Although RateUs is centred on the views of the people receiving a service, we recognise that the opinions of staff are an important indicator of the 'health' of an organisation.

Less than a third (30%) of UK employees have complete trust in their manager, with almost eight in ten (78%) believing that their manager has let them down in the past, according to recent research. The research, released by Investors in People - the organisation that works with companies to improve their performance - also reveals that over half (55%) of employees believe that their manager only has their best interests at heart when it suits them. (YouGov research, released to mark the start of Investors in People Week (Nov 2007).

Progressive organisations already have methods to obtain feedback from their staff. They have systems of appraisal and supervision which prompt for dialogue and comment on support and developmental needs. They may have performance management systems to agree SMART objectives and performance measures. Some organisation even have their own questionnaire type consultation exercises and staff suggestion boxes.

Although all these processes are very important, they sometimes fail to accurately monitor the true feelings and views of staff. This is due to the fact that staff may be suspicious of internal systems due to confidentiality issues. Some individuals will be concerned (rightly or wrongly) that critical comments may affect the relationship they have with management, or worse, that they may be victimised.

For this reason some organisations employ the services of external consultants (usually after danger signals are evident). They will often report on very basic failures such as 'management do not listen' or 'nothing ever changes when I say something'. At this stage the organisation's employee relations will have already deteriorated, and remedies will be more difficult (and expensive) to implement.

Our staff feedback module is based on prevention rather than cure. It focuses on the 6 core areas of respect, listening, assessing, delivery, review, and complaints, allowing staff to rate these areas as often as they wish. This provides management with a live monitor of staff satisfaction, and allows for interventions at an early stage. Staff can also submit views to a suggestion box - providing ideas, concerns, suggestions etc. All this feedback is provided in complete confidence by default, although names can be entered if individuals wish.

The benefits of the RateUs staff module are as follows:

1) It demonstrates to staff that management want to listen and improve. Staff feel valued and see evidence that they can make a difference. All these factors are proven to increase motivation and performance.

2) Results from the system provide an indication of the effectiveness of equal opportunities and diversity training. Millions of pounds is spent within the UK on this priority area, but organisations can often only provide very 'dry' data in terms of personnel information. RateUs provides solid evidence of how staff are (feeling) valued and listened to.

3. Staff will engage with the system because it is highly accessible and allows them to share their views in confidence (if they wish).

4) Data is totally secure, only people who should use the system can do so, and nobody (including RateUs) has access to individual's information.

5) The resultant data is not based on a 'one off' snapshot. Staff update their rating whenever they wish, providing management with a live measure of satisfaction in each of the 6 core areas.

6) It provides opportunities to focus training and other responses. In addition, the results of these interventions can be monitored after the event, in order to assess effectiveness.

7) Data can be accessed across a range of locations or management centres. This allows for opportunities to benchmark and compare results.

8) The results are only available to those people defined by the management team. It is then for management to decide how to use the data.

9) Data can be accessed on any computer with an Internet connection (via ID and password).

10) Trends can be monitored over a period of time, providing valuable feedback about the results of management interventions and strategies.

11) RateUs provides a complete support package.

12) Data protection issues are fully considered.

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