Employee Development Study - Key Findings

The report will start of by giving a snapshot of the 'population' at the time of the survey, in other words an age profile, a job role profile and so on. This is followed by more in depth analysis, which shows up links between factors.

Descriptive statistics for the sample population

Just over 75% of participants were less than 30 years old, making for an on average very young company profile:

figure for age profile

56% of those who answered were male, 43% female. Not unsurprising for such a fast-expanding company, nearly eighty percent had been working for the company for less than two years. A large percentage of respondents were managing others in some shape or form, with managers and non-managers being evenly split in the response set.

Review and development experiences

At the time of the survey, 34% of participants had not had a review or personal development meeting, 35% having had one once and 31% having had two or more reviews (or similar).

Reactions to new initiatives

Over 40% of respondents had experienced the novel personal development plan initiative at this point and a third 360 degree feedback. Of those who had partaken in 360 degree feedback, over 80% found it helpful and constructive. Also, more than 80% felt that its introduction constitutes an improvement to the review process. Responses were slightly more mixed as to whether people would be comfortable with giving direct feedback themselves (rather than keeping ratings anonymous and fed back via a third person). This is not unsurprising, given what a strong impact 360 degree feedback can have, and not everybody might feel prepared to deal with such sensitive matters. In contrast, people indicated that they would feel comfortable to receive 360 degree feedback directly.

Are the existing review/development deliveries fair?

At the end of the fairness scale, an overall fairness rating was included to which answers were quite varied, averaging just above the mid point, indicating that some issues around the delivery of processes may require further investigation.

Organisational commitment

Next, a general scale about organisational commitment was included. This is one of the most important and most researched work attitudes, since it has consistently been found to be closely related to performance and a variety of positive job behaviours. The scale used in this instance has the underlying notion that commitment is not a unitary attitude, but rather made up of three facets. The employees were found to score above average on their attachment to their organisation, but scored lower on continuance and normative commitment, in other words did not feel morally obliged to stay with their organisation.

Worries and concerns about review and development deliveries

More than 40% of participants had had some worries about the reviews/ development meetings they had experienced so far, but just under half have not had any concerns.

How helpful is your support system?

Several issues emerged here, such as people who should be responsible for trouble shooting and grievance procedures not being as high profile and approachable as their position would seem to necessitate.

Satisfaction with feedback, the amount of contact, the job itself and the support received

Here, it appeared that the amount of contact and supervision received was not satisfactory for everyone. However, more than half were satisfied with their actual job, and nearly half were satisfied with the overall company support.

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