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Show Administration seeks input VVMC employee survey ; brings neutral response j By BRUCE LEE Record Editor CEDAR CITY A recent survey of employees at the Valley View Medical Center shows that most employees there are fairly neutral on their jobs and the hospital's recently-announced strategic plan. However, Administrator Dahl Gardner sees the survey as positive, at least in giving the administration information in-formation to move forward at the hospital in several different areas. The survey was taken earlier this fall to explore employee attitudes and concerns, and the Record just recently received a copy. The survey is one of two parts, with the second part not being tabulated as of this time. "I felt that a lot of good information came out of that part of the survey which is very useful to myself and my administrative staff," said Gardner. He explained what could have been interpreted as low ratings in two ways. First, he said, a little above neutral is support, although it could be better. And, second, at the time of the survey overtime and call-back pay policies were tightened. "I think that may be coloring some of the perceptions," he said. The survey consisted of six statements, with the respondents rating each with 1, disagree strongly; 2, disagree; 3, disagree slightly; 4, neutral; 5, agree slightly; 6, agree; and 7, agree strongly. To the first statement, "I am familiar with the hospital's strategic plan," the mean answer was 4.8 or nearly "agree slightly." The second statement, "Most of the people I work with are familiar with the strategic plan," drew a rating of only 4.4. The third, "I support the hosptial's goals as outlined in the strategic plan," got a 4.8 response, nearly "agree slightly," and the fourth, "Most of the people I work with support the hospital's goals, as outlined in the strategic plan," garnered a 4.4 rating. The questions were obviously geared to determine employee perception of the new plan, which calls for upgrading the hospital, including recruiting medical specialists. Gardner said that these lower than expected results were "somewhat intriguing," explaining that meetings were set up to brief hospital employees on the plan, but about one-third didn't attend any. "All of us could have been more effective ef-fective in communicating the strategic plan," he added. The other two comments dealt with job security. The first said, "Compared "Com-pared to other jobs in the community my job is more secure." It received the lowest rating of the survey, only 4.3. The last was "Compared to other jobs in the hospital my job is more secure." It received a 4.5 rating. The major complaint in a comment section of the survey was that decisions were being made without employee input and discussion, something Gardner admitted was true, for good reason, and something that is being changed as rapidly as possible. "I think there was a message there that they would like to have more input: more input into the plan and more input into the changes," said Gardner. He explained that since the survey an employee advisory council has been formed, with a representative from ' each of the seven areas in the hospital. 1 These are not managers or supervisors. ; "All employees are represented," said Gardner. "We're looking for input; we're looking for suggestions; . . . we're looking for complaints." Also, he said, an employee newsletter j is being established which will keep j employees informed, and task forces have been formed to look at various potential problems. J "We're doing various things along ' these lines to more meaningfully in- ; volve department heads, as well as ; employees," he said. ' Responding to charges in some of the surveys, that the administration of the hospital has been autocratic, he admitted ad-mitted that such was true, "but for some very good reasons." He explained that when he took over the job there were a number of major items that needed to be taken care of immediately; sometimes there wasn't time to get all the input one normally would. "We've kind of been doing a clean-up on a variety of fronts and we had to move very quickly," he said. |