The satisfaction and commitment of UNMC faculty and staff continues to be a critical success factor in UNMC’s strategic plan. In 2002 and 2004, UNMC conducted confidential surveys that measured employee satisfaction and perceptions. Beginning Sept. 12, a 32-question survey will be sent to reassess the perceptions of current, regular employees.
The 2002 survey developed a base-line and the 2004 survey provided comparative data concerning employee perspectives about working at UNMC and identified areas where improvement was needed. Many private companies survey their employees on a periodic basis to assess perceptions and trends.
As a result of the previous surveys, UNMC has begun several employee development and management training initiatives and has increased the number of employee educational training opportunities and courses offered on-campus, said John Russell, assistant vice chancellor for Business and Finance and executive director of Human Resources. These include Foundations for Success, The Management Series and Administrative Colloquium, as well as specialized target sessions regarding harassment policies, FMLA, ADA and other topics. Development of the online “Employee Guidelines” listing of UNMC policies, practices and procedures at www.unmc.edu/hr also stemmed, in part, from input received through previous surveys.
The UNMC survey assesses employee perceptions in the following major areas, which research indicates are factors in employee satisfaction and retention:
- Organizational commitment and credibility
- Supervisory/managerial competence
- Workplace relationships
- Work environment
- Rewards and opportunities
The survey has been designed to be very brief and should not take more than a few minutes of your time to complete, Russell said. All individual survey responses will be completely confidential. In order to assure confidentiality, UNMC has obtained the services of a private consulting firm, CAREER DESIGN, INC., to process and tabulate the survey responses. No one from UNMC will see any employee’s individual responses, Russell said. For recognition purposes, note that CAREER DESIGN uses an IT Platform Manager, INSALA, LLC, which will send an e-mail with full instructions for completing the survey.
Access to the survey will be distributed within the next several days via e-mail from CAREER DESIGN directly to all regular full-time and part-time employees who have a Lotus Notes e-mail address. Those who do not have a Lotus Notes e-mail address will receive a paper copy survey form. Employees with e-mail who do not wish to complete an on-line survey may request a paper copy form by calling 402/559-5827.
A summary of the results of the survey, which will be used to further develop programs, will be publicized at a future date. Results of the 2002 and 2004 surveys may be viewed at the Human Resources website at www.unmc.edu/hr; after opening the site, click on the Human Resources site (on the top right column), then choose “Employee Satisfaction Survey” from the left column.