University of California, Davis
PAE-12: Employee Satisfaction Evaluation

At the request of UC’s President Yudof, the Council of University of California Staff Assemblies (CUCSA) established a Staff Morale workgroup, charged with: “providing a series of suggestions for programmatic revisions and additions that would support positive staff morale throughout the system, and taking into account current fiscal realities, that the workgroup’s suggestions be deliverable with minimal cost to the system.” The Staff Morale Workgroup elected to gather system-wide input from colleagues on the subject of staff morale and did so with a survey offered at all ten campuses and five medical centers. In order to focus system-wide responses to the survey, the Staff Morale Workgroup developed a working definition of Staff Morale which is: “The level of enjoyment or satisfaction a UC employee has in their workplace.” The Staff Morale Workgroup gathered several ideas and did research on what constitutes staff morale in the workplace. Based on this research a survey was created to capture data about the following factors that are believed to influence staff morale: Work Environment Professional Growth Environment Positive Supervision Teamwork Environment Additional Factors that influence staff morale may include the availability of alternative work options (e.g. flexible scheduling, job-sharing and phased retirement); workplace accommodations; social opportunities; tangible perks (e.g. discounts, entertainment opportunities); satisfactory or better benefits (e.g. health insurance, pension, etc.); equitable pay; and opportunities for campus involvement. The purpose of the survey was to gather UC system-wide information on the status of staff morale and more specifically, the perception of staff morale at the workplace, in order to present low cost and no cost recommendations. A survey was designed that captured data regarding the factors that may influence staff morale. The survey took approximately 8-10 minutes to complete and included the opportunity for responders to make specific comments. UC staff was encouraged to pass along the survey to colleagues on campus. UC staff, which did not have computer access, or who preferred to submit the survey manually, were given the option to print out the survey and submit it to their local CUCSA representative. Information on how to submit a paper copy was found at the end of the survey. The survey remained open to responders for approximately two weeks during January 2010. The information provided is confidential and the name of the responder was not linked with the responses. The Staff Morale Workgroup analyzed the survey results, identifying themes that were referred to by staff regardless of UC location. Data received has been condensed by specific areas (factors listed above) and is included in the final report. Based on the data, the Workgroup presents several Low-/No-Cost and Higher-Cost Recommendations focused on improving supervision, increasing professional/career development opportunities and increasing employee recognition/rewards.