NHSScotland Staff Survey 2015 National Report

7 Well informed

Ongoing and open communication with staff is key to establishing and maintaining employee engagement. It is good practice to keep staff up‐to‐date on what is happening in their organisation and to inform them of any planned future changes that could affect them, before these changes happen. Staff were asked for their views on the effectiveness of the communication within their organisation and how well informed they felt.

Figure 4 shows that the majority of respondents replied positively to four of the five statements in this section relating to their specific role:

• Q1‐4 I am clear what my duties and responsibilities are (85% positive responses)
• Q1‐5 I understand how my work fits into the overall aims of my health board (77% positive responses)
• Q1‐2 My line manager communicates effectively with me (63% positive responses)
• Q1‐1 I am kept well informed about what is happening in my health board (55% positive responses).

Q1‐4 I am clear what my duties and responsibilities are had the second highest percentage positive response of all attitudinal statements (85%). Across all Boards, positive responses ranged from 76% to 91% (see details in Appendix C). Doctors in Training, Medical/Dental and Other Therapeutic Staff who responded to the survey were the most likely to agree with this statement (90%) and Ambulance Staff (77%) the least likely to do so (see details in Appendix D).

Less than half of respondents (40%) gave a positive response to the statement at Q1‐3 When changes are made at work, I am clear how they will work out in practice. This represents a decrease of one percentage point from 2014.

Across NHS Boards, the percentage of respondents who agreed with Q1‐3 When changes are made at work, I am clear how they will work out in practice ranged from 20% to 48% ‐ see details in Appendix C. Executive Grades/Senior Managers were the most likely to agree with this statement (65%) and Ambulance Staff who responded to the survey the least likely to do so (16%). This question also appears as one of staffs' least positive perceptions in the 2015 survey.

Overall, the results showed that the majority of staff who responded to the survey felt they are clear what their duties and responsibilities are. However, fewer respondents felt that, they are kept well informed about what is happening in their Health Board.

Figure 4 ‐ Well Informed

[Note: There may be variation up to 1% when compared to the Frequency Data due to rounding.]