Following two years of intense work, participants of the EMPIRIAE Experience Exchange Network – HUMAN RESOURCES from Cieszyn, Jarosław, Jasło, Jelenia Góra, Nisko, Zawiercie, Zgierz, Żary and Żywiec – and the Association of Polish Cities Team – had the immense satisfaction of sharing the outcomes of their work with all Polish local governments.

We encourage all local government employers, municipal secretaries, and human resources department staff to read the guideline materials and a comprehensive survey questionnaire. Every city and town interested in the project will be provided with access to an electronic questionnaire form adaptable to individual needs. If interested, please e-mail us with a request for access at zwiazek.miast.polskich@gmail.com. We will use the e-mail address provided to send e-form use guidelines with a focus on in-house surveys; we will also provide information on how to adapt the form to individual requirements. Please note that you will need a Google account to manage the survey and generate e-form copies for your own use. While the e-form itself is supported by Google Drive only, end users will not be required to set up Google accounts to complete the questionnaire.

Tool authors are very much aware that this is just the first step towards reinforcing and retaining staff at municipal authorities and institutions. Nonetheless, this stage cannot be skipped! Each team is different – we vary in our knowledge, experience, and needs. Representatives of the EMPIRIAE Experience Exchange Network – HUMAN RESOURCES wish to point out that before making any decision to change our organisational culture, we ought to diagnose factors assisting and impeding our employees’ daily work. We have to find out what motivates and/or discourages them in discharging daily duties and taking on new challenges.

During a recent EMPIRIAE Experience Exchange Network – HUMAN RESOURCES session on 28‑29 September in Katowice, discussions extended beyond employee satisfaction survey methods to ways of reinforcing satisfaction and building engagement. The City of Katowice presented physical activity-based team integration methods, and ways of improving safety and comfort at work.

The team from Zgierz showcased their “Local Development” Programme outcomes, which involved a true metamorphosis of the human resources department into a human resources management team.

Gliwice joined the session as a guest, giving a presentation on a training service ordering system based on a so-called training course sampling mechanism. The approach brought measurable results to the quality of competence backing offered to employees, and the overall level of satisfaction with the training course offer.