UM-Dearborn Staff Satisfaction Data Review and Discussion Guide 2007 Survey

Transcription

1 UM-Dearborn Staff Satisfaction Data Review and Discussion Guide 2007 Survey The key to employee surveys is not the data itself. The key is how well you share the data with staff, and how you communicate action based on their feedback. -Quint Studer, Hardwiring Excellence

2 Contents: Interpreting Survey Results Key Points to consider and Frequently Asked Questions Discussion Group Process / Suggestions for Action Planning

3 Interpreting Survey Results Various research in different industries over the past decade has shown that an employee s relationship with his or her immediate supervisor has a predominant effect upon the happiness and motivation of the employee. The Senior Officers and Deans have sponsored this survey process in order to obtain confidential information from staff regarding their satisfaction levels on various aspects of their employment with the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Questions were asked on the topics of Personal Satisfaction; Quality Service; Advancing the Vision; Building Relationships; Diversity and Respect; Creative Problem Solving/Strategic Thinking; Communication; Development of Self and Others; and Leadership/Achievement Orientation. What type of data is available? The survey results have been broken out by unit/department for those units with over 10 respondents. Data includes the number of respondents, number and percentage of responses to each of the 59 questions, mean for each question and competency, as well as the answers received to the three open ended questions. Senior Officers and Deans will also receive the overall campus data for comparison purposes. The overall campus and departmental level mean scores are represented on a graph to assist with comparing the data. Who do these scores represent with regard to the supervisor? The scores for a unit will represent not just one supervisor but all individuals in that area with supervisory responsibilities. It is therefore not possible to obtain a rating about individual supervisors from this survey. The survey was not designed to gather this level of detail. Instead, a collective rating of those with supervisory responsibilities is meant to suggest that there is collective responsibility for the behaviors that these questions represent. How can our unit improve our ratings? The purpose of the survey data review is to look at overall key trends and move the department forward. The survey can be used to identify general areas of strength or weakness within a unit. This requires discussions within the department to understand the specific reasons for why scores are high or low. As discussed above, there is a collective responsibility among those with supervisory responsibilities to improve these scores as well as focus on areas that scored well and ensure that positive behaviors identified through the survey are continued. For example, the unit will collectively decide on a few key areas of focus during the discussion group process. The unit leadership will then take the feedback from discussion groups and determine steps to help the supervisor improve or continue the positive behavior. Frequently, the unit leadership will follow-up with the unit to discuss action plans and progress toward fulfilling the commitments of the action plans.

4 Using Survey Comments The survey asked three optional open-ended questions to allow employees to comment on matters of interest to them. These questions included: What is going well in your department, unit, or work area? What would you improve in your department, unit, or work area? Please share any final comments or suggestions. The purpose of asking for comments was to obtain specific examples or ideas in order to better understand the survey scores. This will also assist in planning for improvements for the coming year. Comments are very helpful for illustrating what specific types of issues may exist in your area that the survey questions cannot capture. However, be careful to not generalize any one comment by assuming that it represents the opinions of all people in your area.

5 Key points to consider in making this survey process a success The process must make efficient use of everyone s time as a matter of courtesy and respect to all. Employees have different perspectives about what the issues are. Therefore, all employees should be encouraged to actively participate in discussing results and drawing conclusions about what your work area s survey results mean. After reviewing the unit results, employees should have a central role in choosing areas to work on; leadership should not impose priorities. Defining what issues are (from the voice of employees) must precede the attempt to find solutions. Employees must believe and trust that leadership hears and understands their concerns. The process for drawing conclusions from results and determining what next steps should be must offer every employee a chance to share their opinions anonymously, and avoid putting employees on the spot to explain or defend their opinions publicly. Employees must see that leadership is committed to addressing these issues of common concern, and that leadership provides periodic progress reports back to employees. It is strongly recommended that every local work area choose two or three specific things to work on for the coming 12 months, based (in part) on results and comments from your surveys. Frequently Asked Questions Q: How do I read the survey results? A: Results will be delivered to each Senior Officer or Dean and will include the unit results (in those units with more than 10 respondents) and an overall report for the campus. Each question will be reported in the following format: 2. PERSONAL SATISFACTION: Personal feelings of job satisfaction toward current position and what the University offers me as an employee. MEAN Top number is the count of respondents selecting the option. Bottom % is percent of the total respondents selecting the option. Strongly Disagree Disagree Sometimes Agree Strongly Agree I feel that my role is personally satisfying. 4% 4% 23% 41% 28% I feel I have influence in determining how I carry out my job. 5% 6% 17% 43% 28% There is an appropriate amount of work-life balance in my job. 6% 12% 24% 37% 20% I feel appropriately compensated for the work I am doing. 19% 27% 24% 20% 11% My work environment promotes a healthy lifestyle. 9% 17% 26% 29% 18% The UM benefits package meets the needs of me and my family. 3% 8% 18% 47% 24% I would recommend UM-Dearborn to my friends and family, as a good place to work. 7% 6% 26% 39% 23%

6 As you begin to review the results, look for areas that show strengths, which is represented by the highest percentages in the responses of Agree and Strongly Agree. Also, look at areas that have higher percentages in Disagree/Strongly Disagree. Additionally, it might be helpful to take note of competencies/subject areas that scored higher than other areas. The report groups answers under each of the twelve component areas. Leaders will want to build on current successes and create action plans to improve where improvement is needed. Do not try to analyze why answers were reported this way. Those questions will be uncovered during the discussion groups. Q: Why didn t I receive a report for my work area? A: For areas with 10 or fewer responses to the survey, reports were not prepared in order to protect anonymity. For those units with less than 10 respondents, the Senior Officer or Dean should utilize the results from the overall campus survey to facilitate discussion groups within the unit. Q. I would like to see my data interpreted in other ways with more specific analysis for individual questions. Is this an option for me? A. Absolutely! We have the ability to pull data in various formats on specific questions and gather data to do further statistical interpretation. Q. When will the next employee staff satisfaction survey be administered? A. At the current time, the next UMD employee satisfaction survey is planned to be administered again in 12 months (Spring 2008). Next year s survey will allow us to look for changes and improvement since the implementation of the first survey.

7 A suggestion for discussing results and coming up with ideas for improvement The following is a suggested approach for sharing and discussing results. This approach is designed to be conducted over two or three general meetings of employees in your work area. You should feel free to improvise this process where you feel appropriate. Step 1: Selecting and Prioritizing the Issues 1. Present your work area s scores and employee comments in a general presentation and as handouts, without drawing conclusions. 2. Number off into small groups of 4-5 people to discuss the results and what they mean to each individual. Avoid having supervisors and subordinates on the same team. 3. After sufficient discussion, have each person privately and anonymously write down (on post-it notes) three issues they personally would like to see addressed. These issues don t necessarily have to correspond with particular survey questions per se. Issues can be derived from survey results, comments, the group s discussion, or individual thoughts. 4. Each person places their post-it notes on a group sheet or easel board (one sheet per group of 4-5 people). 5. Proceed to multi-vote on the items on the sheet. (As an option to increase anonymity if desired, have all groups rotate to multi-vote on a different group s sheet.) Each person is given a set number of votes (e.g., 3 to 5), in the form of a different colored post-it note. Reviewing all items on the sheet, each person should silently place one of his/her votes on those concepts that are most important to him/her. Combine ideas that are substantially the same before voting. 6. Each group takes their top 3 (or 5) ideas and combines them with other groups top ideas. Repeat the multi-voting exercise as an entire team in a matter similar to step The top three items then become the (preliminary) top three priorities that the entire work area would like to see addressed. Step 2: Validating and Defining the Issues 1. Re-present the top three items and using a show of hands or other anonymous voting, have the group validate that the top three items are what the department should work on. If a majority rejects the top three items, determine whether the ideas from the first meeting simply need to be reprioritized or whether new ideas need to be generated altogether. Repeat appropriate steps from the first meeting only if necessary. 2. Once the top three items are validated, distribute three index cards (use 4x6 for adequate writing room) to each person, and have each person label the cards A, B, and C, representing the three items. Have each person take about 15 minutes (or more) to write on each card (anonymously) the answers to the following questions: a. What does this mean to you? b. Why is this important to you? c. What is going well with respect to this item in your work area? d. What is not going well with respect to this item? 3. Number off into small groups. Share and discuss the responses from each individual, if comfortable doing so. Have one person take summary notes for reporting back to the larger group.

8 4. Reconvene as a larger group. Have a spokesperson from each group share the summary notes from their group discussions. 5. Collect the (anonymous) index cards from each person and designate a trusted individual to summarize the comments from each card, organized by issue (A, B, and C). Write a brief summary of the general issues and concerns. This can be shared either with the entire work area or just the leadership of the work area. Step 3: Specific Actions for Improvement 1. Distribute the results from the second meeting (particularly the analysis of index cards in step 5 above) to all employees in the work area. 2. Repeat a process similar to the second meeting to come up with specific actions or ideas for improvement. 3. The leadership of the work area should vet the idea for improvement for feasibility, reasonableness, and cost-effectiveness. Ongoing 1. Share back with the entire work area those ideas which make most sense to undertake for the coming year. Ask for their concurrence. 2. Periodically report back to the entire work area the progress that has been made in addressing these issues.