22.02.17
Steep variance in CQC staff engagement means there is ‘still much to learn’
Every employee directorate in the CQC has reported a wide discrepancy between the top and lower performing teams, with the organisation’s hospital staff recording the most stark variance at a 40% difference, papers for a board meeting today have shown.
In its latest employee engagement index (EEI), used to measure staff engagement with their jobs or day-to-day work, the CQC found that as well as there being high variation between top and worst performing teams across directorates, the overall EEI figure has dropped by 2% since last year. It now stands at 63%.
This overall figure also varied widely from the highest ever team-level EEI, which stood at 94%, suggesting that teams are not responding equally to the leadership structures in place.
While the specific impact of this variation was not reported, the importance of high EEI cannot be underestimated: across the most engaged CQC teams, many reported a higher morale, felt that leaders were sufficiently visible, had more confidence in the decisions made by leaders and felt recognised for their contribution to the organisation.
As a result, the CQC argued there is still “much to learn from across teams to ensure we enhance the areas of good practice”.
In its 2017-18 Business Plan, also published ahead of today’s board meeting, one of the CQC’s main focuses for the upcoming financial year will be to make its employees’ working lives better.
It has pledged to listen to, and act effectively on, feedback in the staff survey so that employees have a say in “how we do things” in the organisation, as well as achieve higher job satisfaction and make a more significant difference to people’s lives.
The business plan also promises to improve staff skills and capabilities so that they can more easily adapt to the changes in the way the CQC regulates and influences care going forward.
Amongst these regulatory changes include the confirmation that the CQC will be implementing its refreshed operating model in line with its priorities and with the FYFV vision. In 2017-18, it will implement inspections based on risk or potential improvement in quality, as previously reported by NHE, as well as produce ‘think pieces’ and thematic reports.
It also seeks to become more digitally accessible by 2020 by rolling out digital information collection from providers, identifying the requirements for the online registration portal, and making it easier for people to share their experiences of care with the organisation.