Write Up:

MoDOT wants employees to be satisfied with their work and workplace and feel like they are a good fit for their jobs. Employee satisfaction can be a driver of overall organizational performance. The more satisfied and engaged employees are with the workplace, the more discretionary effort they are willing to put forth on the job.

Between 2005 and 2010, the average employee satisfaction ratings and percent of satisfied employees both showed upward trends with peaks in 2009. Following a four-year break, the employee survey was conducted in the spring of 2014 and showed little change from the 2010 survey. Given the major organizational changes the department went through, the slight decline in job satisfaction from 3.5 in 2010 to 3.4 in 2014, and the slight decrease in the percentage of satisfied employees from 65 percent in 2010 to 64 percent in 2014 were seen as good.  In fact, the percentage of very satisfied employees during that period increased from 7 percent in 2010 to 11 percent in 2014.

Following the 2014 survey, five employee-led teams worked to develop a series of recommendations to the concerns employees raised in the survey.  The recommendations are in various stages of implementation.

The most recent employee survey was conducted in the spring of 2016. Overall job satisfaction increased from 3.40 in 2014 to 3.55 in 2016. The percentage of satisfied employees also increased from 64 percent in 2014 to 69 percent in 2016. The survey results also show the percentage of very satisfied employees increased from 11 percent in 2014 to 15 percent in 2016. 

Areas of low satisfaction centered on not having acceptable opportunities for professional growth and not making MoDOT employees feel valued. The lack of salary increases scored low on most surveys and dominated written comments as well. Areas of high satisfaction revolved around having a cooperative work unit and having supervisors support needs to balance work and family. One of MoDOT’s strategic initiatives is working toward predictive analytics to optimize job satisfaction.

Purpose of the Measure:

This measure tracks the level of employee satisfaction throughout the department at specific points in time. 

Measurement and Data Collection:

Employee satisfaction is measured with a bi-annual employee survey in even-numbered years. Employees rate items related to their satisfaction with MoDOT using a five-point scale, with one indicating low satisfaction and five indicating high satisfaction. Society for Human Resources Management best practice data was gathered from an SHRM report of an annual job satisfaction survey of 55 Fortune 500 companies. The target for this measure is updated in odd-numbered years.

The target for this measure was set by management directive.

Illinois DOT was selected as a comparative due to its similar employee demographics.