a 10% raise from another organization, I would seriously consider leaving ANHC. [note: inverse measurement (% disagree or strongly disagree) considered favorable]
   11. I would recommend ANHC as a great place to work to my friends or family members.
   12. I feel well informed about what is happening at ANHC.
   13. I have a clear understanding of our organizational leadership’s vision and goals for ANHC’s future.
   14. I feel safe and secure at work.
   15. I feel that the work I do supports the mission, vision and values of ANHC.
   16. I feel like ANHC patients and visitors receive excellent customer service from our organization.
   17. I would recommend ANHC services to my friends or family members.
2. Employee Satisfaction Survey: Employees are asked to rank their agreement or disagreement with the following statements on a 5-point Likert scale.
   1. I trust the information I receive from management.
   2. Management listens and responds to my concerns.
   3. The information I receive from ANHC (emails, newsletters, meetings, wall displays, updates from my managers) keeps me well informed about ANHC news, events, & activities.
   4. The daily environment at ANHC reflects and supports our Mission, Vision and Values.
   5. People here do what is best for all of ANHC, rather than just what is good for themselves, or the group/department.
   6. In the last month, I have looked for another job outside of ANHC (Note: inverse value)
   7. I am satisfied with my pay/salary.
   8. I am satisfied with the medical, dental and vision insurance.
   9. I am satisfied with the retirement plan.
   10. I am satisfied with the Paid Time Off program.
   11. Overall, I am satisfied with the pay and benefits I receive from ANHC.
   12. Additional Qualitative Questions
       1. Do you have the tools and resources to do your job effectively? If not, what do you need?
       2. What is working well that ANHC should continue to do?
       3. What is not working well that ANHC should do differently, or stop doing?
       4. What else would you like to share?

(Source: Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center)