The Walnut Creek Police Department (WCPD) serves a community of 70,000 people in Northern California, and takes pride in fostering high morale among its employees and community through a variety of wellness initiatives. Police Captain Andy Brown, a WCPD veteran with over 22 years of experience, knows wellness is critical for ensuring employees have long, healthy careers at the department. In the midst of hiring challenges and pension reform that is extending the retirement age of officers, Brown set a goal to utilize resources and technologies to support the department’s 85 sworn officers and 43 professional staff members.
Although some employees readily shared their concerns and needs with agency staff, Brown still felt there was a critical gap in gathering confidential, quantifiable, and actionable feedback to enable specific interventions.
The challenge: balancing quality and quantity
Like many law enforcement agencies around the country, WCPD faces challenges with recruitment and retention. Years ago, the agency would receive hundreds of applications for a single job opening. Nowadays, only a small fraction of applications are submitted each month, and even then, many do not meet the high standards required to be hired by the agency. Brown states, “If we had the ability to hire more great candidates, we would. However, quality applicants are rare, and we are not going to lower our standards just to meet a number.” The difficulty in recruiting the most highly qualified candidates has underscored the importance of retaining WCPD’s already outstanding and well-trained staff.
Brown actively fosters a positive and healthy workforce to improve the retention of staff. “Wellness strategies are a huge component to retaining good people. When people are happy and well, it cultivates a positive atmosphere, making the workplace culture more enjoyable. The happier and healthier you are, the better you can provide exceptional customer service and police the community in the manner in which it deserves.”
Understanding what truly matters to officers and staff is crucial for the development of effective retention strategies. However, getting honest feedback can be difficult. Recently, the department realized that they needed a confidential way to gather this feedback, ensuring that employees could be honest without concern of repercussions. To achieve this, they leveraged My90’s employee survey. This tool allowed them to gain insights into the real pain-points and needs of their officers and staff.
Moreover, with limited funding, it was essential to ensure that every dollar spent had maximum impact. WCPD understood that by using the feedback from My90’s confidential employee surveys, they could prioritize initiatives that mattered most to their officers. This would ensure the agency was using their limited resources as effectively as possible. Brown’s approach highlighted a commitment to maintaining high standards, supporting a healthy, motivated workforce and effectively leveraging available resources.
The solution: data-driven decision making with My90
After six months of using My90’s post-contact survey for the public, Brown decided to deploy My90’s employee survey, after realizing it was exactly the tool he needed to make data-driven choices on which programs to offer his agency.
My90 delivered three critical tools for Brown’s decision-making process. Tailored to the agency’s needs, the survey first provided insights into his department’s state of employee wellness and resiliency. Secondly, he was able to get specific and actionable data on valuable interventions to improve employee wellness. Lastly, he could track feedback and impact over time to gauge progress and make ongoing adjustments.
The results: prioritization of wellness
My90’s confidential employee survey provided valuable insights to WCPD leadership about areas of strength and improvement. The results were extremely encouraging, with 98% of the staff reporting they know how to access members of the peer support group, and 84% stating they know how to contact the Department’s clinical resources.
The feedback received by WCPD also helped quantify how many members of the department needed support in specific areas, enabling the prioritization of next steps. “Getting direct and quantifiable feedback helps us see how important an issue is...this helps us understand what additional strategies and resources we can provide to our employees,” said Brown. Based on the data indicating that 70% of officers are concerned about chronic back pain, the agency took action by prioritizing this issue. They utilized a state wellness grant to launch a first responder yoga program aimed at alleviating this top concern among officers.
Brown knows that change can be tough: “Just like with Axon Body Cameras, some staff were initially skeptical when we first rolled out My90. Body cameras help us document an unbiased and unfiltered window into an interaction, and My90 collects essential data to help us increase officer and community safety, wellness and transparency.” WCPD leadership is motivated by the fact that 73% of the agency’s staff participated in the first survey and response rates have continued to rise.
My90 is an engagement tool that bridges the gap between law enforcement leaders, their employees, and the communities they serve. To learn how My90 can better serve you, your employees and your community, get in touch here.
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