Morale On the Rise at Columbia River PUD

Deer Island, OR – August 19, 2019 – Morale at Columbia River PUD has continued to climb over the last four years, according to results from an anonymous employee survey conducted in July by Acti-Dyne Survey Research of Scappoose.

In 2016, Acti-Dyne conducted the same survey in response to public requests about employee morale. Acti-Dyne has conducted the survey with the same statements annually since then to track changes in employee satisfaction.

According to the latest results, employee satisfaction is at its highest point in the last four years.

The overall average score for each of the 30 statements was 8.74 on a 0-10 scale, with zero representing complete disagreement and 10 representing complete agreement with a statement. The previous high average was 8.42 in 2016.

That trend continued throughout the survey. Twenty-six of the 30 statements had their highest average score to date.

“That’s what means a lot. There’s definite improvement. Changing style has had a profound effect,” said Acti-Dyne’s Bruce Shoemaker during a presentation to the PUD Board of Directors on August 13.

All 42 PUD employees, with the exception of General Manager John Nguyen, participated in the anonymous survey and rated all 30 statements.

Statements were broken into four sections. The average ratings per section were as follows:

• Job satisfaction 8.74
• Work environment 8.71
• Communication 8.79
• Compensation 8.78

Three of the four sections – job satisfaction, work environment, and communication – received all-time high averages.

Six of the 30 statements had averages higher than 9.0. Of those six responses, three pertained to communication, two to job satisfaction, and one to work environment.

The three lowest scores on the survey were all rated 8.0. Those statements pertained to job satisfaction, work environment, and communication.

Each of those low scores, Shoemaker pointed out, was the highest that those particular statements had been rated in the survey’s history.

“They all went up. Things moved in a positive direction, which is what we’re trying to accomplish in the first place,” he said.

Acti-Dyne conducts similar surveys for all but one of the PUDs in Oregon.

“I think, ‘Nobody touches you guys,’ is a fair statement,” Shoemaker said.