How the Ministry of I&W acts purposefully through feedback and valuable conversations

A tool for facilitating employee feedback as well as valuable conversations - that's what the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (I&W) was looking for. In recent years it has been challenging to create connectedness within organizations. This was particularly due to prolonged working from home during the corona period. Because of this reason, the Ministry of I&W was looking for a way to collect feedback from employees, generate data and thereby make targeted improvements. Menno Sallet, employee Information Management at Ministry of I&W, tells more about their approach in this to be a good employer.

"The old-fashioned annual or biannual employee satisfaction surveys were not producing the desired results within the Ministry of I&W," indicates Menno. The organization was now looking for a way to generate current data and trend analysis that would allow them to act quickly. This is how they quickly ended up at 2DAYSMOOD. A tool that was quickly perceived within the organization as unique in the market.
After they started measuring moods and satisfaction, among other things, in mid-January 2022, they also started working on increasing the response rate. Pretty soon they went from 30% to 70% and extracted interesting starting points from the data to start valuable conversations with employees.

Valuable conversations through employee feedback

"The 2DAYSMOOD tool is ideal for making employee feedback insightful. We don't want 2DAYSMOOD to replace the personal conversation, but rather to facilitate feedback, support it and lead to valuable conversations," says Menno.
Ministry of I&W started measuring during the corona period so they could maintain the connectedness. It was extra important then to measure employee satisfaction and stay in touch with employees.

Measurement within the organization started with sending out a number of separate survey modules. This was followed up with a more systematic approach using the baseline measurement. An important step if you want to measure progress and record the starting point. The baseline measurement revealed a number of interesting areas for improvement from employee feedback. The scores were lower on vitality, intrinsic motivation and appreciation. These pillars were then immediately placed on the calendar for targeted improvement.

In-depth surveys for greater insight

Based on the data collected, concrete actions were drawn up. This is how the Vitality Calendar came about. This created more awareness of the Vitality theme, which does not only consist of healthy eating and exercise. Within five weeks, in-depth question modules were distributed to the employees. For example, the questions concerned the quality of sleep of employees. The question "I get enough sleep" scored reasonably well at 3.4 (on a scale of 1 to 5). Through the in-depth tool, it came to light that still 25% of the answered employees did not get enough sleep. "This is valuable information because we can directly link concrete actions to this," says Menno.

The ministry focuses on mindfulness training and advises their employees, for example, using sleep tips. The vitality calendar also helps. With this, every day a separate theme is addressed through an assignment. The e-learning environment within the 2DAYSMOOD tool also helps, says Menno. There are many forms of work, in order to get as much information as possible on the work floor. These are of interest to both employees and administrators of the 2DAYSMOOD tool. At the quarterly meeting within the Ministry of I&W, vitality and resilience was on the agenda. This was used to target physical and mental vitality goals.

Feedback and actions

Linking concrete actions to employee feedback is important in facilitating the conversation, says Menno. "People do need to see that something is being done with it, otherwise they feel that filling out the questionnaires leads nowhere." In doing so, also provide quick feedback, he advises. "In the MT we sometimes decide that an action will be taken, but before it is deployed, it can take a while. Employees then need to know that something will be done with their feedback. Especially if some time passes. This lets them know that we have heard them and that we are going to work on their feedback."

An example of an immediate issue that was picked up is the long meetings within the organization. For example, in the tool they often received feedback that there were too many meetings. Based on this, it was decided to introduce a meeting-free day once a month. This subsequently led to resistance among employees. The meetings that could not take place on that day, they still had to get rid of them somewhere. Using feedback from employees through surveys, a balance and an appropriate solution is being sought. The goal here is more focus and calm for employees for ultimately more satisfaction, happiness and productivity in the workplace.

Increase work happiness with 2DAYSMOOD

"It's simply being a good employer if you value your employees enough to increase their happiness," says Menno. "In addition, it's also positive for the company, department or team. Happy employees are more productive, more agile within the organization and enjoy going to work. We think that's important."

Within the ministry, the 2DAYSMOOD tool is making a valuable contribution to increasing work happiness. Read below how the organization uses the 2DAYSMOOD tool and service to be a good employer.

• You measure short-cycle and therefore adapt quickly to what you see. Every week you make adjustments where necessary. In addition, you are always working with up-to-date data and are not behind the times.
• Because you measure weekly, you can use trend analysis through the dashboards in the tool, with which you can compare graphs, for example. This allows you to see if you are creating positive change over the long term.
• It's an easy way for employees to give input. With the mood measurement, they briefly indicate within 15 seconds how they're feeling and, if necessary, comment on it. And then they get another question on a deeper topic. This way they don't spend a lot of time on it and they can still give good input.
• Privacy is very important these days. That's why it's nice that 2DAYSMOOD is certified and can prove that what data is collected is 100% anonymous and secure. The ministry also encourages managers to show the dashboard to employees so they can see that what they fill out cannot be traced back to them.
• The staff at 2DAYSMOOD provide fine guidance, checking in regularly to see how things are going and if there is any feedback or questions. 2DAYSMOOD also organizes trainings, which are very useful. In addition, the e-learning environment within the tool is regularly consulted and applied.

"2DAYSMOOD is unique in the market," says Menno. "I really wouldn't know of any other tool that knows how to make topics like work happiness and engagement so insightful and measurable."

Do you also want to get started on gaining insight into employee well-being in order to improve your position as an employer? We can't wait to show you how it works.