How a State Medicaid Agency Increased Employee Participation, Favorability, & Engagement

Background

A state Medicaid agency recognized an opportunity to boost employee participation in its internal surveys. After an initial low response rate with their own internal surveys, it became evident that a new approach was needed to effectively gather feedback and address employee concerns. Since partnering with People Element in 2020, the agency has achieved remarkable results, transforming its employee engagement strategy, improving survey participation, and driving positive cultural change across the organization.

The Approach

Creative Communication Strategies

By introducing People Element’s survey platform software and doubling down on communication efforts, the agency was able to drive an extraordinary transformation in participation results.

Promotional Videos: Started using short teaser videos to introduce upcoming surveys.

Friendly Competition: They provided real-time participation updates to executives via newsletters and turned survey participation into a competition between departments, pushing for higher engagement through friendly rivalry.

Effective Use of Networks: The agency also leveraged professional networks like email to send reminders to encourage participation.

As a result of these combined efforts, the agency saw participation soar to over 90% for three consecutive years and continues to see high participation today.

Significant Improvements from 2021 to 2024

The agency witnessed substantial improvements across all engagement categories between 2021 and 2024. These improvements can be attributed to several strategic initiatives, including:

1. Building a Hybrid Workplace: Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency adopted a hybrid work structure and has continuously refined its approach to improve this model. From how human resources functions to the talent management and training offerings, to how they lead and manage teams, they have embraced and are thriving in this model.

2. Addressing Low Favorability Scores: They didn’t shy away from addressing lower favorability scores in specific departments. Executives focused on learning more and improving these areas by:

- Hosting Town Halls with these departments to review and lead discussions to identify action steps.
- Conducting one-on-one meetings between executives and team members to gather candid thoughts on the survey scores and their overall opinions on the work environment.

3. Launch of Growth-Focused Programs: The agency wanted to focus on creating a workplace that offers the opportunity to learn, grow, and make a difference. They leaned into offering exceptional opportunities for growth, learning, and development:

LinkedIn Learning: They were one of the first state departments to offer LinkedIn Learning to all employees. This initiative was implemented after their first survey, and they took action to create excitement and promote it to their employees.
Mentorship Program: Introduced a highly successful mentorship program, pairing senior leaders and top executives with employees for guidance and development. As they conclude the third year of this program, it has proven to be a strong driver of engagement.
Learning Management System: In 2023, the agency launched a new learning management system where employees can access and log training in one centralized system. This streamlined learning process supports the agency’s mission to create a thriving, growth-oriented workplace.

Comprehensive Data Cascade and Action Planning

Their approach to sharing survey data is a model of transparency and engagement:

Fast Data Turnaround: Within two weeks of survey closure, executive teams receive results, ensuring timely discussions and action planning. During this time, they also meet with People Element’s People Experience Analyst to review and analyze their data.

Town Hall Presentations: The results are then presented to the entire agency at Town Halls. In these meetings, the director will walk through the survey data and share his perspective, underscoring leadership’s commitment to transparency and buy-in.

Department-Level Reporting: The provide department-specific reports for each executive team member and meet with them to discuss their results, answer any questions, and take any “follow-up data requests”. They then determine the best approach to disseminate the department-specific data to their units and teams. Each department is very different in size (from 3 to 700+ employees), so each has its own unique approach.

Quarterly Action Planning Committee: After sharing the data, an Action Planning Committee with representatives from nearly all departments meets quarterly to discuss progress on action items derived from survey data. They share updates on engagement efforts, new onboarding practices, and department-specific initiatives to ensure the agency stays aligned with its engagement goals.

Closing the Loop: The agency closes the loop from survey results to action by making sure to include highlights of action taken from survey data in their presentations. This year, they built a webpage for all surveys deployed (onboarding, pulse, employee experience, and exits) that provides an overview of each survey, the results, and a summary of actions taken from the data.

The Role People Element

A representative from the agency says,

“People Element has been a great partner in building out our survey platforms and helping us digest and use the data. They offer a collection of tested survey questions for any survey, they provide feedback on our survey drafts when creating or revising agency surveys, and their data analysis has been helpful to get another outside expert opinion on what we are seeing and how we might utilize survey results.”

They go on to say,

“I’ve appreciated the partnership with People Element. They have been very easy to work with and responsive to our requests. The platform is easy to learn, use, and saves us time spent analyzing data and creating charts and graphs out of Excel. We have certainly “upped our game” since starting our partnership in 2020. We now have surveys that collect feedback on the entire employee life cycle, trend data to look back on, and years of success improving our agency to make it a great place to work.”

The Result: Creating a Thriving Workplace

Since their partnership with People Element in 2020, the agency has made significant strides in employee engagement, organizational transparency, and cultural improvement including:

Survey participation rates consistently remain very high.

Developed thriving hybrid workplace where employees feel supported and valued.

Strong programs for employee development, including mentorship, LinkedIn Learning, and a learning management system.

Improved favorability and engagement scores in nearly all categories, increasing their overall favorability by 6 percentage points and engagement by 13 percentage points.

Through this partnership, the agency has turned into a workplace where employees are empowered to grow, share feedback, and drive meaningful change. Their commitment to transparency, communication, and action planning has transformed the agency into a model of employee engagement and organizational excellence.

Their journey shows how a thoughtful and transparent approach, supported by the right tools and partners like People Element, can create a thriving, engaged, and dynamic workforce.