Employee engagement remains strong in challenging year
In a year described by our CEO as one of “perseverance and transformation,” employees remained engaged in 2012.
The Employee Opinion Survey (EOS), offered to all employees during the fourth quarter of 2012, netted more than 18,000 responses. That represents approximately 66 percent of employees in the recently merged company, which is in line with past response rates.
A decline in employee engagement would not have been surprising, given that the survey was conducted in the midst of a number of merger-related changes. However, 72 percent of employees had positive responses related to engagement with the company, slightly above the average for the previous four years at Duke Energy. Positive answers to new questions related to job engagement came in even higher, at 76 percent.
Other notable findings:
- 93 percent said that people in their work area are protected from health and safety hazards.
- 89 percent said they would like to be working at Duke Energy one year from now.
- 79 percent of respondents said they believe that their actions play a part in helping the company do business in a manner that benefits people, the planet, and profits.
- 79 percent agreed that high ethical standards are practiced in their workgroup.
- 69 percent stated that the company provides sufficient flexibility to balance work and personal commitments.
- 54 percent responded positively to questions related to merger integration, within just months of the merger closing.
The EOS solicits anonymous input from all employees on a broad spectrum of topics, including leadership, culture, engagement, diversity and inclusion, business ethics and sustainability. Employees also submitted more than 9,900 write-in comments.
To address local work-group issues identified in the survey, managers are encouraged to share their specific business unit survey results with their teams and use the information to brainstorm and chart solutions.
