A new, in-house survey of city employees found an increase in overall satisfaction in the past seven years but more concern about the city’s facilities, number of staff and other resources.

The voluntary survey was completed in August, and 567 out of the total 843 part- and full-time city employees responded.

Over the next six months, department heads will address department-specific issues brought up in the survey, said Assistant City Manager Casey Toomay.

“Department-level staff are working on their plans, based on what the priorities identified in that survey said,” Toomay said. “They have been challenged to come up with a six-month work plan.”

The Lawrence City Commission was presented with the results on Tuesday, about three months after the results of the citizens’ survey. The citizens’ survey, which was mailed to a random sample of 2,500 Lawrence residents, occurs every four years and is conducted by an Olathe-based market research firm.

“It’s important to reach out to citizens and hear what they have to say; it’s also important that we hear from employees,” Toomay said.

Employees ranked equipment and resources as a top priority.

Of those who responded, 42 percent of city employees disagreed with the statement that there were adequate facilities, equipment, personnel and other resources available to successfully do their job.

According to a memorandum to city employees from Interim City Manager Diane Stoddard, there were “a number of comments” on the employee surveys about the need for a new police facility — a topic that’s been discussed over the past year.

The Lawrence Police Department requested a new headquarters last year and has reiterated that its current locations — a Joint Law Enforcement Center downtown and an Investigation and Training Center in west Lawrence — are too small and don’t meet its needs.

Developing public safety facilities, such as a new police headquarters, also got support in the citizens survey. According to the results, 52 percent pointed to that as a priority.

Stoddard’s memo states facilities have been a “growing concern” and staff will continue to talk about the needs with the City Commission.

“I believe that over the next 10 years, facility needs will require attention and resources,” it states.

According to a summary of the results, 62 percent of respondents disagreed that the City Commission understood the working conditions in their departments.

That was also cited as an issue in a 2008 survey of city employees.

In that survey, employees were asked to score the City Commission on whether they understood the working conditions of the city. The commission received a score of 2.1 out of a possible 5.

In this most recent survey, employees chose whether they were satisfied or dissatisfied with statements but did not provide scores.

Though issues were cited, about 78 percent of employees answered that they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their current employment. According to the memo, overall satisfaction is up 18 percent since last survey in 2008.

Most employees — more than 80 percent — answered that their supervisor and co-workers treated them with respect, and 67 percent were satisfied with the overall working environment.

Sixty-six percent were satisfied with their overall compensation and benefits.

Before a seven-year period without one, employee surveys had been conducted every three years from 2002 through 2008 and had been done through a market research firm.

Toomay said city leaders want to do the surveys more frequently.

She and Stoddard plan to meet with each department over the next two months to garner additional feedback.

“Now that we’ve seen the survey, we’ll give them a chance to respond and see what we can do to keep that continuous loop of feedback going,” she said.