The Employee Satisfaction Survey results are available in three formats:
WEB : The web version can be seen using any frames-capable browser. Some of the graphs may be hard to read.
PowerPoint: You can download the original PowerPoint presentation, but you must have Microsoft's PowerPoint program to be able to view the slide show.
PDF: The portable document format requires Adobe Acrobat reader, which is free to download at Adobe's web site.
Faculty, staff enjoy jobs; share concern about salaries
U of L faculty and staff say they like their jobs, feel challenged by their work and are respected by their supervisors. They believe that U of L serves the community and that their co-workers respect diversity.
At the same time, they are concerned about salaries, chances for advancement within the university and administrative attention to employee satisfaction.
These are among the general findings of employee surveys conducted last spring by Dey Systems Inc., a research firm the university hired to conduct several satisfaction and outcomes-based surveys of students, alumni and others.
"Employee satisfaction is a factor in our overall success as a university, so it's important for us to find out where we excel and where we need to improve," President John Shumaker said. "We also wanted to reduce the number of times employees are surveyed and provide statistically significant baseline data to allow us to measure progress in future years."
The surveys of faculty and staff, distributed last spring, were developed in consultation with the faculty and staff senates, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission on Diversity and Racial Equity, human resources, and communications and marketing. Results so far have been broken down by employee group full-time faculty, part-time faculty and staff and by individual units.
Shumaker said he was not surprised that salary issues topped the list of employee concerns.
"We know we need to offer more competitive salaries," he said. "We've taken a number of steps through the reinvestment process to bring salaries closer to our benchmark institutions or the local market, depending upon the position. We've still got work to do, but I expect that we'll make significant progress during the next four years.
"We should be encouraged to find that nearly 80 percent of faculty and staff like what they do. They also seem to have good working relationships with their colleagues and supervisors," he added. "We want to build on and reinforce these strengths as we identify strategies to respond to the survey in the coming months.
"At the same time, we need to look more deeply to find out what's affecting those who aren't as positive about their jobs. We have several initiatives already under way to help address some concerns. For example, we're looking at the classification structure for staff and ways we might simplify our internal business processes," he said. "The early survey results also suggest that we need to look closely at ways we can increase internal pride and confidence in the university, especially among our faculty."
More than 46 percent of employees responded to the survey; a little more than half had been with U of L 10 years or less. Fifty-one percent of respondents said they expect to remain at U of L until they retire. Nearly 60 percent of survey participants were female; 87 percent indicated their ethnicity as white, 8 percent as African American, 3 percent as Asian/Pacific Islander, 1 percent or less each as "Hispanic surname," American Indian or other.
Questions receiving the highest average scores for all employee groups combined, from highest to lowest, were:
- You are encouraged to behave ethically in your job.
- Your chair/dean/supervisor respects you as a person.
- Your co-workers respect diversity.
- You like your job at U of L.
- Employees are allowed to serve on committees.
- You are challenged by your job.
- You feel free to communicate ideas with your chair/dean/supervisor.
- You understand U of L's benefits package.
- Your work space/equipment is free from hazard.
- U of L serves the community.
Full-time faculty as a group had high average scores for questions about affirmative action practices, their understanding of the university's mission and the ability to exercise academic freedom at U of L. Staff gave high marks for teamwork with co-workers and the fair evaluation of their work by supervisors.
Questions receiving the lowest average scores for all employee groups combined, from lowest to highest, were:
- You are paid fairly relative to your responsibilities.
- You are paid fairly relative to your experience.
- Salary increases are determined fairly.
- The administration gives high priority to employee satisfaction.
- You have benefited from a mentoring opportunity.
- There is not too much stress in the job.
- Chances for advancement are good.
- Your department is staffed to cover the regular workload.
- Working conditions have improved in the last five years.
- The administration provides strong leadership.
Full-time faculty gave lower average scores for questions focusing on support for faculty, priority placed on faculty success and the value of U of L benefits compared with benefits available elsewhere. Part-time faculty gave lower average scores for questions about having input on decisions and benefiting from a mentoring opportunity, while staff gave lower average scores for a question related to the fairness of promotions and job reviews.
Seventy-eight percent of faculty and staff agreed or strongly agreed that they like their jobs at U of L, 60 percent that they would recommend U of L for education, 57 percent that they would recommend U of L for employment and 59 percent that they feel welcomed and encouraged at the university.
Staff were more likely than faculty to say they would recommend the university for education and employment and that they feel welcomed and encouraged.
The preliminary survey report also gives benchmark data to help schools, colleges and units see how faculty and staff responses in each area compare with overall university responses.
"The survey results are just the beginning," Shumaker said. "They're a snapshot of the key issues of importance to faculty and staff. Our next tasks are to further break down the data, identify additional questions to ask based upon what we find, develop strategies to address areas of concern within individual units and universitywide, and identify best practices that seem to be working well in some units so that we might apply them elsewhere."
