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Lake County consultant reports 55% staff response rate, plans focus groups after engagement survey
Summary
A consultant told a Lake County committee that an employee engagement survey closed Feb. 20 with a 55% participation rate and showed mixed results on whether staff feel valued; the county will run focus groups and cross‑tabulate results before recommending changes and will hold leadership training April 14.
Dr. Adrian Carter, presenting to the Lake County committee, said the county’s employee engagement survey closed Feb. 20 with a 55% response rate and covered topics including inclusion, training, communication, psychological safety and readiness for change.
Carter said the survey included more than 50 substantive questions plus demographic items and that the team will begin deeper analysis the week after the survey closed. "We have a 55% participation rate," Carter said. "That's a good number. We're over 50%." He added that analysts will consider raising participation toward a 60–65% target.
Citing the survey’s headline items, Carter said 24% of respondents "strongly agreed" with the statement "Lake County values me as an employee," 35% "somewhat agreed," and roughly 36% were in disagreement; about 4% selected "don't know," which his team treats as a no. "When we look at that, that's around 40% of the organization who are saying that they don't feel valued as an employee," Carter said.
On whether county stated values are reflected in daily workplace culture, Carter said about 64% of respondents agreed (strongly or somewhat) and 36% did not, and he recommended focus groups to explore why some employees say values are not reflected.
Committee members asked whether results could be disaggregated by department or location. Carter said the survey collected demographic data such as work location and tenure and that the team will cross‑tabulate responses to identify where concerns cluster. "We did not include the health department because they'd done their own survey," Carter said in response to a committee question.
Carter outlined the analytic approach: identify 15–20 "key questions" for a high‑level snapshot, group remaining items thematically, analyze open‑ended comments and use a combination of manual coding and AI validation to identify three to five major themes to guide recommendations. He also said county leaders will be offered a training on psychological safety and inclusive leadership, scheduled for April 14.
Carter asked committee members to suggest any specific cross‑tabulations or data slices to include in the analysis. The committee will receive the full report and proposed next steps after the focus groups and thematic analysis are complete.
The committee did not take formal action on the survey at the meeting; Carter will return for follow‑up work and the county plans focus groups and a final report as the next steps.
