Listening to the voice of employees
2008 saw the second iteration of Premier Farnell’s all-employee engagement survey, “Your Voice”. The response rate for 2008 was 80.55% of all employees, compared with a rate of 76.6% in 2007 and a benchmark response rate of 80.1% for a high performance organisation. This year the survey was conducted in two additional languages – Dutch and Finnish, improving its accessibility to the Group’s employees.
When asked about their view of our strategy, 92% of respondents told us that they clearly understood the goals and objectives of the business that they work in, and 94% understand how their personal contribution ensures that our strategy is executed. Both of these scores exceed the average scores for high performance companies of 85% and 92% respectively, and, with 82% of respondents believing strongly in the strategy of the business, this shows the clarity with which our strategy is communicated, understood and executed.
The most improved response this year was for our training and development category, with an increase of 8% in positive responses. 65% of employees claimed a positive attitude towards their long-term opportunities with the Company, surpassing the high performance benchmark by 1%. The survey demonstrated an increase in the percentage of employees who feel a positive engagement with the Company of 2% over 2007, with a score of 76%.
Perceptions of the Group’s approach to corporate social responsibility increased in 2008, with 84% of employees feeling that the business is responsible within the local community (2007: 75%) and 88% that it is responsible in its approach to the environment (2007: 82%). Again, this constitutes a higher score than the average high performance organisation is expected to achieve (81%).