Survey Shows Many Still Unclear About Mandate
A recent Registrant Insights Survey tapped into how registrants were adjusting to the changes introduced by the Professional Governance Act (PGA) and the organization’s new strategic plan, and how they felt the organization was performing as a regulator overall.
The survey revealed that the majority of registrants believe Engineers and Geoscientists BC is doing a good job. A total of 72 percent said the organization was positively meeting their needs and expectations as well as communicating information well.
But, the implementation of the PGA remains a sore point for some, who cite it as the cause of more bureaucracy and additional requirements.
Understanding the revised mandate
The survey revealed many registrants still do not fully understand the new mandate under the PGA. While 42 percent said they had an excellent or quite good understanding of the organization’s revised mandate, 34 percent said they had a "just okay" understanding. Sixteen percent said they didn't have a very good understanding.
To summarize their knowledge of the changes to Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s mandate, most (29 percent) believed the key change was the increase in registrant requirements and reporting. Following that, the other changes named were more government oversight (16 percent), more regulation of firms (14 percent) and less advocacy (11 percent).
Eleven percent liked the changes and thought they were easy to understand, while eight percent didn't like the changes and felt they were difficult to understand.
Priority of the organization's responsibilities
From a list of five main responsibilities Engineers and Geoscientists BC has under its revised mandate, registrants gave the highest priority to “enforcing standards of professional and ethical practice” (81 percent) and "maintaining academic and experience standards for entry to the professions" (71 percent).
In rating Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s performance on these same priorities, registrants felt the organization was doing a good job. For enforcing standards, 50 percent of registrants felt the organization's performance was very good or excellent, with 27 percent finding it good; for maintaining academic and experience standards for entry, 46 per rated the performance as very good or excellent, with 28 percent saying it was good.
Next steps
Engineers and Geoscientists BC will be evaluating the survey findings and looking at possible recommendations.
See the full article about the Registrant Insights Survey in the September/October issue of Innovation.
Photo: Wendy D Photography