University of Texas at Austin
PA-13: Assessing Employee Satisfaction
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.42 / 1.00 |
Jim
Walker Director of Sustainability, Financial, and Administrative Services University Operations |
Has the institution conducted a survey or other evaluation that allows for anonymous feedback to measure employee satisfaction and engagement during the previous three years?:
Percentage of employees assessed, directly or by representative sample:
A brief description of the institution’s methodology for evaluating employee satisfaction and engagement:
The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) is a research-practice partnership within the Harvard Graduate School of Education devoted to studying the postsecondary faculty experience. A component of their research includes the administration of the Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey at more than 250 universities. During the 2022-23 academic year, the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) participated in the Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey for the third time. The inaugural administration was during the 2016-17 academic year. Participation in this survey effort supports UT Austin's ability to attract and retain the best and brightest scholars and teachers, increase the satisfaction of current faculty, and make UT Austin a great place to work.
The survey was distributed to 2,670 Fall 2022 faculty who were identified as tenure-track, tenured, or professional-track with at least a 50% teaching load. The survey population represents every College and School except for the Dell Medical School. UT Austin was advised by COACHE to not administer the survey to Dell Medical School faculty at this time as they are refining the version of the survey designed for medical school faculty. Faculty with unique job titles, such as Visiting Professor, and executive leadership titles, such as Dean or Senior Vice Provost, were also excluded from the survey population.
The survey sample is representative of the population based on the key demographics of tenure statutes, race/ethnicity, and college/school.
Faculty were asked to evaluate their satisfaction with the university as a place to work. Sixty-six percent of 2023 respondents reported they were satisfied or very satisfied. Satisfaction ratings were slightly higher in 2020 (74.3%) compared to 2023 and 2017. Breaking down the 2023 results by tenure status demonstrate that professional-track faculty are most satisfied with the university (70.3%), and tenure-track faculty are least satisfied with the university (60.8%). UT Austin’s results are also similar to the results from peer institutions, where 64.1% of peer respondents reported being satisfied or very satisfied.
Faculty were asked to identify the top two “best aspects” of working at the university out of a list of 26 options. The six most commonly selected choices for the best aspects of the university were: Quality of colleagues (43.2%), Quality of graduate students (21.8%), Quality of undergraduate students (21.2%), Geographic location (17.0%), Academic freedom (14.7%), and Support of Colleagues (12.9%). These same six items were identified as the best aspects of the university in 2017 and 2020, though the order of rank has slightly changed over time for some of the selections. Quality of colleagues has maintained status as the most commonly selected best aspect of the university across all three administrations.
Faculty were also asked to identify the top two “worst aspects” of working at the university out of a list of 26 items. The six most commonly selected choices for the worst aspects of the university were: Compensation (21.6%), Cost of living (21.1%), Other (16.8%), Support for research/creative work (14.2%), Too much/many service/assignments (13.6%), and Unrelenting pressure to perform (9.0%).
A brief description of the mechanism(s) by which the institution addresses issues raised by the evaluation:
UT Institutional Reporting staff create aggregate reports of the data that are shared with UT Austin faculty and academic leadership to support evidence-based decision-making across the university.
Optional Fields
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.