Cardinal CSD Named a Top Workplace for the Third Year in a Row!

posted September 13, 2021

We are thrilled to announce that Cardinal Community School District has been awarded a Top Workplaces 2021 honor by The Iowa Top Workplaces and Des Moines Register for the third year in a row!

“At Cardinal, we know that our students flourish and grow best under educators that are encouraged, motivated, and supported by their administration,” Joel Pedersen, Cardinal superintendent says. “Receiving this award tells our admin team that we are moving in the right direction.”

Top Workplaces are awarded based on anonymous employee engagement surveys that measure how employees feel about workplace values, employee appreciation, employee development, retention, pay, leadership, and more.

“This indicates that new staff programs like Project Spark and tools like HappyWork are helping us improve our employee’s work-life balance and reduce their stress levels,” Mr. Pedersen says. 

The Project Spark program, based on books by author Shawn Achor, focuses on four areas of health: emotional, physical, financial, and spiritual. Staff members break into growth groups that match their interests and beliefs in these four areas. Cardinal then provides groups with opportunities to take part in activities supporting these different areas of health such as yoga classes, family events, financial classes, and more.

HappyWork is a digital platform that collects daily happiness scores from our staff members anonymously via text. A text message is sent out each day asking staff to rate their day on a one to 10 scale. If a low rating comes in, another text is sent out automatically that says “We are sorry to hear you are having a low day. Can you please let us know why? Answer: 1-Mental Health 2- Family/Personal 3. Work Related.”

“These texts are then automatically sent to Abbey and I (school counselors) on the HappyWorks dashboard to respond, support, and connect with the staff member who is communicating,” explains Michelle Edwards, Cardinal’s MS/HS professional school counselor. 

Our counselors use the anonymous system to bridge gaps between staff and administration as well as connect staff to local resources. 

“We know life gets hard, families face adversities, and they have a life outside of the classroom,” Mrs. Edwards says. “We hope HappyWork can be a place for them to connect and just get support for whatever that might be.”

In addition to supporting staff, HappyWork also allows us to measure if our employee programs are improving staff wellbeing. With the HappyWork platform, we have real data to use to guide our decisions and how they affect our staff, and, by association, our students. This data is vital to remaining a top workplace as we learn how to better support our team and cultivate a positive culture.

“Thank you to our team members for taking part in the Top Workplaces survey,” Mr. Pedersen says. “We will work to continue to improve the health and wellbeing of our staff. A thriving team of educators is vital to our students receiving the high-quality education they deserve and have come to expect at Cardinal.”