The Guarding Minds @ Work (GM) survey measures psychological health and safety through an employee's perception of their organization. The Indicators for Workplace Stress and Trauma measures the extent to which employees feel stressed or traumatized in your organization. This metric combines the responses from 20 statements and assigns percentages to 4 categories: serious concerns; significant concerns; some concerns; relative strengths. The GM survey is distributed annually by the Division of Customer Experience to all DHHS employees.

National data is not availalbe.

The new 2025 "Your DHHS Voice" survey does not collect this performance data. A new performance measure will be developed. 

There was a slight negative trend in employees reporting serious and significant concerns in the Guarding Minds indicator of workplace stress and trauma. There was a significant reduction in response rate from 48.5% (2756 responses) in March 2023 to 15.8% (897 responses) in July 2024. The department implemented the hybrid work initiative in April of 2024, which required employees to work in office at least 2 days per week.

The quarterly Guarding Minds proxy measure (stress versus satisfaction scan) shows the department at an “elevated risk of psychological injury” for the past 4 quarters. The quarterly Guarding Minds proxy measure, (positive versus negative mental health culture) shows the department at an “average risk of psychological injury” for the past 4 quarters. The quarterly Guarding Minds survey has a consistent employee response rate of 30%.