Stanford University
PA-12: Assessing Employee Satisfaction

In October 2015, all staff at Stanford were invited to participate in a university-wide survey. The survey was deployed online and via paper, and translated to both Spanish and Mandarin. A Steering Committee, comprised of administrative and human resources leaders, was convened in late 2014 to review proposals and select the vendor. In addition, a Faculty Advisor was appointed, Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, the Thomas D. Dee II Professor in the Graduate School of Business. Vendors were interviewed, references were checked, and in February of 2015, the Corporate Education Board (CEB Global) was selected, primarily due to their robust action planning resources that help pinpoint useful actions to take based on survey results. Each school or unit identified one or more Survey Liaison(s) to be the primary point(s) of contact related to the survey, and to shepherd the process, from communicating to staff to encourage participation in the survey to post-survey communication of results and moving the process forward to identify actions to make workplace improvements. Survey Liaisons were trained to use the CEB reporting portal to generate reports, and are currently partnering with their leaders to identify next steps. University HR managed the project, working closely with the Steering Committee and later, the Survey Liaisons, to administer the survey and results. Two key benchmarks were identified; higher education, which was comprised of four-year universities and colleges in the United States, and high-performing organizations, which included companies in Fortune’s Most Admired list and on top workplace lists, many of which are in the San Francisco Bay Area. A response rate of 61% was attained, and the overall engagement rate was 83%, which reflected 28 points higher than the higher education benchmark, and 17 points higher than the high performing benchmark. Results were made available to all schools and VP areas starting February 1, 2016 and work is underway to communicate and plan actions based on results. Results from the 2015 staff survey were also published in the Stanford Report (daily newspaper): http://news.stanford.edu/news/2016/march/staff-survey-report-030316.html, and an infographic was posted on the Cardinal at Work (employee) website: https://cardinalatwork.stanford.edu/connect/2015-staff-survey/2015-results. The number above reflects the 11,942 staff that were invited to partake in the survey above. The Office of Faculty Affairs administers a separate "quality of life" survey to faculty, the most recent of which was administered in 2008. A report on that survey is available at the following link: https://facultydevelopment.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/documents/fqol-report-jan2010.pdf

The Vice President for Human Resources has reported results to: • The President, Provost and the President’s direct reports • The full University Cabinet, comprised of all Deans, Vice Presidents and Vice Provosts • The University Management Group, comprised of the highest ranking administrative officers in all schools and VP areas • The HR Management Group, comprised of human resources professional leaders in all schools and VP areas • Committee for Staff and Faculty Human Resources, comprised of faculty and staff who act as a “sounding board” for workforce-related initiatives • Our Faculty Advisor, Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer Currently, all leaders are evaluating results to determine next steps, which could involve many of the leaders partnering together to work across functional areas based on the results. In addition, the Vice President for HR is proposing a pulse survey to be conducted in FY17, and another university-wide staff survey to be conducted in FY18 as a follow up. Examples of Actions Taken from Past Surveys In the 2010 survey process, one of the lowest rated categories was Feedback and Coaching, which garnered a 53% satisfaction level. As a result of that finding, the President and Provost funded two large scale initiatives: 1. An initiative to develop a comprehensive “Manager Academy” for all managers that would include training to develop skills in providing feedback and coaching for managers and their staff 2. A pilot program to form a cohesive performance management approach at Stanford. The goal is to simplify and provide tools to help managers give meaningful and constructive feedback to staff, as well as to coach them to develop further. In addition, tools for employees to support their communication with their managers are included. This pilot, called Performance Management @ Stanford, now includes close to 3,000 employees and is scheduled to be launched in the remaining schools and units within the next four years, culminating in adoption by all schools and units. For both of these university-wide initiatives, University Human Resources was responsible to plan, develop, implement, and measure effectiveness after university leaders approved funding. Leaders will be looking at the next set of survey results to identify if improvements have been made in the area of feedback and coaching. For the current survey process, university managers have been asked to have discussions with their staff to share the results, and to brainstorm ideas to make improvements in areas that are weak, and to identify how to maintain or further excel in areas rated highly. Each school or unit is responsible to identify the mechanism by which managers are held accountable for their action planning; typically, this is included in their performance goals for the fiscal year in which the results are shared.