Emory University
PA-10: Assessing Employee Satisfaction

Emory Healthcare surveys 100% of all employees, most recently this past May 2013. Emory University participates in the Chronicle of Higher Education's Great Colleges to Work For survey. In 2010, 600 faculty and staff (selected by random sample) were asked to participate in the survey. The random sample is active, regular, full time, exempt employees ie no biweekly employees. The survey dimensions included faculty, staff, and administration relations; participation in college governance; career development, research and scholarship; connection to institution and price; teaching environment; supervisor/chair relationship; compensation and benefits; collaboration; facilities and security; fairness; job satisfaction; respect and appreciation; confidence in senior leadership; policies, resources, efficiency; and internal communications. In addition to the "Great Colleges to Work For Survey", new hire staff employees are surveyed 60 days after hire to rate satisfaction. The new hire survey goes to regular staff (meaning no faculty, no post docs or temporary employees). It asks if their orientation to their job was effective; their orientation to Emory was effective; their supervisor has been supportive in the transition into the department; as a new employee the team took steps to make them feel valued; this is the type of job in which they can feel a sense of accomplishment; they are satisfied with the position and job responsibilities; they have enough involvement in decisions that affect their work; the physical working conditions (i.e. space, cleanliness) are good; the actual duties of the job match what they were told when going through the selection process; knowing what they know now they would make the same decision to take this position at Emory; as a new employee they received clear directions and helpful feedback; they would recommend Emory to friends and family as a great place to work; they believe they will be working for Emory in 3 years. The overall response to strongly agree/agree was 84%.

Concerns expressed in the new staff hiring survey conducted by the University are forwarded for action by Employee Relations where appropriate action is taken to address the concerns. Examples of issues include concerns about paying for parking, traffic during the employee's commute, and the employee's office being too hot or too cold. The actions to address these examples are to provide information about alternative transportation choices and how to submit a work order to check heating/cooling in the office.

The Chronicle survey referenced was conducted in fiscal year 2011.