King County is building a welcoming, inclusive workplace culture where every employee feels supported, respected, and valued. Actively seeking to learn and understand employees’ experiences and perspectives is crucial to this effort and central to our We Respect all People value. 

Since 2015, our primary tool for organization-wide employee feedback has been the annual Employee Engagement Survey. While this anchor survey has been useful in providing a once-a-year check-in with employees, we have learned that a 70-question annual survey is no longer an industry best practice. Furthermore, our current survey tool is using a dated technology that is no longer supported by our consultant. We cannot conduct the survey in its current form and have confidence in the integrity of the data we would receive. As a result, we are postponing this year’s Employee Engagement Survey. 

Instead, we are going to shift from utilizing a point-in-time, once-a-year survey to developing a multi-pronged approach to understanding the employee experience, with options including a shorter 30-40 question anchor survey (annual or bi-annual), more frequent pulse surveys and ad hoc surveys on particular topics, as well as focus groups and listening sessions. 

In the meantime, we will continue to review and act on data gathered in other employee forums such as the Equity and Social Justice Strategic Plan Refresh and program-specific feedback loops. Listening to employees and addressing their concerns and desired outcomes is something we want to do on an ongoing basis at the county – not just in response to an annual survey. This will help us advance our Investing in YOU goal of making King County a place where all employees have the tools, support, and opportunity to do their best work for the people of King County.