Courtesy Lord Gnome

Jon Rouse, the £248,000 per year CEO of Croydon Council, an organisation that “has efficiency in our DNA”, and a £450 million building site on its doorstep, has been busy again, preparing another morale-boosting message on the council’s intranet for what remains of the staff.

This mail went out last week, just before council staff received their survey forms on September 26. Supporting documents stress that this survey, like one conducted in 2009, is entirely confidential, and that no one will be able to tell who has said what in their responses.

Of course, the major change this time around is that there will be far fewer surveys to analyse, because so many staff have lost their jobs in the past two years. Although there have not been any redundancies among the six-figure salaried director level council employees.

In the interests of openness and transparency, we publish here Rouse’s email to staff in full:

At some stage today, you’ll receive the 2011 staff survey by email or hard copy. This is your opportunity to tell us honestly what is and isn’t working so we know what we need to do to make the council a better place to work.

What you tell us in the survey really makes a difference. Many of the changes we have made over last two years were a direct response to what you told us in the last staff survey in 2009; the Employee Assistance Programme and chaplaincy service, Step Change events, over to you lunches, and increased frequency and locations of staff roadshows, to name a few.

But whatever progress we’ve made, we know we haven’t got everything right. We’re going through major changes at the council and I know it’s a difficult time. Are we doing enough to support you, and do you feel you know what’s going on? There are no right or wrong answers – please just be totally honest.

The survey is completely confidential. All your responses, whether hard copy or electronic, go directly to an independent research company we’re working with to run the survey. We never see any individual responses, so no one will ever be able to tell who has said what.

You’ll be given up to 40 minutes of your time during working hours to complete it. If you’d prefer to complete the form in a quiet place away from your normal work area, just speak to your manager, and they’ll support this.

And it’s all for a good cause. We’re making a charity donation of £250 for the division with the highest response rate, £200 for the division who comes second place and £150 for third place.

It’s important we hear from everyone so if you haven’t received a survey on or by 26 September, or have any questions, contact …

And remember, the survey is entirely confidential.

• Inside Croydon: brought to you free of charge, an independent voice standing for freedom of speech for the people of Croydon

Related articles

• Proud to Serve: Congrats to car pound operator Collins Boansi! (insidecroydon.com)
• The £248,000 CEO speaks: You’re all doing very well (insidecroydon.com)
• Costly council Question Times offer few answers (insidecroydon.com)