Enhancing Staff Engagement: VCH Pulse Checks with Ethelo
Traditional methods like suggestion boxes or basic surveys often lack depth and engagement. Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) partnered with Ethelo to address this challenge by running Pulse Check surveys across two consultation processes with medical and administrative staff. The goal was to efficiently gather staff insights on seven critical issues while ensuring high participation and a more detailed level of analysis.
Ethelo’s engaging platform enabled VCH to quickly identify priority areas requiring attention and collect valuable thoughts and ideas from participants. This collaborative approach provided actionable insights, fostering informed decision-making and supporting a more responsive and inclusive organizational culture.
7
core topics
240
participants
Manager, Innovation and Learning Technologies
Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), the largest healthcare provider in British Columbia, employs over 15,000 staff delivering critical medical services across the lower mainland. Despite a traditional hierarchical structure, VCH is known for its innovative and engaging culture. Pulse Check surveys were already a regular practice, but VCH sought to enhance them using Ethelo’s discussion and cohesion-measuring tools.
Ethelo and VCH collaborated to refine existing engagement methods, involving departmental stakeholders to align the process with specific needs. Seven key topics were identified:
In two sessions (September and November 2016), over 240 staff participated in Ethelo’s online platform at their convenience. While Ethelo assisted with initial setup, VCH staff managed much of the configuration and consultation.
The process efficiently highlighted the most polarizing issues and captured nearly 60 staff comments, achieving a 25% comment activity rate. VCH valued the survey’s clarity, actionable insights, and supporting evidence for prioritizing future organizational improvements.
“We were looking for a tool that allowed a deeper level of deliberation and engagement than was possible with surveys. What drew us to choose Ethelo was its unique ability to identify strongly supported decisions within constrained situations.”
Conrad Cone
“We were looking for a tool that allowed a deeper level of deliberation and engagement than was possible with surveys. What drew us to choose Ethelo was its unique ability to identify strongly supported decisions within constrained situations.”
Conrad Cone
