An Engaging Opportunity

Date: May 31, 2013

Thanks to brainstorming after the last survey, staff at Johns Hopkins Bayview’s rehab services have more time to spend with patients. Pictured here are physical therapist Wendy Ricourt with patient Joseph Hock.

As Jack Rund tells it, just discussing employee engagement can lead to improvements. Four years ago, when the manager of rehabilitation services at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center was going over the upcoming survey with his team, he learned that the inpatient rehabilitation therapists shared a problem: a glitch in their laptops. The conversation inspired the manager to create a better system for reporting concerns ranging from computer difficulties to upgrading cleaning supplies, with the purpose of improving the workplace.

That is the goal of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Employee Engagement Survey, and Rund’s team is just one of the hundreds of departments gearing up for this year’s voluntary survey. Administered by the Gallup Organization, the survey asks participants to “agree,” on a 1-to-5 scale, with 29 statements such as, “At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day,” and “At work, my opinions seem to count.” Many employees can take the online survey between June 3 and June 23. For those who work at Howard County General and Sibley Memorial hospitals, the survey will begin in early July.

Year-round brainstorming and open communication between managers and staff have led Rehab Services to achieve a 4.5 mean score for the past four years. “I try to find ways to improve my performance as a manager,” says Rund.

Taking the time to improve employee engagement pays off, according to Gallup. Results from 50,000 workplaces worldwide have found that a cohesive workforce is essential to lowering absenteeism and turnover, and increasing profitability.

Rund reviews his team’s annual engagement scores and creates yearly plans to remedy problems. He says 

installing a wall clock so that therapists could time their sessions with patients made “a huge difference” in their 

satisfaction. Another easy improvement, adding a new trash can, also made people happier.

Gallup will email an invitation to employees and send each employee a randomly selected survey access code that will not include any identifying information. Employees can access the survey 24/7 from home or work from a link in the Gallup email or by clicking here.

This year, employees at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Health System Corporation, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Sibley Memorial Hospital, Johns Hopkins Home Care Group, Johns Hopkins Community Physicians and Howard County General Hospital will be participating in the 2013 Employee Engagement Survey.

—Stephanie Price