WHERE
Omaoksa is a laundry co-operative located in Järvenpää, Finland, specialised in washing water washable laundry mainly for public institutions. Omaoksa’s staff consists of managing director, two on-the-job counsellors and five employees. In addition, the laundry employs four people in rehabilitative work activity under a so-called open employment relationship, two of whom are students. 80% of the staff members are people with disabilities or persons who have encountered problems in entering the open labour market.
You can also carry out personnel surveys by using interviews
An important service is to provide support for the employees in managing their own life. While learning a trade at Omaoksa, the employees also learn social skills, skills needed in working life and skills for managing one’s life. The social mission is an ingrained part of Omaoksa’s activities, but takes a considerable amount of management time from for-profit business activities.
The co-operative has nine members: the city of Järvenpää, the local Evangelical Lutheran congregation and seven private persons. The establishment of Omaoksa followed the city’s decision to outsource its laundry operations. When the operations were started in 1998, the scope of services included assembly work and laundry. Very soon the operations were concentrated on the laundry outlet located at an old people’s home. After a year the laundry operations were also expanded to the local health centre. At present, Omaoksa washes a little less than 100,000 kilos of laundry per year. The main customer is the City of Järvenpää, which provided 90% of the laundry’s income in year 2005.
Omaoksa was a partner in the EQUAL Development Partnership Response.
WHY
A personnel satisfaction survey was decided to be carried out at Omaoksa laundry. The questionnaire will also produce source data for the laundry’s social accounts.
While planning the realisation of the survey, an idea was presented that it could be conducted in the form of an interview. The reasons were, on the one hand, to ensure that the respondents would understand the questions correctly and on the other hand, to enhance interaction with staff and to provide an opportunity for feedback.
HOW
First, each employee filled out the personnel satisfaction questionnaire independently by giving answers to each question on a scale of 1 to 5. The questions and answers were then discussed in a personal interview between the employee and the work supervisor in charge of the survey.
For analysis and presentation, the answers were fed into a calculation sheet producing the total result, such as averages and the indicators for social accounting.
Experiences
The practice worked well and the interview also served as a kind of development discussion between the employee and the management. It was a good way to give and collect feedback. Since the workplace is small, the anonymity of a written survey would not have been automatically guaranteed anyhow.
The method promoted interaction and justification for answers was received. The person in charge of the survey found the practice good, since the employees became keen on workplace development and their work motivation was clearly improved. The employees felt that they were treated as individuals and listened to. Also, as a result of this process, the actions for improvement could be planned in a more concrete way.
The questionnaire was updated in spring 2006 and it will be revised on the basis of the experiences gained. In the organisational self-assessment of autumn 2006, the staff members suggested that the survey be conducted twice a year in the future.
Transferability
The method is suitable to any small workplace where the interview method is appropriate for collecting the results of the personnel satisfaction survey.
Enclosure: Personnel satisfaction questionnaire, Omaoksa laundry
For more information: Managing Director Kirsi Suvanto, jarven-paan.omaoksa(at)kolumbus.fi, www.omaoksa.fi