University of Cincinnati
PA-13: Assessing Employee Satisfaction

To better understand the needs of our faculty, the University of Cincinnati (UC) has partnered with Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE). For more than 10 years, COACHE has worked with more than 250 academic institutions to survey faculty and identify themes associated with faculty satisfaction. UC faculty completed the COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey in the Spring of 2018.

However, the COACHE survey does not gather information from adjunct faculty or non-academic staff. On February 24th, 2020, UC launched a campus-wide UC Community Experience Survey. The survey is part of ongoing implementation of UC's Strategic Plan, "Next Lives Here," which among other things focuses on Inclusive Excellence, Faculty Investment, and Staff Enrichment. The survey, which was reviewed by the IRB to ensure it aligns with all best practices for respecting anonymity, has been distributed widely and is being promoted heavily by department heads across campus, is designed to include measures that specifically focus on Job Satisfaction, Engagement, and Growth for all employees, including adjunct faculty and non-academic staff who have not previously been surveyed as part of COACHE. Specifically, it will focus on the degree to which staff are happy with their current job, skill development, and career path, and they will be asked to rank the most important problems that need to be addressed at the university. The survey is designed to take only 7-10 minutes.

Results were received and reviewed by the COACHE Executive Team in the Fall of 2018. Results presented three areas of strength and three areas for development. According to the faculty, our strengths are departmental collegiality, faculty leadership, and tenure policies. Areas for development include departmental leadership, interdisciplinary work, and mentoring. During the spring 2019 semester, through a peer and self-nominated process, six working groups were formed that corresponded to our three areas of strength and three areas for development. These groups reviewed the COACHE quantitative and qualitative data in detail, conducted follow up interviews, and bench marked practices at our peer institutions to create a set of recommendations that were presented to Provost Nelson, Vice Provost Serra, and the COACHE Executive Team in May 2019.

Informed by faculty input through the COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey, and UC Women Lead's 2019 faculty project, the Office of the Provost is implementing new strategic initiatives to support faculty in teaching, research and service. These efforts focus on Leadership Development, Mentoring, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, and Collegiality.

Regarding the results of the UC Community Experience Survey, the first wave of results will be shared at the Equity and Inclusion conference on April 1. These will be high-level, quantitative aggregate results for all students, faculty, and staff. Additional results and a qualitative evaluation will be posted on the Bearcats Landing intranet as soon as they are available. Pathway leaders also plan on presenting the results, and subsequent action plans, to constituent groups over the summer and fall semesters.

https://www.uc.edu/about/provost/initiatives/coache.html