New Leading Edge Report Details Results of 3rd Annual Employee Experience Survey
Leading Edge, an organization focused on building a robust leadership pipeline for Jewish nonprofits, released today a report detailing the results of its third annual survey of employees in the sector, with tips for how organizations can promote growth in key areas. A total of 7,300 employees across 105 Jewish organizations participated in the 2018 survey. Over the past three years, Leading Edge has surveyed roughly 10% of the total U.S. workforce of the Jewish nonprofit sector.
“The Leading Edge Employee Experience Survey is a critical tool to help the Jewish nonprofit sector manifest our core values,” said President & CEO Gali Cooks. “When leaders participate in this process, they become aware of what changes are needed to become even better places to work.”
The 52 organizations that have now taken the Leading Edge survey more than once are making steady, incremental changes that are positively influencing workplace culture – 75% either improved their scores from year to year, or maintained their already strong cultures.
“While taking the survey is by no means the solution to all workplace challenges, it is a useful tool for organizations to understand their strengths and gaps as an employer,” said Amy Born, Senior Strategist for Organizational Development. “It’s a testament to the field and leaders who do this work that they not only care about the community but the people who serve it as professionals.”
The Leading Edge survey focuses on employee engagement: the level of connection, pride, motivation, and commitment a person feels for their work and how likely they are to stay or leave their place of employment – and the Jewish nonprofit sector as a whole.
Among the key survey findings:
- Jewish nonprofits excel at: connecting employees to mission and imbuing in them a sense of organizational pride; establishing environments of respect; and collaborating within departments.
- Senior leadership, direct managers, and internal communications have the greatest impact on people’s desire to stay or leave their organization.
- Employees place a high value on flexibility within the work environment.
The report also notes a few areas where improvements would further advance the field:
- Strengthening internal communications
- Managing performance through appropriate and ongoing feedback
- Ensuring a more even distribution of work across portfolios
- Setting and communicating an organizational compensation philosophy
- Fostering organization-wide collaboration
- Promoting transparency in advancement opportunities
All of the organizations that participate in the Leading Edge survey agree to embark on a thoughtful, ongoing process of addressing the growing edges that emerge from the survey. Leading Edge offers organizations an onboarding and orientation process to the survey, as well as one-on-one consultations with an organizational development expert who walks them through the survey results and discusses ways to take action.
The full report can be downloaded HERE.