University of California, Irvine
PA-13: Assessing Employee Satisfaction

Survey 1 – Staff Engagement Survey

Every other year, from early August to early September, the university conducts an enterprise-wide staff engagement survey administered by third party vendor Gallup. The last survey was conducted in 2019, and the survey will be conducted again this year, 2021.

All eligible represented and non-represented staff members receive the confidential survey intended to measure engagement. The survey consists of Gallup’s Q12 plus several additional indices including change management, supervisor accountability, supervisor effectiveness, and inclusion and diversity.

In 2019, an impressive 76% of staff members completed the survey.

Survey 2 – UC Council of UC Staff Assembly (CUCSA)

UC Irvine staff participated in the University of California (UC) Staff Engagement Survey 2019 sponsored by the UC Council of UC Staff Assembly (CUCSA).

A random stratified sample of non-represented UC career staff with at least one year of service were invited to take the survey in mid-May to mid-June 2019.

The survey results provided information for the following survey objectives:
-- Understand the current state of engagement of the UC workforce system wide and how it differs by key organizational segments and demographics
-- Determine what drives engagement at UC and individual locations
-- Identify strengths to build on and opportunities to address; create a shortlist of actions to address issues and improve employee engagement across the system
-- Involve and communicate with leaders and employees throughout the process

The survey targeted participant’s opinions on engagement, career development, communication, image/brand, organizational change, performance management, supervision, and working relationships. Results from the CUCSA survey were combined with results from the staff engagement survey administered by Gallup, and reported together in leadership and staff engagement survey results training sessions and town hall meetings.

The CUCSA survey is administered every two years.

Survey 3 – Inclusive Excellence School Level Review

The Office of Inclusive Excellence is conducting a review for all of academic units on a periodic basis. The purpose of the review is to assess the capacity for and effectiveness of academic units (schools and programs) in advancing the campus commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

The review focuses on institutional climate, inclusion and work-life issues so that the school and campus leadership are better informed about the working and learning environment. The review includes confidential interviews and moderated discussion group opportunities for faculty, staff, and graduate students to share their perspectives, experiences and aspirations about these matters.

Results of the Employee Engagement Survey were made available to all leaders with four or more respondents. For leaders with fewer than four respondents, results were rolled up to the next level to protect employee anonymity.

In-person and online training is provided to all leaders so that they can better understand, analyze and apply their results.

Town Hall meetings are held at campus and medical center locations following each Staff Engagement Survey. Generalized survey results were shared with employees, and attendees were then given the chance to brainstorm solutions in two categories where scores could be improved, and brainstorm positive next steps in two categories where scores were high.

Survey results and town hall feedback are compiled and rolled into an ongoing campaign entitled Empowered to Make a Difference to raise employee satisfaction and engagement overall survey period over survey period. The ultimate goal of the campaign is to help every staff member realize that they are empowered by leadership to make a difference every single day at UCI.

Staff members also have the opportunity to participate in ideation projects whereby staff submit ideas on how to improve areas of opportunity or strength as identified in the surveys. This application is called Bright People, Brilliant Solutions. To date, over 1,200 ideas have been submitted. Ideas selected for further evaluation or implementation are tracked on a web page: https://hr.uci.edu/partnership/empowered/selected-ideas/

The CUSA Survey results are used to inform campus leadership and human resources about providing critical job tools and resources to effectively accomplish work, identifying improved strategies and resources for staff career development, and further developing training and resources for managing performance.

Additional Links:
- UCI Human Resources Empowered to Make a Difference: https://www.hr.uci.edu/partnership/empowered/
- 2019 UC Overall Engagement Survey Results: https://www.ucop.edu/human-resources/_files/employee-relations-documents/2019-uc-overall-engagement-survey-data.pdf
- UCI Office of Inclusive Excellence: https://inclusion.uci.edu/

In addition, all staff members have access to Gallup Access, an online portal where they can review team scores and learn more about engagement. This site requires a login and is not available for third party review.