City of San Diego officials said Tuesday a survey that showed municipal employees are generally content in their positions, but aren't thrilled with certain working conditions, could lead to improvements.
The $39,000 survey — conducted in February and March by the ETC Institute of Olathe, Kansas
— found that 28 percent of 4,580 city employees strongly agreed that they were generally satisfied in their current positions, while an additional 46 percent agreed, for a total of 74 percent.
Councilman Scott Sherman noted a disconnect between that finding and the result of a later question, in which only 60 percent would recommend the city as an employer.
"I love the psychology of people at times, because here they are saying all these glowing things and it gets down to whether they would recommend it as a place to work, and they say, `uh, I don't know about that,"' Sherman said.
He also said it's difficult sometimes to reward employees for "a job well done" other than giving them a pat on the back. A representative of the Human Resources Department responded that an employee recognition program is undergoing a revamp.
Almis Udrys, of the city's Performance & Analytics Department, said the results lead to many questions among city leaders.
"We have begun discussing internally about, not only some of the issues that you've raised, but how much of this is a perception versus a reality," Udrys said.
Among other findings:
— 45 percent strongly agreed, and an additional 43 percent agreed, that they understood how their work relates to their department's mission;
— 34 percent strongly agreed, and an extra 43 percent more agreed, that their work gave them a sense of personal accomplishment;
— just 34 percent said their departments dealt effectively with poor job performance, while 39 percent disagreed;
— less than half, 49 percent, felt inspired by their managers, while 27 percent said they weren't;
— on the other hand, 66 percent felt they were inspired by their co- workers, 30 percent agreeing strongly.
Respondents also expressed strong satisfaction in other areas regarding co-workers, such as being treated with respect, being able to seek help with a work-related issue and feeling comfortable in discussing a work problem.
Less than half strongly agreed or agreed that technology in their department was up-to-date, that they were satisfied with the physical condition of their workplace, that the work environment has improved compared with several years ago, and that the work environment was better than at other public agencies.
Of those who completed the surveys, 33 percent described themselves as office employees, 23 percent said they were supervisors, 20 percent field workers and 7 percent were in executive management.
Not quite one-third said they had worked for the city for between 11 and 20 years and almost one-quarter said more than 20 years.
The institute said differences in results between gender, race and seniority were mostly negligible.
Nearly 40 percent of the city's workforce responded either in person or online, for a margin of error of 1.45 percent.
The city plans to alternate annual satisfaction surveys among employees and residents.
