Emerson College
PA-12: Assessing Employee Satisfaction

Emerson engaged ModernThink, a nationally-known survey company to conduct the survey for us. We first used them in 2014 and we repeated the process for the November 2017 survey. The survey contained 64 statements divided into 16 dimensions of climate. Respondents were asked to indicate degree of satisfaction on each statement using a 5-point LIkert scale, form strongly agree to strongly disagree. Also, there were two questions asking for written comments. Emerson360 asked participants questions in a wide range of categories, including Job Satisfaction/Support, Senior Leadership, Collaboration, and Respect & Appreciation.

Sixty percent of faculty and staff took the survey, a high percentage of respondents in surveys of this type, according to ModernThink. Of the 60% who responded: 31% (236) were facluty; and the rest, 69%, (510) were staff.

Emerson and ModernThink administered a similar community climate survey in Fall 2014. Year over year, the results in most categories were fairly similar.

“The Emerson360 Community Climate Survey provides a valuable opportunity for members of the Emerson community to provide feedback about their perceptions and experiences at the College,” Sylvia Spears, vice president of the Social Justice Center, said. “The most important aspect of conducting this survey is actually what we do in response to the information that we receive from our community.”

The survey consisted of 60 statements across 15 categories, to which participants responded on a spectrum of “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.” There also were four “custom statements” tailored specifically to the Emerson community.

The statements that garnered the most positive responses were:

Diversity and inclusion are important values to me. (96 percent)
I have a good relationship with my supervisor/department chair (88 percent)
I understand how my job contributes to Emerson’s mission (85 percent)
My supervisor/department chair regularly models Emerson’s values (80 percent)
I know what to do if I receive a report of interpersonal violence. (80 percent)
Other statements scoring well fell under the categories of job satisfaction, work/life balance, and Emerson pride.

Statements receiving the most negative responses were:

My department has adequate faculty/staff to achieve our goals. (38 percent)
I am paid fairly for my work. (32 percent)
Our recognition and awards programs are meaningful to me. (32 percent)
Faculty and staff are meaningfully involved in institutional planning. (29 percent)
Our orientation program prepares new faculty and staff to be effective. (27 percent)
Statements regarding career advancement, teamwork, shared governance, and the review process also scored poorly.

Director of Diversity and Inclusive Excellence Robert Amelio has been meeting with the Campus Climate Committee to go over the results of the survey in detail and discuss ways to use the results.

One option the committee is considering, Amelio said, is creating a kind of “best practices” tool by looking at departments that scored highly in a particular area and investigating what they’ve been doing to achieve that.

In the coming weeks, Amelio and members of the committee will hit the road to present vice presidents, deans, chairs, and other divisional leaders with detailed results from their division, as well as discuss the results at the next Staff Forum in March.

To view the 2017 survey results, go to: http://www.emerson.edu/social-justice-center/access-equity/emerson360-community-climate-survey.

The vast majority of statements included in the survey were substantially similar or identical to the statements used in 2014. In a little over a third of statements, there was a change in positive and/or negative responses of five percentage points or more, a shift that ModernThink considers statistically significant.

Following a spate of building projects on campus, respondents reported being happier with the College’s facilities, as positive responses jumped to 55 percent from 48 percent. And 57 percent of people said they have the resources they need to do their job, versus 49 percent in 2014.

Supervisors and department chairs came out looking good in 2017, as did intradepartmental communication and collaboration; most statements in those areas received more positive responses than in 2014, or stayed the same. Communication from senior leadership, however, dipped 9 percentage points, from 54 percent positive to 45 percent.

The biggest drops year over year came in the areas of Policies, Resources & Efficiency, and Shared Governance.

The Emerson360 Campus Climate Survey is managed by the Campus Climate Committee, comprising 16 faculty and staff members, reporting to Sylvia Spears, VP of the Social Justice Center, and chaired by Robert Amelion, Director of Diversity and Inclusive Excellence. The committee is in the process of analyzing all of the 2017 survey data, and presenting the findings throughout the College. As in2014, division heads will be asked to share the data with all faculty and staff and develop plans highlighting steps they will take to improve low scores and enhance high scoring items.