Employee Satisfaction
Each year, we ask our salaried workforce to participate in the Pulse survey to gain insight into employees’ overall satisfaction with the Company, their jobs, diversity and other aspects of workplace satisfaction. We encourage our employees to provide candid feedback, and we benchmark results and participation externally. Results of the survey are incorporated into our business planning review processes. Improving Pulse scores is an annual performance objective for many of our senior managers.
In 2011, 75 percent of our salaried employees participated in the survey, which includes a total of 53 items, eight of which make up what we call the Employee Satisfaction Index (ESI). Sixty-nine percent of respondents gave favorable ratings on the ESI in 2011, up one percentage point from 2010 levels. We continue to be above external benchmarks on this index.
The area showing the greatest improvement was training and development. Other areas showing improvement included employee satisfaction with supervision and employee adoption of the ONE Ford behaviors. In addition, employee satisfaction with actions that are taken to improve quality improved from its already-high level.
As part of our efforts to increase satisfaction, we are constantly improving our strategies for fostering open dialogue with employees. We have been enhancing our internal communication efforts to build trust and increase transparency. For example, we hold regular interactive webcasts with all employees, during which employees can submit questions directly to top executives. We also have a web-based forum for submitting and discussing innovative ideas.
In 2010, we created another index to measure what employees value about being part of Ford. The new Global Skilled & Motivated Team Index provides insight into employee experiences in areas such as leadership quality, working together, employee development and work/life flexibility. This index, which can be considered a measure of our employment value proposition, was one of the areas of greatest improvement from 2010 to 2011.
For more information on the Pulse survey, see the Data section of this report.