2022 GDOT employee survey / by Karen DeMeester, Ph.D. ; Brian Simmons, Ph.D. ; Stephan A. Durham, Ph.D., P.E.

GEORGIA DOT RESEARCH PROJECT 21-12 Final Report
2022 GDOT EMPLOYEE SURVEY
Office of Performance-based Management and Research
600 West Peachtree Street NW | Atlanta, GA 30308 April 2023

TECHNICAL REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE

1. Report No.: FHWA-GA-23-2112
4. Title and Subtitle: 2022 GDOT Employee Survey

2. Government Accession No.: N/A

3. Recipient's Catalog No.: N/A
5. Report Date: April 2023

7. Author(s): Karen DeMeester, Ph.D. (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4924-7269), Brian Simmons, Ph.D. (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0016-4366), and Stephan A. Durham, Ph.D., P.E. (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-61773491)

6. Performing Organization Code: N/A
8. Performing Organization Report No. 21-12

9. Performing Organization Name and Address: University of Georgia Carl Vinson Institute of Government/College of Engineering 201 N. Milledge Ave., Athens, GA 30602 Phone: (706) 542-6598 Email: karend@uga.edu

10. Work Unit No.: N/A
11. Contract or Grant No.: PI#0017468

12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address: Georgia Department of Transportation (SPR) Office of Performance-based Management and Research 600 West Peachtree St. NW Atlanta, GA 30308

13. Type of Report and Period Covered: Final Report (March 2022-April 2023)
14. Sponsoring Agency Code: N/A

15. Supplementary Notes: Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration.
16. Abstract: The research team which included faculty from University of Georgia's College of Engineering and Carl Vinson Institute of Government worked in collaboration with the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to conduct the 2022 GDOT employee survey. This research study aimed to increase the response rate and the usefulness of the feedback from the GDOT employee survey to support organizational decisions about effective strategies for increasing its employees' satisfaction, retention, and professional advancement within GDOT. Questions pertaining to teleworking were added for the first time to survey. The research team administered the employee survey, analyzed item and open-ended survey responses, and developed the findings and recommendations offered to GDOT. Statewide, district, and division office reports were generated and presented to the agency. The response rate for the 2022 GDOT employee survey was sixty-nine percent (69%). Over three-fourths (77%) of district employees took the survey, while half (50%) of employees in divisions did. The survey findings were summarized in eight focus areas: GDOT Organization, Supervisor, Safety, Job Satisfaction, Human Resources/Training, Retention, Collaboration & Innovation, and Teleworking.

17. Keywords:

18. Distribution Statement:

Employee Survey, Organizational Evaluation,

No Restriction

Satisfaction Survey

19. Security Classification 20. Security Classification (of this

(of this report):

page):

Unclassified

Unclassified

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72)

21. No. of Pages: 22. Security Classification (of

this report):

14

Free

Reproduction of completed page authorize.

GDOT Research Project 21-12 Final Report
2022 GDOT EMPLOYEE SURVEY By
Karen DeMeester, Ph.D. Public Service Associate1
Brian Simmons, Ph.D. Public Service Assistant1 Stephan A. Durham, Ph.D., P.E.
Professor2 University of Georgia 1Carl Vinson Institute of Government 2College of Engineering
Contract with Georgia Department of Transportation
In cooperation with U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
April 2023
The contents of this report reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the Georgia Department of Transportation or the Federal Highway Administration. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.
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Symbol
in ft yd mi
in2 ft2 yd2 ac mi2
fl oz gal ft3 yd3
oz lb T
oF
fc fl
lbf lbf/in2

SI* (MODERN METRIC) CONVERSION FACTORS

APPROXIMATE CONVERSIONS TO SI UNITS

When You Know

Multiply By

To Find

LENGTH

inches

25.4

millimeters

feet

0.305

meters

yards

0.914

meters

miles

1.61

kilometers

AREA

square inches

645.2

square millimeters

square feet

0.093

square meters

square yard

0.836

square meters

acres

0.405

hectares

square miles

2.59

square kilometers

VOLUME

fluid ounces

29.57

milliliters

gallons

3.785

liters

cubic feet

0.028

cubic meters

cubic yards

0.765

cubic meters

NOTE: volumes greater than 1000 L shall be shown in m3

MASS

ounces

28.35

grams

pounds

0.454

kilograms

short tons (2000 lb)

0.907

megagrams (or "metric ton")

TEMPERATURE (exact degrees)

Fahrenheit

5 (F-32)/9

Celsius

or (F-32)/1.8

ILLUMINATION

foot-candles foot-Lamberts

10.76 3.426

lux candela/m2

FORCE and PRESSURE or STRESS

poundforce

4.45

newtons

poundforce per square inch

6.89

kilopascals

Symbol
mm m m km
mm2 m2 m2 ha km2
mL L m3 m3
g kg Mg (or "t")
oC
lx cd/m2
N kPa

Symbol
mm m m km
mm2 m2 m2 ha km2
mL L m3 m3
g kg Mg (or "t")
oC
lx cd/m2
N kPa

APPROXIMATE CONVERSIONS FROM SI UNITS

When You Know

Multiply By

To Find

LENGTH

millimeters

0.039

inches

meters

3.28

feet

meters

1.09

yards

kilometers

0.621

miles

AREA

square millimeters

0.0016

square inches

square meters

10.764

square feet

square meters

1.195

square yards

hectares

2.47

acres

square kilometers

0.386

square miles

VOLUME

milliliters

0.034

fluid ounces

liters

0.264

gallons

cubic meters

35.314

cubic feet

cubic meters

1.307

cubic yards

MASS

grams

0.035

ounces

kilograms

2.202

pounds

megagrams (or "metric ton")

1.103

short tons (2000 lb)

TEMPERATURE (exact degrees)

Celsius

1.8C+32

Fahrenheit

ILLUMINATION

lux candela/m2

0.0929 0.2919

foot-candles foot-Lamberts

FORCE and PRESSURE or STRESS

newtons

0.225

poundforce

kilopascals

0.145

poundforce per square inch

Symbol
in ft yd mi
in2 ft2 yd2 ac mi2
fl oz gal ft3 yd3
oz lb T
oF
fc fl
lbf lbf/in2

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Page
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 2 CHAPTER 2. SURVEY DISTRIBUTION ......................................................................................................... 3
SURVEY INSTRUMENT .......................................................................................................................... 4 RESPONSE RATE.................................................................................................................................... 6 DATA ANALYSIS AND REPORTING......................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 3. RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................... 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................................................................. 8
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The research team which included faculty from University of Georgia's College of Engineering and Carl Vinson Institute of Government worked in collaboration with the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to conduct the 2022 GDOT employee survey. This research study aimed to increase the response rate and the usefulness of the feedback from the GDOT employee survey to support organizational decisions about effective strategies for increasing its employees' satisfaction, retention, and professional advancement within GDOT. Questions pertaining to teleworking were added for the first time to survey. The research team administered the employee survey, analyzed item and open-ended survey responses, and developed the findings and recommendations offered to GDOT. Statewide, district, and division office reports were generated and presented to the agency.
The response rate for the 2022 GDOT employee survey was sixty-nine percent (69%). Over three-fourths (77%) of district employees took the survey, while half (50%) of employees in divisions did. The survey findings were summarized in eight focus areas: GDOT Organization, Supervisor, Safety, Job Satisfaction, Human Resources/Training, Retention, Collaboration & Innovation, and Teleworking.
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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) contracted with the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Engineering and the Survey Research and Evaluation Unit in the Carl Vinson Institute of Government (Institute of Government) to administer the 2022 GDOT employee survey. GDOT and UGA personnel worked together to update the survey instrument from the previous survey year (2020) and to improve distribution methods in order to increase the survey response rate. A new addition to the survey were questions pertaining to teleworking.
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CHAPTER 2. SURVEY DISTRIBUTION Consistent with 2020, the Institute of Government collaborated with GDOT personnel to create both online and paper versions of the 2022 survey. Institute of Government staff used a dedicated email account to serve as the communication channel for survey purposes. GDOT provided Institute of Government with office-level distribution emails for division personnel and employees in district offices. Institute of Government invited employees via email to take the survey online on June 27, 2022. The email from the lead researcher at Institute of Government invited employees to participate, described how their confidentiality would be protected, and provided a link to the online survey. The survey remained available online until August 19, 2022, with reminder emails sent on July 6, July 13, July 20, July 27, August 2, and August 4. The use of email groups rather than specific employee emails did not allow for individualized survey links; thus, it was not possible to ensure that participants did not complete the survey more than once. To safeguard against this, however, survey reminders stressed that respondents should complete the survey only once. A total of 1,080 online surveys were completed.
The Institute of Government also distributed 2,232 paper versions of the survey to all district personnel (except those in District Offices) and Highway Emergency Response Operators (HEROs). GDOT identified a survey coordinator in each Area to receive paper surveys. These coordinators were responsible for receiving, distributing, collecting, and returning the materials to the Institute of Government. The Institute of Government emailed each survey coordinator and provided them a summary of the survey process and instructions for their role. A package was mailed to the survey coordinator containing the following: employee surveys, pens, envelopes, instructions for administering the survey, a
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survey site collection report, and return postage. Institute of Government mailed the

packages so they arrived around the same time as the email invitation to all employees.

Each survey coordinator distributed the surveys in his or her office. Employees were

instructed to seal their completed surveys in one of the provided envelopes and either return

it to the contact or mail it directly to Institute of Government themselves. The GDOT

survey coordinators used the provided return postage to send the surveys they collected

back to Institute of Government in the original box in which they had been mailed. Institute

of Government mailed 2,232 paper surveys to 39 survey coordinators, with 1,455

completed surveys returned. Each unit was provided approximately 20% additional paper

surveys in case any were accidentally destroyed or damaged.

SURVEY INSTRUMENT

The survey instrument contained a total of 65 items. Fifty-one items asked participants to

rate their level of agreement on a four-point scale, generally from "strongly disagree" (1)

to "strongly agree" (4). These items were divided into five general headings on the survey:

1) Your Satisfaction, 2) Your Safety, 3) Your Work Environment, 4) Your Professional

Development Opportunities, and 5) Your Career. From the five general headings on the

survey, eight focus areas were identified:



GDOT Organization items that measured employees' attitudes about the

agency



Supervisor items that measured employees' judgments of their supervisor



Safety items that measured perceptions of the organization's commitment to

worker safety

4



Job Satisfaction items that measured how employees felt about their work

experience



Human Resources/Training items that measured employee knowledge of the

professional opportunities available to them



Retention items that measured how likely employees are to remain with

GDOT



Collaboration & Innovation items that measured employees' attitudes of the

Collaboration & Innovation initiative



Teleworking items that measured employee's attitudes towards teleworking

These groups were identified as being the most useful in identifying areas of

employee satisfaction and areas needing improvement.

Six items addressed changes employees would like GDOT to implement to improve

their work experience. For five of these six items, employees were provided with three to

five options and asked to identify their top choice; one item allowed employees to select

multiple responses. The survey contained five demographic questions for district

employees and four for division employees. District personnel identified their district, area,

and job function. Division personnel first identified their division and were then asked to

select their office from those within the identified division. All employees were asked their

GDOT tenure and position level (supervisory or non-supervisory). Finally, an open-ended

question was also included in the survey so that respondents could describe any issues or

concerns they had, whether those were covered by the survey or not.

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RESPONSE RATE In 2022, 2,535 of the 3,650 active full-time GDOT employees completed a survey, a response rate of 69%. By location, over three-fourths (77%) of district employees took the survey, while half (50%) of employees in divisions did. Sixty-one (61) respondents did not provide their work location. The overall response rate of 69% is a slight increase from the 64% in 2020.
DATA ANALYSIS AND REPORTING Survey responses were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics software. In addition to a description of the frequency of responses, UGA used SPSS to examine associations between item responses. The UGA team collaborated with the GDOT Office of Performance-based Management and Research (OPMR) to tailor the analysis to address specific areas of interest and relationships across the data. The UGA Team provided the recommendations based on findings to OPMR at the completion of the study. To maintain confidentiality of the survey findings, the complete report with all survey findings is available internal to GDOT.
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CHAPTER 3. RECOMMENDATIONS At the completion of the project, the study team provided the following recommendations to GDOT:
Explore methods to increase employee recognition of achievements Explore the continued improvement of internal communication in the organization. Continue ongoing efforts to support employee training. Survey results indicated a
positive response to the Agency's efforts in this area. Continue the ongoing efforts related to teleworking. The majority of Division and
District respondents reported positive experiences related to teleworking. Explore professional development opportunities and career advancement pathways
for employees that include advancement opportunities within the department and enhancing their job skills. Explore team building training, constructive and directional performance evaluations, and flexible work schedules as methods to improve productivity and success. Use the survey results to guide further exploration.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The University of Georgia gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by the Georgia Department of Transportation for this study. The authors thank the many GDOT personnel who assisted with this study, with a special thanks to Ms. Alma Mujkanovic, GDOT Office Head, Mr. Ryan Gorham, GDOT Assistant Office Head, and Mr. Brennan Roney, GDOT Research Engineer.
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