Proud staff and growing job satisfaction

For years,
Hafnarfjörður municipality, in collaboration with a third party, surveyed satisfaction and attitudes.
of staff regarding, for example, the working environment, communication and management practices, and have
the findings have been used for improvements and reforms at the 70 sites that
The operations of the City of Hafnarfjörður are spread out. The results of the latest
The workplace analyses are, on the whole, favourable for the City of Hafnarfjörður.
where all components in the survey increase year-on-year and only one component decreases. That
The aspect concerning pressure is already under thorough review by the management.
of the town.

Job satisfaction increased from 7.4 to 7.9 year-on-year and show
The results show that people's satisfaction with their job and working atmosphere at their workplaces has increased.
significantly year on year. Also, the number of those who are proud to work for is increasing.
prayers, those who feel good at work and are happy with the tools and data on
workplace, training and education, and information flow. Improvements are on the horizon.
within the schools, museums and institutions of the City of Hafnarfjörður, where everyone will pitch in
one is making good even better. According to a recent Gallup service survey,
Residents' satisfaction with the town's services has also increased, and it has been quite successful in staffing.
Vacancies at the council. It seems the local council is an exciting place to work.
a workplace with the diversity that exists in the activities of the organisation and
calls for different education, skills and knowledge. Berglind G. Bergþórsdóttir has
She has been the HR manager for the City of Hafnarfjörður for three years and she manages all
Human resources-related tasks and provides advice to other managers. Concurrently
She works with a strong team to implement the equal pay standard at the town which
aims to ensure equal rights for women and men and to ensure that they enjoy
the same pay for the same or equally valuable work. If all goes to plan, it will
The municipality is to receive equal pay certification this summer.

Why does it work
How do you do it so well? How do you manage that?
I assume that the remedial measures we have already taken on
In recent years, the efforts have begun to bear fruit and employees have started to experience
change. We are seeing a considerable year-on-year increase, and that is an encouragement to us.
to further projects and work with managers and staff. Probably they are
many interacting factors that cause us to see a difference in
The overall findings include ambitious work and a strong team., A coordinated group of managers, increased dialogue
and the flow of information where employee voices carry a lot of weight and increased
emphasis on human resources-related matters. This
Works everything together.

What emphasis
What steps are you taking to increase job satisfaction among the town's employees? With regular measurements, such as a workplace analysis,
is it possible to systematically monitor how staff experience
the workplace, what is done well and what could be improved. Managers have been
strong in following up on the findings with defined improvement projects
in collaboration with staff. The municipality's more positive operating results have
opened up opportunities for improvement, not just outwardly but inwardly as well. The Municipality of Hafnarfjörður is a health-promoting community and
we have once again introduced fitness grants to promote
the health promotion of our staff. Last Christmas, all staff of the town received
A Christmas gift for the first time, which was a well-received gesture. At the same time, we have decided
to give special recognition to all those who have worked for the town for a long time
for their service to the town on their 15th and 25th anniversaries. All efforts
Moving towards thanking staff for a job well done clearly results in
increased job satisfaction.

How do you promote
middle managers and those with personnel responsibility to ensure that communication runs smoothly
best? In recent semesters, several groups have
Middle managers attended organised management training at the consultancy firm.
Economics. The aim is for all the town's managers to go through such a
training, with the aim of empowering them in their daily work. In this
The training places emphasis on the human element in the manager's role, but it is important
that the controller knows themselves, their strengths and limitations, and at the same time
I know my people and their needs. I am on hand to offer them advice and
specialisation in the field of human resources and we have focused on simplifying everything
systems, set up new systems and provide access to necessary information and
data. This has been working very well.

Do you offer various
Courses, lectures or continuing education for the town's schools and institutions? Spectrum
The diversity of the City of Hafnarfjörður's operations is considerable, and therefore it is difficult to
Organise a programme of courses to suit everyone. 
There is a strong programme of education and continuing professional development in every field.
for themselves. Both school stages, for example, use.
professional development days for joint course delivery, to name but a few. We
We then use annual staff appraisals to identify training needs.
of staff. Is the idea that everyone pursues continuing and further education as
is based on that analysis. Over the past year, we have collaborated with Starfsmennt
organised and offered courses for unqualified staff in primary schools, residential units
and at the library. It concerns several courses that were put together.
Following a thorough analytical process, the courses are tailored to the needs of this group of employees. Employees are also offered the opportunity to register for Dokkina and
Management Intelligence, which are knowledge and networking networks for managers and others in
the world of work. Some group has been taking advantage of these opportunities.

^{An interview with Berglind G. Bergþórsdóttir, Human Resources Manager for the City of Hafnarfjörður, was published in the Fjarðarpósturinn on Thursday, 16th March.}