Employee Experience
Engaging Local Government Leaders Adopts Qualtrics EX25 Methodology to Recognize Best Places to Work in Local Government
By Jenna Milani
October 14, 2022
The City of San Rafael, CA, Kansas City, MO and the Town of Cary, NC stand out as some of the best places to work in local government
Qualtrics joined Engaging Local Government Leaders at the ELGL Annual Conference in Phoenix, AZ to highlight and celebrate the standout local governments recognized as a best place to work based on the Qualtrics EX25 methodology for measuring employee experience.
Here is what we heard from local government employees:
City of San Rafael, CA
“From the electeds, to management and all employees, we have such a wonderful work environment and culture here. Our elected city council trusts our staff immensely. It truly feels
like a family in our organization, and I know I can call on anyone in San Rafael for help, personally and professionally.”
Kansas City, MO
“Kansas City is hard at work to provide innovative services to our constituents while working to create an equitable, empowering workplace. As an employee, I am proud to work here and represent this organization.”
Town of Cary, NC
“The Town of Cary aims to challenge the standard for how local governments should operate. We embody excellence, professionalism and inclusion in local government by demonstrating leading practices and partnering effectively with our community. I am so grateful to be here.”
This year, Qualtrics partnered with ELGL to power its “Best Places to Work” award - a project that aims to identify the best places to work in local government across the nation. This initiative consisted of both a quantitative survey using the Qualtrics EX25 methodology, as well as a qualitative story capture to gather narratives about local government work environments.
Qualtrics’ EX25 methodology measures 25 key drivers behind the five key performance indicators of the employee experience: Engagement, Experience vs Expectations, Inclusion, Intent to Stay, and Well-Being. While the goal of this project was to survey the most engaged local government employees to learn why their organization is a great place to work, there are some key findings that nevertheless highlight the level of engagement that still exists in today’s local government workforce:
- Engagement: Respondents represented a highly engaged cross-section of employees, with 94% agreeing they would recommend their organization as a great place to work and 98% reporting feeling energized at work.
- Experience vs. Expectations: 93% of respondents agreed their job makes good use of their skills and abilities and 97% reported they are treated with respect at work.
- Inclusion: 94% of respondents said they can be their authentic self at work and 93% agreed that everyone can succeed to their full potential no matter who they are (e.g., age, cultural background, gender, race, religion, etc.).
- Intent to Stay: Nearly three-quarters (74%) of respondents intend to stay at their organization for over five years and 94% said they believe they can meet their career goals at their organization.
- Well-Being: 97% of respondents agreed their organization promoted a healthy work-life balance and 96% reported that employee benefits meet their needs.
These findings suggest that the upper echelon of the most engaged local government employees still remain fiercely loyal and optimistic about their organization - a particularly relevant finding given the current global state of employee burnout and fatigue.
One of this study’s particularly interesting findings was related to the subtle differences in organizations led by an appointed official versus an elected official. While these two types of government structures are very distinct, very little has been studied about how these different governance models can impact employee engagement.
- For employees from organizations led by an appointed official, respondents were slightly more likely to report that senior leadership is responsive to employee feedback, that they intend to stay at their organization for more than three years and that their organization shows a commitment to ethical business conduct.
- For employees from organizations led by an elected official, respondents were slightly more likely to report that they had trusting relationships at work, that they trust their manager and that they feel they can be their authentic selves at work.
- Both cohorts were equally as likely to recommend their organization as a great place to work, agree it promotes a healthy work-life balance and that everyone can succeed to their full potential no matter who they are.
Of note, in a separate study on federal government hiring trends, Qualtrics found that 40% of current students and recent graduates prioritize work-life balance in their job search, further reaffirming the impact a positive work environment has on attracting and retaining employees.
To learn more about Qualtrics’ EX25 methodology, to dive deeper into ELGL’s Best Places to Work data, and to hear from the standouts, register for an upcoming webinar hosted by ELGL on October 27 at 1:00 p.m. ET: Qualtrics’ EX25 Methodology in Local Government 202.
Methodology
ELGL and Qualtrics fielded this survey in June and July of 2022 to over 125 local government employees from more than 100 organizations. Respondents worked across a range of departments and agencies, and there was an even split between those who worked in organizations led by an elected official and those whose organization was led by an appointed official. The majority of respondents (65%) identified as women and 84% of respondents identified as white.
About ELGL
ELGL’s mission is to engage the brightest minds in local government by providing timely and relevant content through podcasts, blogs, webinars, social media, learning cohorts and conference gatherings, with the objective of fostering authentic and meaningful connections that are grounded in practices of equity and inclusion. For more on ELGL, see here.
About Qualtrics XM for Government
Qualtrics helps government organizations design experiences that build public trust and foster community engagement by putting people at the center of every government experience. As the most comprehensive platform for strategic experience management, Qualtrics enables government organizations to capture feedback across every touchpoint and journey, streamline workflows and automate actions to continuously improve the experience of communities and employees. Its unmatched ability to capture unsolicited feedback and create segments based on actual experiences helps government agencies design more inclusive and effective services, programs and policies. Qualtrics is the only ISO 27001, FedRAMP compliant and HITRUST certified experience management platform on the market, so organizations can confidently collect and analyze data knowing sensitive information is secure. The solutions are used by more than 350 state, provincial and local government organizations and 90 federal offices to harness the power of resident and employee sentiment to design policies and provide services the public needs most. To learn more, please visit qualtrics.com/government.
# # #
Media Contact:
Geraldine Lim
951-318-3494