New York University
PA-12: Assessing Employee Satisfaction

In 2018, NYU conducted the Being@NYU survey which included questions targeted at NYU faculty, staff, and administrators to determine employee satisfaction. The survey was conducted after over a year of work developing focus groups, gaining input from the NYU community, establishing a Climate Survey Working Group and working with an outside consultant.

Nearly 22,000 eligible members of the NYU community participated in the assessment; it received a 40.4% response rate from faculty, staff, and administrators. The survey responses were weighted to ensure the representativeness of the sample based on three demographic characteristics for which population data were available: position status, gender identity, and racial identity.

To assess faculty, staff, and administrator's satisfaction, the Being@NYU survey asked questions related to: perceptions of employment practices, workplace climate, work-life balance, feelings of support and value at NYU, among other topics in the survey. The results were published in the Being@NYU survey and can be seen at the link included below.

NYU has taken numerous steps over the previous years to improve employee satisfaction and the overall climate at the University. The past year's efforts are recounted below, from the Being@NYU Assessment Results and Next Steps webpage (https://www.nyu.edu/about/leadership-university-administration/office-of-the-president/communications/being-nyu-assessment-results-and-next-steps.html?)

Several steps over the last two years to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community, in which all members feel like they belong at all times. These steps affect employees, students, and faculty alike. These include:

- The welcoming of Lisa Coleman as our first Senior Vice President of Global Inclusion and Strategic Innovation & Chief Diversity Officer
- The establishment of the Bias Response Line
- The expansion of the Center for Multicultural Education and Programming (CMEP)
- The re-alignment of CMEP and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Student Center within the Office of Global Inclusion
- Undertaking the Being@NYU assessment, which will help to guide ongoing and future efforts.

In addition to all of those steps, all of the following have been undertaken:

Faculty Recruitment, Retention, and Inclusive Excellence — NYU is committed to attracting and retaining a high caliber and diverse faculty.

To that end:
- NYU has shifted to use of the Interfolio applicant tracking system for full-time faculty and professional research staff in NY and DC, which will allow us to reach a broader and more diverse applicant pool.
- NYU is expanding the existing junior faculty mentoring program, and launching an effort to assist senior faculty to be effective mentors to postdocs and junior faculty. NYU is providing professional development support for junior faculty interested in Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Awards and similar research awards.
- NYU has significantly increased the number of Provost's Postdoctoral Fellows, welcoming our largest cohort in the program's history.
- NYU is expanding Steinhardt's Faculty First-Look program across the University. It identifies talented, underrepresented doctoral students from across the country, and brings them to NYU to provide professional development, hands-on training, and mentoring support as they prepare for the job market.

- Professional Development Opportunities — NYU offers ongoing Inclusion, Diversity, Belonging, and Equity (IDBE) training and professional development opportunities for the NYU community. For more information, contact cmep@nyu.edu or lgbtq.student.center@nyu.edu. In addition, Human Resources will continue to offer the Management Fellows Program for administrators who wish to advance their careers within NYU.
- Work Life Office — Recognizing that quality-of-life issues play a role in our efforts to recruit and retain excellent employees, the Provost’s Office launched the Work Life Office in 2018. It collaborates with schools, departments, and units to help support faculty, administrators, and staff through major life events. Among its early efforts: revising the rules for tenure clock stoppage to better fit the lives of faculty, and assessing the quality of our retirement information, resources, and services.
- Preferred Name Changes — It is important that members of the NYU community can live, learn, and work in an environment that recognizes them in all the ways in which they identify, including by using their preferred names. Our processes for student name changes and employee name changes (PDF) are not optimal. The Office of Compliance and Risk Management has convened a working group to review and improve these processes, and immediate improvements are being implemented with longer term recommendations to be presented by next semester.
- Gender-Neutral and Accessible Restrooms — Fostering an inclusive and accessible environment includes ensuring that all members of our community have access to the restrooms of their choice. Accessible and gender-neutral restrooms in Washington Square and Tandon are viewable online and in the NYU Mobile App. Additionally, NYU has completed the installation of signage indicating that all individuals may use restrooms consistent with their gender identity or expression. The Provostial Working Group on Disabilities, Inclusion and Accessibility is continuing to collaborate with colleagues across the University to ensure that the experience of all our community members is considered when designing new spaces.

Steps for the Near Future

- Improved Child-Care Support — Starting in January 2019, New York-based full-time tenure-track, continuing contract, and tenured faculty will be eligible for more generous childcare subsidies through a new Child Care Fund for Faculty. The existing Child Care Scholarship Program (PDF) will continue to serve eligible administrators, professional researchers, and visiting faculty.
- Women’s Leadership Forum — The Women’s Leadership Forum seeks to foster leadership development, facilitate professional growth, and sponsor opportunities for outreach among women currently in leadership roles at NYU as well as those who aspire to obtain leadership roles within the University.
- Global Academic Centers — The Office of Global Inclusion and the Office of Global Programs will partner with the Site Directors to develop educational and professional development opportunities for faculty and staff. In keeping with our efforts across the global network, these opportunities will reflect the cultural and global contexts relevant to the specific IDBE cultures in each site.
- Cross-University Collaborations — To make best use of individual schools’ IDBE experience, Dr. Coleman will convene those professionals who have responsibility for advancing these efforts across NYU to identify best practices, coordinate efforts, and better share information.

Committees

Under Dr. Coleman’s direction, the Office of Global Inclusion will convene a set of committees during the 2018–2019 academic year with the overarching goal of increasing each NYU community member’s sense of inclusion and belonging. Each committee will work throughout AY 2018–2019 to examine the Being@NYU assessment results and other relevant information sources that will guide its work. Dr. Coleman and/or committee representatives will present the committees’ progress, recommendations, and plans for future phases to various committees and stakeholders University-wide throughout the academic year.

Global Staff and Administrative Inclusive Excellence Committee

(co-chairs: Monroe France, Associate Vice President, Global Student Engagement and Inclusive Leadership and Kevin Hanks, Assistant Vice President, Talent, Learning & Organizational Development)
The Staff and Administrative Inclusive Excellence committee will provide recommendations on:
- Determining how best to promote and enhance existing effective programs and activities;
- Designing a framework for inclusive search and hiring processes that may be used across the University, and are adaptable to the specific needs of individual schools, institutes, and administrative units;
- Promoting a culture of disability inclusivity;
- Examining best practices to enhance pipeline programs, leadership development initiatives, and mentorship programs to clarify opportunities for administrators and staff to advance their careers within the University;
- Developing additional professional development and training opportunities;
assessing awards and recognition programs (e.g., Give-A-Violet Award, Distinguished Administrator Award, etc.) to ensure increased diversity and inclusivity of nominees and recipients;
- Proposing initiatives and programs to enhance cross-university staff and administrator engagement opportunities; and
- Identifying potential initiatives that require further study.