The survey saw only 4,000 of the council's 18,000 employees responding to questions on issues such as communication, culture, leadership, job satisfaction, and training and development.

More than half the respondents believe the council is a good place to work, with figures increasing at service level (59 per cent) and section level (66.5 percent), but only 24.4 per cent feel valued by the council as an employee.

More than 72 per cent described the culture and working atmosphere within the council as very positive, positive or OK.

Two of the main changes since local government reorganisation in 1996 are the implementation of job evaluation and the introduction of the Service and People First change management programme.

Following job evaluation, 12 per cent of staff are on protected grades as a consequence of the implementation of the new pay and grading model, 44 per cent are financially better off and the remaining 44 per cent remain unaffected.

However, fewer than a quarter of employees responded positively on the job evaluation process, 45 per cent negatively while the remaining 32 per cent considered themselves unaffected.

Despite feeling undervalued, most are happy in their work as 52.6 per cent say they are satisfied with their job while almost 45 per cent are proud to work for the council, while 21.8 per cent are not.

Chief executive Gavin Whitefield said: "I would like to thank all those employees who took the time to complete the survey and let their views be known. In an organisation of this size it is vital that we know what our own people think and our staff survey gave us the opportunity to do that on a council-wide basis for the first time.

"We'll use these responses to engage in further frank and open debate with our employees, providing the opportunity to discuss how we can collectively address the areas of concern.

"Workforce development and improving organisational culture are two key elements of our Service and People First programme.

'' Before we can progress in these areas we need to know what our starting point is. This survey has allowed us to do that.

"We are committed to working with our employees to identify and address areas for improvement as well as recognising where we are getting things right. The picture is now starting to take shape."