From the Desk of Willie Brown V5N4

Survey Says… Your Voice Matters

Let me start by congratulating Jill Horst and the Campus Dining team! The International Foodservice Manufacturers Association (IFMA) has recognized Jill with the Silver Plate Award. This is a significant achievement and pays tribute to innovative and outstanding foodservice operations and their leaders. She will receive the award at a celebration in Chicago on May 20, 2023. 

We recently resumed in-person quarterly leadership meetings, and our number one topic of discussion was the McLean Employee Engagement Survey results. There were 312 respondents, which is a 51% response rate. While that’s an adequate sample, we hoped for a higher response rate to provide a clearer picture of how we are doing as an organization. There were concerns expressed that the survey results were not completely confidential. Rest assured, there is no way for us to know who the responses belong to. Survey results are aggregated – individual results and comments are combined together and presented as a group. Results for small groups are not reported if there is a risk of breach of confidentiality. In the future we hope you will participate, it really does make a difference. 

Regarding the survey results, some areas remain strong, while others slipped a bit. We will continue to leverage the areas we’re strong in – inclusion, coworker relationships and work environment. We have fallen a bit in employee engagement and are now in line with the national industry benchmark. This is not entirely unexpected and indicates where we need to improve as an organization. There’s also room for improvement in leadership development, skills training, recognition, and work-life balance. As a result of your feedback, we will be thinking about how to address concerns and develop action plans and creative solutions. We want HDAE to be an organization where employees want to be engaged and feel seen, valued and appreciated.

Thank you to all who took the time to participate in the survey, and thank you to everyone who makes this a great place to work with a focus on students and providing excellent service to all our customers. I hope you’re having a fantastic spring break and enjoying the opportunity to join your colleagues at the Deepening Understanding Conference. Stay well and take care, HDAE Team!