Green Mountain College
PA-10: Assessing Employee Satisfaction

Employee satisfaction and engagement is measured on a biennial basis through the social and human capital survey as an official metric of the Sustainability 2020 strategic plan.

On the last version of the survey, some questions of engagement were phrased as statements for which respondents had to indicate agreement on a scale of "not at all" to "a lot". The statements included:
● You identify with the goal of authentic sustainability and GMC’s strategies for working toward that goal.
● You are personally working to achieve authentic sustainability at GMC.
● You feel your personal path to success is affected by the goal of authentic sustainability at GMC.

Other engagement questions were asked as statements with a scale ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree" and included:
● You clearly understand the mission of the College.
● The mission provides direction for the curriculum and other activities of the College.
● The College's governance structure effectively facilitates achievement of its mission and purposes.
● Communication between College constituencies is systematic and effective.
● Green Mountain's governance structure enables faculty and staff to participate appropriately in decision-making matters related to their areas of responsibility.

Satisfaction questions were also asked using a scale. The first set offered a scale ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree":
● The College provides faculty and staff with substantial and equitable opportunities for professional development and advancement.
● Green Mountain protects and fosters academic freedom.
● The College provides an enriching workplace culture that also allows for a reasonable work-life balance.

Another question asked respondents to rate their job satisfaction at Green Mountain College with choices ranging from "very low" to "very high."

The faculty were then asked an additional set of scale questions. These statements offered responses ranging from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree":
● There are an adequate number of faculty to assure accomplishment of class and out of class responsibilities.
● Faculty workloads are equitably determined and consistent with the mission.
● The faculty evaluation process is effective and equitable.
● Instructional techniques and delivery systems, including technology, are appropriate to the mission of the College.
● Faculty are accorded reasonable contractual security for appropriate periods consistent with the institution's ability to fulfill its mission.
● Resources are adequate to support an appropriate institutional commitment to research and creative activity.

Issues raised by the evaluation are addressed through two channels.

First, the results are shared with the campus at large through a community conversation. For example, at the community conversation in the spring of 2014, the results of the survey were shared through an oral presentation and also through hard copies of the data that were passed out to attendees. Attendees were then asked to write their ideas for improvements on big sheets of paper with markers. These ideas were then transcribed into a typed list that was emailed to the whole campus so that leaders in various areas around campus could work to address the issues. The list of ideas was also given to the strategic plan steering committee, which used them to prioritize projects and programs to help advance the strategic plan. Employee engagement and satisfaction is deeply embedded in the strategic plan goals 1A: "Initiate a cross-college emphasis on human health and quality of life that becomes a nationally recognized compliment to our environmental emphasis" and 1C: "Deepen student and employee engagement in the College's endeavors to promote innovation and retention."

Second, the results were reviewed by the NEASC committee and recommendations on how to improve weak areas were given to Cabinet.

All of GMC's staff and faculty were assessed by a representative sample, but employees from the two regular on-site contractors were not because it was difficult to find an unbiased mechanism for survey implementation. The strategic plan steering committee is working on ways to offer the survey to contracted employees in a way that will yield a representative sample.