As a follow-up to the 2001 and 2003 campuswide employee opinion surveys, UCSF again is asking staff to comment candidly about their work life in the 2006 online version.
Staff members employed by the campus and UCSF Medical Center have three weeks or until Friday, April 21, to fill out the confidential online survey.
The survey offers staff an opportunity to provide honest opinions about the institution as a whole, as well as to evaluate their own department or work unit, supervisor and job. Open-ended questions will allow staff to freely express their thoughts.
"Campus leadership remains dedicated to creating an environment at UCSF that enhances and supports our work lives," says Chancellor Mike Bishop. "Continuing and updating this survey provides the opportunity for all staff to express their opinions, candidly and confidentially, on the full range of issues related to work life at UCSF. Your responses will enable us to determine whether any progress has been made since the last survey, as well as to utilize your input in our efforts to improve work life at UCSF in the future."
As in 2003, the campus and medical center have rallied groups of ambassadors to encourage their co-workers to fill out the survey. The medical center's 135 ambassadors and the campus's 205 ambassadors will be circulating in their areas over the next three weeks reminding folks to fill out the survey.
As in the previous surveys, performance scores are based on a five-point scale with one meaning the least satisfaction or that the respondent strongly disagrees with a statement, three being neutral, and five being the most favorable or that the respondent strongly agrees with a statement.
And as with the 2001 and 2003 campuswide staff surveys, UCSF has contracted with the national survey research firm Morehead Associates to administer the survey. Morehead Associates has conducted and analyzed similar surveys at UCLA, UC Irvine and UC San Diego Medical Center.
"This year's survey is very similar to the 2003 survey so we can not only benchmark against a national database, but also benchmark against our own institution," says Mike Tyburski, director of Human Resources for the campus. "As in the past, we also will publish all the results."
One of the advantages for having a survey online is that results are tabulated faster and provide real-time results, he notes.
Maintaining Confidentiality
Importantly, only the survey firm will see the individual survey responses, and results will be presented in a way that maintains the confidentiality of demographic data. In other words, specific demographic information that can identify a person, such as ethnicity or sexual orientation, for example, will not be tied to individual responses that are then given to a supervisor or manager, explains David Odato, director of Human Resources for UCSF Medical Center.
"It is important that staff know that the survey is designed to protect their anonymity," Odato says. "In fact, if a staff person feels uncomfortable supplying demographic information, they can just leave that survey question blank although we encourage completing demographic items so we can maximize the information we learn from the survey results."
The 55-item 2006 survey is posted online through April 21 at the Morehead Associates website
here.
The 2006 survey can be completed from any computer with Internet access, including work, home or public library computers. In addition, UCSF computer terminals and kiosks are available for completing the survey at the following locations:
• Mount Zion H.M. Fishbon Memorial Library, 1600 Divisadero St., Room A-116
• Medical Center Human Resources, 2233 Post St., suites 301 and 302
• Medical Center Human Resources, 350 Parnassus Ave., Suite 210
• Campus Human Resources, 3333 California St., Suite 305
• Millberry Fitness & Recreation Center, 500 Parnassus Ave.
• Moffitt Cafeteria, 505 Parnassus Ave., second floor
• School of Nursing Mezzanine, 2 Koret Way, second floor
• Medical Sciences Building Information Desk, 513 Parnassus Ave.
• Moffitt Hospital Basement, 505 Parnassus Ave.
• Laurel Heights, the View Café, 3333 California St., second floor
• Mission Center Building Lobby, 1855 Folsom St.
Third Time
This is the third survey of its kind that UCSF leaders will use to identify strengths and weaknesses and be able to measure whether the campus and medical center have made progress in achieving better staff satisfaction since the last two campuswide surveys.
The survey results will help the relatively new Council on Staff Work-life to determine which areas to recommend to campus leaders to make a priority in action plans at the University, says Odato.
Odato is co-chair of the Council on Staff Work-life with his counterpart on campus, Mike Tyburski, director of Human Resources. The council, the staff counterpart to the Council on Faculty Life, has met three times since it was formed in January. "I really see this group as a sounding board for staff issues," Odato says.
After the 2001 survey, the campus and medical center used survey feedback about the lack of staff recognition to offer more programs for doing so. Both the campus and medical center began regularly recognizing service milestones and the medical center began a yearly honors and awards ceremony. The campus formally recognizes exemplary service during Founders Week in April.
After the 2003 survey, the medical center identified three themes for additional focus: communication, work climate and staff development, Odato says. It was determined that the medical center needed to cultivate leaders, and so it launched a leadership academy. In addition, the medical center hired Quita Keller in April 2005 to lead professional development. The medical center also followed up with its own 15-question pulse online survey conducted in May 2005. Today, managers are offered incentives for improving staff satisfaction.
In
2003, more than 7,500 employees, or 62 percent, of staff responded to the survey, a very good response and similar to the
2001 survey response.
The 2003 staff opinion survey results for the overall University showed that 69 percent of campus and medical center respondents are satisfied working at UCSF and 80 percent wanted to work here at least for the next three years.
Additional details about the survey are posted on a special webpage
here. A list of common questions and answers is posted online
here.
Source: Lisa Cisneros
Second Staff Survey Shows Significant Improvement over 2001
