How are you treated as a worker? Do you ever get to tell your boss how you really feel? Just recently, the University of Wyoming participated in a nationwide survey, the Chronicle Great Colleges to Work For Survey, where 57% of all eligible employees were given the chance to anonymously answer questions and be completely honest about their college workplace experience. It was conducted for the first time in the spring of 2018, and the committee who oversaw the procedure for UW has just recently received a 309-page report going into detail about the generic results shown before.
“One trend in the numerical scores across the categories is that employees are generally more satisfied with their more immediate working arrangements—the people they work with, their supervisors, their facilities,” said Daniel Maxey, chief of staff and co-chairman of the survey committee. “Some of the areas of the greatest dissatisfaction relate to the way they engage with the university—its leaders, policies, and planning or decision-making processes—in a larger context. We think that part of responding to the results is going to mean thinking about how we can all work together to feel like we’re all part of the same team on this campus.”
Though the results are not too surprising, they are not the best they could be. The committee knew from the start that there were some issues that needed to be addressed and this survey would allow them to realize where to start. The next goal for UW to reach in a five-year plan includes enhancing the human capital by bettering workplace conditions. However, this survey was just the first step to improving Wyoming’s work environment. Workplace satisfaction and moral are two places that need to be focused on according to the initial results. As the committee reads through the recently acquired report, though, a more detailed report will be published in the late fall of 2018. Also, the committee will use this survey each consecutive year to help reach goal four by checking results and making sure they are moving in the right direction.
The survey included two open-ended questions for staff to answer, inquiring about what would make UW a better place to work and what people already like about working here. The responses will help define some of the best aspects of working for the university. The hope is that showing people about some of the things they value about working on campus will remind them that a serious response is needed when it comes to improvements to a work environment.
“Responding to the results of the survey isn’t going to be an individual effort. No one person or committee is going to be able to improve workplace satisfaction and morale at UW. We’ve already started engaging groups like the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, Deans and Directors, and Executive Team in dialogue,” said Maxey. “Once we release a more comprehensive report, though, we’ll need to really begin having collective discussions as a community about what we’re all going to do—together, as a campus community—to improve.”
