The Internal Services Survey (The ISS)
The Internal Services Survey (ISS) can be conducted as a stand alone survey to capture the perspectives of internal clients about the quality of jurisdiction support services (i.e., human resources, facilities maintenance, fleet maintenance, purchasing, GIS, etc). Internal services are rarely delivered to residents at large. Instead, internal services are provided to support staff delivering externally-aimed services. With an optional postcard notification sent to employee homes, the ISS is delivered by Web to all employees of the jurisdiction using the same methods and reporting as The National Employee Survey™, described below.
The basic turn-key process covers all the bases of the survey administration:
- Preparing the employee mail/email lists provided by the jurisdiction
- Printing and mailing the prenotification postcard sent to employee homes (optional, for an additional cost)[1] OR providing recommendations for all-employee communication efforts
- Programming the Web survey[2]
- Sending two email notifications to employee email addresses approximately one week following the prenotification
- Collecting and analyzing the data
- Providing a summary report that includes the methodology and tables of frequencies of responses to each question on the survey and tables of benchmark comparisons to responses of employees in other organizations where the survey was conducted
- Delivering ISS results to the ICMA Center for Performance Measurement™ (CPM), formated for use in CPM reporting templates
- The National Citizen Survey™ (The NCS™) or CPM member price: $950*
- Regular price: $1,500*
*Pricing does not include costs for printing and mailing a prenotification postcard to employee homes
The Basic Service
The National Employee Survey™ (The NES™) is designed to be a low-cost, comprehensive survey of employees that covers 10 dimensions of the employee experience. The survey, administered via the Web, contains more than 70 questions including: job satisfaction, work group performance, supervisor relationship, performance evaluation, employee development, wages and benefits, communication and decision-making, organizational climate, physical work environment and performance of support services. (The questions related to the performance of support services on The NES™ are identical to those asked on the ISS as described above.) The NES™ was designed so that the questions are relevant to all local governments and all employees and to keep prices low, there is limited customization of the survey.
The basic turn-key process covers all the bases of the survey administration:
- Slight modifications to The National Employee Survey™ (customizing the jurisdiction name and modifying, as necessary, the employment characteristics questions)
- Preparing the employee mail/email lists provided by the jurisdiction
- Printing and mailing the prenotification postcard sent to employee homes (optional, for an additional cost)[3] OR providing recommendations for all-employee communication efforts
- Programming the Web survey[4]
- Sending two email notifications to employee email addresses approximately one week following the prenotification
- Collecting and analyzing the data
- Providing a summary report that includes the methodology and tables of frequencies of responses to each question on the survey and tables of benchmark comparisons to responses of employees in other organizations where the survey was conducted
- NRC can make comparisons to previous survey data, if applicable
- Delivering support services results to ICMA's Center for Performance Measurment™ (CPM™), formated for use in CPM reporting templates
- The NCS™/CPM™ member price: $1,950*
- Regular price: $3,950*
*Pricing does not include costs for printing and mailing a prenotification postcard to employee homes
Add-on Services
National Research Center, Inc. (NRC) is pleased to offer a number of optional reporting and analysis packages to assist your organization in making the most use of your The National Employee Survey™ (The NES™) data. The following options are currently available (descriptions and pricing follow[5]):
- A prenotification postcard
- Spanish version of the survey
- One open-ended question
- Additional or modified questions
- A detailed survey report
- Microsoft® Powerpoint presentation materials of survey results
- A comparison of responses by employment information and/or sociodemographic information
- Business Unit/Department reports
- On-site presentation of survey results
- “Putting Your Results to Use” workshop led by NRC senior staff
Below, we provide a sample from each report. However, if you prefer to review more complete examples, please contact Laurie Urban, The NES™ director (Laurie@n-r-c.com; 303‑444‑7863 x117).
Prenotification Postcard
NRC recommends that a prenotification postcard be mailed to all employees’ home addresses (or include a postcard in their paycheck) notifying them of the survey. This ensures that all employees, even those without email addresses, computers or work stations are aware of and given the opportunity to participate in the survey. The postcard would be mailed to all employees’ homes one week prior to the first reminder email. NRC would coordinate all aspects of emailing, printing and mailing, which we believe would be the most cost-and time-efficient for you. The postcard pricing depends on the number of employees in your jurisdiction and includes only costs for printing, preparing the mailing and postage.
- Up to 100 employees: $75
- Up to 500 employees: $250
- Up to 1,000 employees: $400
- Up to 2,500 employees: $850
- Up to 3,000 employees: $1,050
Spanish Version of the Survey
NRC will translate your survey into Spanish and then program the survey online. Employees will have the option to complete the Web survey in English or Spanish. If your jurisdiction elects to have NRC mail a prenotification postcard to employees’ homes, NRC will include a Spanish paragraph explaining the purpose of the survey and how they can complete it.
One Open-Ended Question
NRC will include one open-ended question on the survey. Responses will be categorized and reported in a table in the report, accompanied by a complete list of verbatim responses – cleaned to protect respondent anonymity – in an appendix. The pricing for an open-ended question depends on the number of employees in your jurisdiction:
- Up to 100 employees: $500
- Up to 500 employees: $750
- Up to 1,000 employees: $1,100
- Up to 2,500 employees: $1,300
- Up to 3,000 employees: $1,450
Additional or Modified Questions
NRC will provide custom consultation for jurisdictions to craft questions that meet clients’ needs. These customizations will have unique pricing; we will work with you to identify those costs as quickly as possible upon receipt of your inquiry.
Detailed Survey Report
To increase the usefulness of your survey data, NRC will provide new analyses and an attractive report of your overall findings in Microsoft® Word, presenting findings in both tables and graphs. The report will include an executive summary, a report of survey results along with meaningful interpretation, comparisons of responses to the Employee Benchmark database, and a Key Driver Analysis (KDA, see brief description, below). Along with one color hard-copy of the report, NRC will provide electronic versions of the report in Word and PDF format (readable by Adobe® Acrobat®) for electronic distribution via the Internet or email, if you choose. Sample pages from a fictionalized full report are attached as part of this packet.
- Executive Summary: Presents the key study findings in a two-page document for quick processing and inclusion of stakeholders.
- Interpretation and context: Provides context to the survey content and ensures users understand the meaning of the results.
- Graphs and figures: Presents data in easy-to-read, interesting formats.
- Index scores: Aggregates the individual questions into larger categories to demonstrate themes in employee response.
- Benchmark comparisons: Compares the 58 survey questions to responses of employees in other organizations where the survey was conducted.
- Key Driver Analysis: Identifies the factors with strongest relationships to employee satisfaction to aid organization in identifying focus areas.
- Price: $2,200
Microsoft® PowerPoint Presentation Materials of Survey Results
To facilitate the sharing of study results with employees and other stakeholders, NRC staff will create a customized slideshow of your organization’s data from The NES which highlights the key findings from the detailed survey report. The Microsoft® PowerPoint presentation will summarize organizational trends in the areas of job satisfaction, organizational climate, resources and compensation, supervision and support, and performance. The results of the KDA will be presented to help focus efforts in the areas most important in bolstering employee satisfaction. The final slides of the presentation (as desired), will include a set of next steps or organizational processes identified by management. Sample pages from a fictionalized slideshow for The NES are included in this packet.
- Price: $700 (requires purchase of the Detailed Survey Report)
Crosstabulations: A Comparison of Responses by Employment Information and/or Employee Sociodemographic Information
For those who want to dig deeper into organizational success and challenges, we offer crosstabulation services. Crosstabulations are tables that display the survey responses (question 1 through question 11) of the various employment or employee sociodemographic groups.[6] NRC can break down your data by the employment characteristics on the survey (e.g., department/unit, exemption status and shift) or the demographic questions (e.g., race, gender, age and length of employment). Statistically significant differences will be identified in the report tables.
- Crosstabulations by Employment Information: $555
- Crosstabulations by Sociodemographic Information: $555
- Save when you buy both: $780
Business Unit/Department Reports
For organizations with an interest in performance measurement and employee involvement in the use of The NES survey data, NRC offers “business unit” (or “department”) reporting. A business unit can be defined in a number of ways, but basically provides a grouping of the survey data which makes it useful at a smaller level of analysis than the organization-wide data. The most typical business unit is the department. Other options might include larger groupings such as clusters of departments or smaller units such as divisions or work groups.[7]
The Business Unit Report includes data for the business unit, and then presents two sets of comparisons: results from 1) all other employees (excluding those in that particular business unit) and 2) the organization as a whole (including those in that particular business unit). Frequency distributions and counts for each question for the selected business unit are included in an appendix to the report.
Each business unit receives a separate report with its own data but results from other business units are not shown. In addition to the report, business units also receive:
- A summary of characteristics showing where the business unit result is above the organization or below the organization.
- The NES Employee Debriefing Guide which provides information and instructions on how to successfully debrief results within work groups. The guide also provides a model (along with work sheets and discussion scripts) to help work groups develop action plans to improve performance.
- Full reports for up to five (5) business units: $3,300
- Each additional business unit report: $400
On-Site Presentation of Survey Results
Senior NRC staff will present the survey results to staff, Council, Boards or other appropriate groups. Site visits are customized to meet the unique needs of each organization and the price includes preparation, facilitation and travel[8] (for a single overnight stay).
- Price: $2,600 (requires purchase of the Detailed Survey Report)
“Putting Your Results to Use” Workshop Led by NRC Staff
An NRC professional will travel to your organization to facilitate the use of your data from The NES™ during a 3-hour workshop (or one-on-one discussions). While on site, the NRC staff member will work with employees and/or council to establish a process for action planning for using results to improve performance in the organization. Site visits are customized to meet the unique needs of each organization and the price includes preparation, facilitation and travel[8] (for a single overnight stay).
- Price: $3,100 (requires purchase of the Detailed Survey Report)
For more information about The NES™, please contact Laurie Urban, The NES™ director (Laurie@n-r-c.com; 303‑444‑7863 x117).
Downloads
[1] NRC recommends that a prenotification postcard be sent to all employees’ home addresses (or included in their paycheck) notifying them of the survey. This ensures that all employees, even those without email addresses, are aware of and given the opportunity to participate in the survey. Pricing depends on the number of employees in a jurisdiction. NRC would coordinate all aspects of printing and mailing, which we believe would be the most cost-and time-efficient for your jurisdiction. If a postcard is not sent to all employees, NRC strongly advises jurisdiction staff to communicate with all employees about the survey and provide them with the appropriate information to be able to complete the survey (i.e., sending a letter to employee homes or putting a letter in paychecks, placing flyers in City/County buildings, asking supervisors to talk with and encourage employees to participate, etc,).
[2] We have alternative data collection modes (e.g., on site; mail phone or a combination) and associated costs.
[3] NRC recommends that a prenotification postcard be sent to all employees’ home addresses (or included in their paycheck) notifying them of the survey. This ensures that all employees, even those without email addresses, are aware of and given the opportunity to participate in the survey. Pricing depends on the number of employees in a jurisdiction. NRC would coordinate all aspects of printing and mailing, which we believe would be the most cost-and time-efficient for your jurisdiction. If a postcard is not sent to all employees, NRC strongly advises jurisdiction staff to communicate with all employees about the survey and provide them with the appropriate information to be able to complete the survey (i.e., sending a letter to employee homes or putting a letter in paychecks, placing flyers in City/County buildings, asking supervisors to talk with and encourage employees to participate, etc,).
[4] We have alternative data collection modes (e.g., on site; mail phone or a combination) and associated costs.
[5] All pricing for add-on services is the same for The NCS™ and CPM™ members and non members.
[6] To protect the identity of respondents, crosstabulations willonly be produced for departments where 10 or more employees responded to the survey.
[7] To protect the identity of respondents, business reports will only be produced for units where 10 or more employees responded to the survey.
[8] Includes typical airfare cost. Ask about a quote for your location.
[9] Included typical airfare cost. Ask about a quote for your location.
For more information about The NES™, please contact Laurie Urban, The NES™ director (Laurie@n-r-c.com; 303‑444‑7863 x117).