Your Voice Matters Survey 2024/2025

Background

The value of colleague engagement and the need to develop this further through the service has been recognised within the Annual Police Plan 2024/25 alongside a commitment to undertake a whole workforce survey.

A proposal to take this forward has been developed and has been informed by independent reviews (HMICS, SPA), stakeholder engagement and feedback (staff associations and unions) alongside approaches being adopted by other police forces, industry best practice and best value.

Colleague engagement and insight is one of the measures of success of the Joint Strategy for Policing 2023, the People Strategy 2023 and Policing Together. We must listen to colleagues and stay connected with their experience continually and with purpose. We must be able to measure and understand colleague engagement and alignment with the service, sense of belonging, culture transformation and effectiveness of policy and practice.

Our leaders need to be able to action meaningful change. For this they need insights that empower and equip them to take ownership, lead with confidence and engage teams on local issues. Over time, we should be able to track, measure and benchmark impact of actions at a national, regional, and local level.

The last service wide survey ‘Your Voice Matters’ was undertaken in Spring 2021, designed by Durham University Business School (DUBS). The 31% response rate (7,389) provided insights into the lived experience of colleagues during the pandemic, with English and Welsh police benchmarking. Working with an independent partner we undertook the first organisational survey ‘Your Survey’ in 2015 which elicited a 51% response rate (11,796).

The HMICS thematic inspection of organisational culture report within Police Scotland (December 2023) highlights the need for a comprehensive colleague engagement programme, including a refreshed annual survey complemented by more regular surveys to track change i.e. ‘pulse checks.’

There is an opportunity to ensure a consistent and coordinated approach for the service in keeping colleagues engaged and involved in decisions affecting them and to assess the impact of topical themes and events on our workforce.

Survey design and delivery

Work has commenced to procure, design and deliver our next organisational survey, with the intent to share high level findings by end of September 2024. The summary of activities underway/planned:

• Engagement with procurement to produce a tender that will fulfil our requirements and timescales for delivery.

• Stakeholder engagement (incl. executive, staff associations, unions, other forces and officers/staff) to identify the survey question themes which will align with priorities, benchmarking criteria and where possible measure progress from 2021 survey.

• On appointment of a preferred supplier, project inception will commence with the survey design to be co-developed with the contractor and piloted with colleagues.

• Work with supplier to develop core questions and measures which will be the used to monitor progress annually.

• The survey will go live at the start of July for 8 weeks with initial analysis complete during September.

• A long-term communication plan will be developed to raise awareness, optimise participation and keep colleagues engaged and involved with action planning and evaluation.

• An EQHRIA is being developed to ensure that the survey is inclusive and accessible.

• Work with information management to ensure that we are compliant with internal guidance and the survey is accessible.

Opportunities for wider colleague engagement

To lead and manage change effectively we must continue to keep colleagues engaged and involved on what matters to them – their perceptions, needs and expectations; their lived and living experience; and how their experience impacts their connection and alignment with the values and vision of the service.

A colleague engagement programme should enable consistency and coordination of engagement activity and insights. The insights should be available and accessible across the service.

There are colleague platforms with the functionality to run pulse surveys and focused team engagements that can be used at all levels of the service, including options for automated updates of progress and actions to colleagues to stay continually engaged and involved. This type of platform would enable all colleagues to engage in different ways and leaders to stay connected with the colleague voice at all levels to meet all needs (including and collaborating with colleagues in strategic and tactical decisions).

Work will take place to explore the procurement of an appropriate platform providing the service with the capacity to engage with colleagues in real-time through a ‘pulse survey’ approach. This would enable us to measure progress on key issues arising from the survey, enable the Executive to connect with colleagues on key issues and also provide Divisions with a means to gather data and insights on local emerging issues.