Employee Connection

The end of daylight savings time and beginning of November signal that the holiday season is right around the corner. Each year at this time, we announce the results of the biennial citizen satisfaction survey and the resulting time off bonus for the holidays. 

This year, we contracted with a new vendor to conduct our survey. They suggested a new overall question, so we now have three ways to look at how our citizens view our work performance. Overall, they remain very satisfied, although we did slip below 90% on one of the measures.

Those three measures, and resulting marks, are:

- An overwhelming 94% report being satisfied with the courtesy of City employees.

- 88% report being satisfied with the overall work performance of City employees.

- 90% expressed overall satisfaction with City services, which is our new measure. 

Resident satisfaction is a direct result of the overall efforts of employees. 

Historically, the measure which was used for the holiday time off bonus was the percentage of residents satisfied with overall work performance, which was 88% this year. However, because we now have three measures, Council agreed to allow us to use the average of the three which resulted in a 91% rating for the purposes of the award.

Accordingly, I am pleased to announce that the workforce has earned the day off after Thanksgiving and a half day off on Christmas Eve. However, I have asked - and Council has agreed - for the ability to provide the full day off for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve due to your continued commitment to provide the highest level of services to our citizens. Thus, the official time off for city employees will be as follows:

Thursday, November 22nd, Thanksgiving Holiday

Friday, November 23rd, Bonus Administrative Day

Monday, December 24th, Bonus Administrative Day

Tuesday, December 25th, Christmas Holiday

Monday, December 31st, Bonus Administrative Day

Tuesday, January 1, 2019, New Year’s Day Holiday

I am also pleased to announce to announce a cash bonus based on these satisfaction results. Council approved the citizen satisfaction achievement award as a part of the FY19 budget.  This bonus will be paid to employees in a special pay on December 7th. The bonus works such that employees will earn 91% (the average of the three overall workforce based survey results) of the base amount ($250 for full-time employees and $125 for part-time/WAE employees who average at least 20 hours per week for the period of July 1, 2017-March 23, 2018). The parameters of this award also require that full-time employees must have been hired on or before March 31, 2018 and part-time/WAE employees hired on or before December 31, 2017 and in a pay status on December 1, 2018 to be eligible. Thus, the actual awards will be $228 for full time employees ($250*91%=$228) and $114 ($125*91%=$114) for eligible part-time/WAE employees. Council has generously agreed to gross up the amount so that eligible employees will receive the full achievement award after subtracting required taxes. 

The survey results are a reflection of your efforts to provide excellent service to our citizens and I, along with Council and the entire City leadership, want to again thank you for your hard work and dedication.  No matter how you ask the question, our citizens continue to appreciate the work that you do and this achievement award is a reaffirmation of that appreciation. I hope that you enjoy the extra money in December as well as the bonus time with family and friends over the holiday season!

With much appreciation,

Mary