Overall Rating Silver
Overall Score 57.85
Liaison Chad Carwein
Submission Date Jan. 17, 2023

STARS v2.2

East Carolina University
PA-13: Assessing Employee Satisfaction

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.42 / 1.00 Chad Carwein
University Sustainability Manager
HSC Facilities Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Has the institution conducted a survey or other evaluation that allows for anonymous feedback to measure employee satisfaction and engagement during the previous three years?:
Yes

Percentage of employees assessed, directly or by representative sample:
42

A brief description of the institution’s methodology for evaluating employee satisfaction and engagement:

In early 2022, ECU faculty and staff were given an opportunity to participate in the UNC System Employee Engagement Survey, part of a five-year project designed to provide metrics for measuring our progress in implementing the UNC System Strategic Plan. The survey was administered through an outside vendor, ModernThink, which is responsible for the Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Great Colleges to Work For” survey. The 2022 survey was the third time the survey has been administered, with the first two iterations occurring in 2018 and 2020.

There were several changes to this year’s survey:

- The 2022 iteration of the survey was shortened from the 61 statements presented in 2020 to a 31 question “pulse” survey.
- As a result, many of the questions that were asked in previous surveys do not have follow up information this year.
- In addition, some dimensions of the previous survey were eliminated to focus on the more prevalent concerns identified in the two previous surveys.
- Finally, the survey added additional questions related to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts as well as questions regarding the university’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2018, ECU faculty and staff participated in the UNC System Employee Engagement Survey, which is part of a five-year project designed to provide metrics for measuring our progress in implementing the UNC System Strategic Plan. The survey was administered through an outside vendor, ModernThink, which has implemented similar studies for hundreds of colleges nationwide and for the Chronicle of Higher Education “Great Colleges to Work For” report. Additional surveys will be completed in 2020 and 2022 to measure our progress over a 5 year period of time.

The survey had respondents rate the University's performance on 15 core dimensions: Job Satisfaction/Support; Teaching Environment; Professional Development; Compensation, Benefits and Work/Life Balance; Facilities; Policies, Resources, and Efficiency; Shared Governance; Pride; Supervisors/Department Chairs; Senior Leadership; Faculty, Administration, and Staff Relations; Communication; Collaboration; Fairness; Respect and Appreciation.


A brief description of the mechanism(s) by which the institution addresses issues raised by the evaluation:

The Chancellor’s Executive Council has reviewed the overall results, and each Vice Chancellor has received additional division-specific results of their respective divisions. Following a review of the results with the Faculty Senate and Staff Senate in December 2022, the Department of Human Resources will continue to support university leadership in the development of action plans and responses to the areas of opportunity revealed in the survey results. Stay tuned to this website for further updates on ECU’s response to the 2022 Employee Engagement Survey.

A few areas that the results indicated an average score of "Warrants Attention" were as follows: Performance Management, Communication and Collaboration, and Confidence in Senior Leadership. However, it is important to note that overall Job Satisfaction was rated Very Good to Excellent (75%-100%) by every type of employee category: SHRA, EHRA Non-Faculty, Faculty, and CSS.

In past years, the institution has attempted to address these issues in the following ways:

We previously held two town hall meetings led by ModernThink and attended by senior ECU leaders. There, we discussed the research, answered questions and reviewed the next steps in the process.

The Employee Engagement Project Management Team, along with members of ECU Senior Leadership, have also conducted Focus Groups aimed at learning more about how ECU employees experience communication both from Senior Leadership and within their respective workplaces. The information gathered during these conversations has been used to help inform University Leadership about how communication, both small and large scale, can be enhanced.


Website URL where information about the employee satisfaction and engagement evaluation is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Data Source: Rob Weatherly, Director of Employee Relations, Human Resources


Data Source: Rob Weatherly, Director of Employee Relations, Human Resources

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.