This past June, employees participated in the second year of the Dentsply Sirona Global Employee Engagement Survey in order to measure progress, share candid feedback and ensure that every voice matters.

In 2018, employees participated in the first of a series of annual surveys in partnership with Gallup – a company well known for its public opinion polling. This year, the survey took place over the course of three weeks in June, and 71 percent of employees took part. Despite a small dip in participation from last year, the response rate still shows an eagerness to share feedback and reflects an ongoing commitment to the Company’s future.

Participants were asked to score their answers to statements on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 represents “strongly agree” and 1 represents “strongly disagree.” The survey began by asking, “How satisfied are you with your organization as a workplace?” The following 12 core questions give Dentsply Sirona the ability to benchmark itself with other companies in Gallup’s database, as these are statements that are used in all of their engagement surveys. Like last year, there were additional questions developed specifically for Dentsply Sirona that help to provide a deeper and more company specific analysis.

The 12 core questions are analyzed in four clusters. The first, “Basic Needs,” asks if employees know what’s expected of them and if they have the materials and equipment necessary to perform. The average scores in this group remained essentially unchanged. The second cluster, “Individual,” has to do with the opportunities that employees have to develop in their career as well as whether or not they feel recognized for their efforts. The overall average score improved slightly over last year. “Teamwork” is the third cluster, which has to do with belonging. The average score in this group remained unchanged, although more employees indicated they have a best friend at work. This is significant because research has shown that friendships at work are important for overall happiness and engagement, and are even an indicator of higher levels of achievement. There is also a correlation with a safe work environment. The final cluster, “Growth,” includes questions about opportunities for learning and whether or not someone at work has spoken to the employee about his or her progress. This year’s survey showed no significant changes in this area.

While there is still significant room for improvement in increasing engagement across the Company, the 2019 survey showed some genuinely positive outcomes of the ongoing transformation and implementation of local action plans. For example, the results indicate that employees feel there is better cooperation across departments. Reflecting on this year’s survey results, David Semple, Group Vice President, PMO said, “I’m confident that employees will begin to see and feel the results of many of the initiatives that support our Transformation as a number of them resulted from conversations and action plans created after the first survey.”