Effective and healthy organizations have long recognized the conventional wisdom that “the people make the place;” in other words, if we do not take care of our people, they cannot take care of our organizations or the animals. The Shelter Employee Engagement & Development Survey (SeeDS) attempts to capitalize on this wisdom.
SeeDS is an assessment tool designed to support the health and well-being of private and public animal welfare organizations by surveying employees and making specific, evidence-based recommendations.
SeeDS was developed using data collected from animal welfare staff across the United States and Canada by a team of professors now at UNC Charlotte. These researchers have been investigating workplace issues among shelter employees since 2001. SeeDS combines current information from this research and practical experience from the sheltering field with extensive knowledge from the field of organizational science, which focuses on workplace health and effectiveness.
Based on these data from hundreds of shelters and thousands of their employees over the past 20 years, we have created an evidenced-based way to support the health and well-being of your organization, all while reducing the costs associated with surveying employees.
What’s in the Survey?
SeeDS includes 45 items which take employees about 10-15 minutes to fill out. These items evaluate a wide range of organizational aspects including employee attitudes, perceptions, and opinions on key issues related to organizational health and well-being. This includes (but is not limited to) the following: Peer Support, Engagement, Euthanasia Practices, Communication Effectiveness, Stress & Burnout, Employee Morale, Supervision & Leadership, Job Stress, Teamwork, Pay & Benefits, Interpersonal Climate, SOPs, Volunteer Perceptions, Job Satisfaction, and Training.
The survey also covers open-ended (OE) questions. Three are pre-determined (strengths, growth opportunities, and DE&I) and we provide one OE question of your choice. Additional OE questions can be added for an additional fee.
Who Can Participate?
SeeDS is designed for shelters with at least 10 part-time or full-time employees; this minimum number has been established to help protect the anonymity of respondents. SeeDS can be used in any public or private animal welfare organization or animal control agency. Employees at all levels of the organization, including the leadership team, are encouraged to participate. However, the program is not designed for volunteers.
