Work Environment Survey (WES)

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• The Approach

  In the Work Environment Survey, there are over 70 questions that cover a wide range of topics in the workplace. The questionnaire topics were developed from an extensive literature review of public and private sector research, and in consultation with other jurisdictions across Canada and leading experts in the field.

  Each question is important and provides useful information, but some questions have a greater impact on engagement than others. BC Stats uses a sophisticated analysis technique, called structural equation modeling, to determine which questions or groups of questions have the biggest impact on engagement. The analysis uses the responses of all employees to develop a model of what matters most to employees.

  The researchers who built the model started with a deep theoretical and practical knowledge of what contributes to engagement in the workplace. Their knowledge helped identify workplace concepts and relationships for testing during model building. The initial model was built from the survey responses of 17,400 BC Public Service employees in 2006. The technique uses the survey responses to identify groups of survey questions that predict patterns in the engagement characteristics. The resulting model is custom designed for the BC Public Service. The model is re-tested with each year’s survey results to ensure it accurately represents the work environment experiences of employees.

• The Drivers

  Each group of questions represents an important workplace concept, such as recognition, empowerment, staffing and management. These groups of questions are called ‘drivers’ because these concepts drive (i.e. contribute to or detract from) a person’s level of engagement. Each driver in the engagement model is made from two or three survey questions. The wording of these questions provides the specific definition for each driver. For example, the survey asked nine different questions about supervisors. However, the process of model building found that three of these questions predicted employee engagement more than others.

  The drivers within the 2011 BCPS WES model are:

  • Supervisory-level management
  • Executive-level management
  • Pay and benefits
  • Staffing practices
  • Respectful environment
  • Recognition
  • Professional development
  • Vision, mission and goals
  • Teamwork
  • Physical environment and tools
  • Empowerment
  • Stress and workload
  • Job satisfaction
  • Organization satisfaction
  • BC public service commitment

• The Pathways

  The structure of the engagement model is graphically depicted as a ‘house’, with a foundation, building blocks, and a roof. The house diagram is a visual metaphor that describes the relationships between the different parts of the work environment.

  The model rests on two drivers – Executive and Supervisory-level Management – which are connected to every other driver in the model. As management is the foundation of the engagement model, it is depicted as the foundation of the ‘house’ diagram. The building blocks identify the workplace functions and concepts influencing engagement. The characteristics of engagement – BC Public Service Commitment, Job Satisfaction and Organization Satisfaction – are the outcomes of the model. The Engagement score is a single number, calculated from the three engagement characteristics.

  

   

  Within the house model, pathways show how drivers work together to build engagement and provide insight about key priorities for improvement. These pathways are important to trace because they provide a more complete portrayal of the employee experience and help us understand the variety of stories behind employee engagement in the BC Public Service.

  The driver connections form over 30 unique pathways that support the architecture of the engagement model. These pathways flow in a specific direction, starting from management in the foundation, passing through varying combinations of building blocks and ending at one or more of the engagement characteristics in the roof. We can isolate the drivers along these pathways to focus our thinking, as long as we recognize that each pathway is also connected to the others.

  While there are many connections between the drivers, some connections are stronger than others. Initial analysis of the work unit results reveals four ‘super-pathways’, which can be used to diagnose four work environment situations that block or enhance engagement:

  • The Respect Path
  • The Staff Path
  • The Vision Path
  • The Workload Path

• Reporting

  At the end of each WES cycle, the BC Stats team develops a wide variety of reports and tables displaying the unique results and driver/engagement scores for various organizational configurations within the BC Public Service, such as work unit, branch, division and ministry. Tables that display results by demographic information such as gender, position type, service years, age and location are also generated. This allows for stakeholders to view their own unique results and compare them to the broader ministry or BCPS as a whole. Resources are also available for human resource practitioners and other stakeholders to help interpret, understand, communicate and apply the results in order to enact positive changes to work environments.