The aim of the survey is to strengthen the work environment of public servants. The survey provides detailed information on the current situation. The survey was conducted between October and December 2023 and over 20,000 people participated in over 200 institutions. The results are based on the responses of nearly 10,900 respondents, the response rate at the Akureyri Hospital was 44% and the response rate in total was 55%.

The Akureyri Hospital jumps 6 seats in the overall ranking and is placed at number 128 in the overall satisfaction. The image of SAk is on the right track and measures just below the average of the participating institutions and is better than other healthcare institutions.

Improved from previous year

In all main aspects, SAk is improving from the year before. These factors are management, morale, salary, working conditions, flexibility in work, institutional image, independence in work, satisfaction and pride and equality. The factors that increase the most are salary and work flexibility and this is in line with the focus of projects on better working hours, shortening the work week and the coordination of salaries of certain institutional agreements, and equal pay for the sexes.

Stress was quite high at SAk last year and the hospital has been experiencing a few problems. The results of the survey confirm this. Stress and overload is higher at SAk than at other healthcare institutions.

“It is interesting to see that despite these results, the morale at SAk is better than at other healthcare institutions,” says Erla Björnsdóttir, Director of Human Resources. “In the last survey we reached a historical low. Therefore, a plan was launched last year to improve the work environment because it is very important for us that staff feel comfortable at work,” Erla says.

Action Plan to succeed

The initiative Join us! was part of that action plan and had the goal of improving the image of SAk with a variety of projects such as making promotional videos about the work at SAk, professional photographs in job advertisements and targeted presentations for health science students.

“Velferðartorgið has also had a part to play as support for staff. It gives staff the opportunity to book appointments with a diverse group of experts who provide various kinds of advice and services. All staff receive 3 hours free of charge and we hear that staff very much enjoy this service,” Erla says.

To strengthen internal operations, the pharmaceutical services were strengthened, centralised assistance was established across departments and support for managers has been greatly increased. “It can be said that the action plan has given us the results we see in these conclusions,” Erla says.

The action plan will be continued with regards to the image and infrastructure of SAk. The information and communication to the management and staff will be strengthened and a tool will be implemented that gives the management a better overall picture of the well-being of the staff to work towards increased job satisfaction in the workplace.

“Our top priority is staffing, and again, staffing, as the number of staff on health leaves has increased dramatically since COVID. This is a huge challenge for all healthcare institutions,” Erla concludes.