A survey to gauge state employee job satisfaction in the Division of Administration (DOA) should be an eye opener for Commissioner of Administration Kristy Kreme Nichols and agency heads throughout DOA—but it probably won’t be.
Meanwhile, LouisianaVoice has learned that Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-Iowa, R-New Hampshire, R-Anywhere but Louisiana) received some exciting news this week when a new poll revealed that no one was more popular than Jindal among Republican contenders for the GOP presidential nomination.
The excitement was short-lived, however, when the actual meaning of the numbers was revealed.
It turns out that in a CNN poll of New Hampshire voters, Jindal tied with Rick Santorum with 3 percent, while “No one” polled 4 percent, prompting Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert to joke that Jindal should adopt the slogan “Jindal 2016: No one is more popular.”
Adding insult to injury, a Public Policy Poll also showed that in a head-to-head showdown with former Gov. Edwin Edwards for governor, Edwards would win with 47 percent of the vote to Jindal’s 43 percent, with 10 percent undecided.
Not the numbers on which to base an ambitious run for the White House.
The employee survey, conducted by IBM/Kenexa to rate overall job satisfaction revealed DOA employees scattered throughout 22 state agencies grouped within DOA were generally less content, scoring well below the national norm in the areas of:
- Trust (47.8 percent);
- Employee recognition (39.2 percent);
- Senior leadership values (55 percent);
- Communication from management (42.8 percent);
- Senior leadership vision (33.2 percent;
- Opportunity for employee advancement (28.2 percent), and
- Employee involvement in decision making (57.8 percent).
Moreover, only 28.3 percent of respondents believed that positive change will occur as a result of the survey, compared to 31.6 percent who felt the survey would produce change and 40.2 percent who were unsure.
There were no records available to indicate how much the survey cost but The Department of Economic Development contracted with Kenexa Technology in 2011 to conduct a similar survey. The contract cost for that survey of a single agency was $19,900.
Not only did state employees throughout the 22 agencies in DOA reflect an overall pessimistic outlook, the 52.7 percent response rate (553 employees responded) was well below the IBM/Kenexa benchmark of 80 percent which served as a barometer of the general skepticism of state employees in general under the Jindal administration.
That’s certainly not difficult to understand, given the manner in which Jindal has gone about gutting agencies by laying off employees in wholesale numbers, privatizing agencies, attempting first (unsuccessfully) to slash state retirements and most recently going after medical benefits by manufacturing a crisis at the Office of Group Benefits (OGB) in order to declare an emergency to increase deductibles and co-pays which he hopes will drive retirees out of OGB
Meanwhile, Kristy addresses the morale problem by insisting that agency directors strong arm employees to participate in the Louisiana Marathon so she can win her participation bet with Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Kathy Kliebert.
As an added incentive, she announced on Thursday that her participating employees would be treated to a barbeque cookout Saturday on the grounds of the governor’s mansion.
And who wouldn’t want one of those TeamKristy T-shirts with the nifty slogan “We Run Louisiana,” coined by Texter-in-Chief Liz Murrill?
There was no immediate word on whether or not Jindal would take time out of his doomed quest for the Republican presidential nomination to attend.
Forgive the misspelling of dimwits and asinine in the photo. We’ll explain how to use Spellcheck to our computer graphics techie over at GOHSEP. (He doesn’t care; he’s leaving.)
Louisiana Voice 
Gee, Tom, maybe there are still a few of my dad’s relatives kicking around in Central Louisiana who would consider running. Back in the ‘80s, my dad had a bumper sticker that read “Elect No one.” Before he put it on his fishing car, he cut it between the O’s. He never sought elective office and had disdain for most politicians, but he had an awesome sense of humor!
Holy crap! How did you get hold of that employee survey?? It is supposed to be super-duper top secret!!
Great job, Tom!!
Only 52% responded to he “poll” because the other 48% are afraid of losing their jobs if they respond. If they speak out they are doomed. The 52% are the brave ones or the most secure. ” Employee involvement in decision making (57.8 percent)”? Then why did we need to pay millions to Alvarez & Marsal to make the “cost saving” decisions that the state employees were asked to suggest a couple of years ago? Or should I say “cost saving atrocities”?
I think that you hit the nail on the head, KP. Even as a retiree I would be leery of answering such a poll unless it was on paper, I could wear rubber gloves, then mail it back in from another part of the State!! This admin.’s motto is “THE FLOGGINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES”! After filling out and signing one of those “red cards” at the meeting last week, I immediately checked my checking account on the 1st to make sure my retirement check had been deposited!
There’s safety in numbers. If the Jindal administration were to go after retirees who are vocal critics, they would have more work on their hands than they could keep up with.
That 28.3% that expect positive change are probably either those who are paid over $100K annually or have decided to leave the DOA entirely.
Leaving would be “positive change” for those lucky enough to find other employment.
Thanks Tom and that’s who I meant. Several state departments are already experiencing their own brain drain. Thanks to a more robust economy there are a good number of job opportunities in the private sector. I attribute this more to a smart fiscal policy at the national level. Unfortunately Jindal’s only carrot for new business is come here tax free and we’ll build you the infrastructure you need. Especially if your company will donate to my superpac. Not exactly a smart way to help finance the chronically bloated faux budgets he creates every year.
Ain’t that the truth!
I don’t get it. Why would they even think of conducting such a survey and especially in that division? Did Kristy Kreme think they were going to get anything remotely resembling positive results?
I cannot imagine doing a survey honestly wherein the votes are tallied by the enemy and they control my paycheck, job, insurance, my life. I would not do anything because of tracking purposes and I feel there is some sort of gimmick to the whole process. This sounds like they may start making employees wearing arm bands indicating for or against. Be careful and watch your back. And watch out for the embracement cause the knife comes next. Trust is not in their vocabulary.
I’m with you Fredster. What was she possibly thinking? This is our LEADERSHIP folks. “Send in the clowns”.
Totally clueless.
For the “We Run Louisiana” slogan – they should put an “I” between the “u” and “n” in RUN. Then it would be true
There is always a negative bias to these kind of surveys (people are more apt to volunteer negative than positive assessments in surveys unless they consider whatever is being surveyed well above expectations). That’s about the most lipstick Ms. Nichols can put on this pig if she chooses to apply any. On the other hand, she might consider these ratings high praise from an ungrateful and clueless workforce given her apparent belief that it would be impossible to do a better job than she is doing..
From the small number of people I spoke to, they were afraid to express negative opinions out of fear of retaliation, so they didn’t respond at all. This may be a case where the bias is on the positive sign. I did complete the survey and was honest about my perceptions. I do have mostly positive things to say about my immediate supervisors, but that’s as far as my positive vibes flow.
You could be right about a positive bias in this case, but it is very discouraging that people would so fear retribution that they would not answer an ostensibly anonymous survey, I. e., that they believe the DOA would go to the trouble of trying to identify each individual respondent. Can we say “big brother” or “sister”?
Kristy Nichols to DOA employees ( and State employees and Retirees): The beatings will continue until morale improves.