University of North Texas Staff Survey

Fall 2002

Executive Summary

 Background:
In the spring of 1997, separate faculty and staff surveys were developed and administered to the University of North Texas faculty and staff.  A large portion of the questions from the 1997 survey were included in the Spring 2002 Staff Survey.  At the suggestion of the Human Resources Department and the Staff Council, three additional sections were added to address the issues of job stress, stress management, and balancing job and family responsibilities.

Respondents:
In March 2002, 2100 surveys were sent by campus mail to the benefits eligible administration and staff.  Eight hundred fifty three staff surveys were returned (a 41% return rate).

 Note: In the Executive Summary and Survey Summary the phrase Agreement will include the totals for Strongly Agree and Agree and Satisfaction will include the totals for Very Satisfied and Satisfied.

Spring 2002 Staff Information Compared to Information from Spring 2002 Survey
Note: The Spring 2002 staff information was provided by Human Resource’s web site.

 The responses to the survey had a smaller percentage of technical, clerical, and administrative than the UNT workforce in Spring 2002. 

Working Environment at UNT: (Item 1 thru 24)
The 2002 Spring Staff Survey included 25 items that addressed the working environment at UNT.  Six questions had a 90% or greater  “Strongly Agree / Agree” rating.  On these six questions, no more than a 1% point change occurred from the 1997 Staff Survey.  They are:

N/A – Questions that were not available on the previous survey.

 Seven questions had a 60% or less “Strongly Agree / Agree” rating.  Please note that each of these questions must be evaluated for negative or positive relation.  For example, question 21a and 21b are asked in the negative.  The responses imply that 80% of the population would like to keep the existing holiday and spring break schedule.  It should considered that 50 percent of the population consider UNT to be a stressful place to work.  The questions with 60% or less “Strongly Agree/ Agree” rating are:  

N/A – Questions that were not available on the previous survey.

 Controlling Stress at Work:  (Item 25 thru 27)
In 2002, a new section was added to the staff survey to determine what methods staff use to deal with or minimize stress in their work environment.  Forty-seven percent of the respondents said that the workplace is stressful.  Fifty-two percent of those respondents who classified themselves as supervisors said their workplace is stressful.  Compared to the 43% of those not in supervisory positions.  The most frequently mentioned source of stress was heavy workload (31%) and supervision (17%). Two methods tied for the most frequent method of dealing with stress at work, “take regular breaks” (42%) and “listen or play music” (42%).  The number two method was “walking” (39%).  The least accepted way for dealing with stress at work was “participating in a stress management class” (6%). 

Work Environment at UNT: (Item 28 thru 37)
Survey results indicate that UNT is seen as a place that is hospitable (65.6%) and pleasant (67.4%), similar to the results on the 1997 Staff Survey.  However, only 55.1% of the respondents agree that the university is committed to making changes to improve working conditions. However, 67% believe the university is interested in the welfare of staff.

Communication at UNT: (Item 38 thru 45)
Sixty-nine percent of staff believe that they are informed about happenings at the university by their supervisor.  The area related to changes in benefit package received the highest agreement level on informing staff (89%). Sixty-seven percent of the staff say they have sufficient knowledge of UNT’s complaint and grievance policy and procedures.  All other communication areas had a 70% to 75% agreement level.

Balancing work/family: (Item 46 through 50)
In 2002 a new section was added to the survey to determine what would help employees to balance work and family obligations.  Flexible working time had the highest agreement level at 93.5%.  A clearly stated department or university policy on balancing work and family obligations had the second highest agreement level at 81%.  Alternative job arrangements such as job sharing and part-time employment had the lowest agreement level at 62.5%, but still the percent of responses was high. 

Administrative communication: (tem 51 thru 71)
The Human Resources Newsletter (88.4% satisfaction) and e-mail messages (83.4% satisfaction) were viewed as the best methods to communicate with UNT employees.  The least effective means of communication were postings on the bulletin board (31.7% satisfaction), Answer Line (33.4% satisfaction), and university committees (35.9% satisfaction).  The satisfaction rating dropped considerably for bulletin board (65.3% satisfaction in 1997) and the Answer Line (82.9% satisfaction in 1997).  

Satisfaction with working at UNT: (Item 72 thru 78)
The satisfaction level for this series of questions ranged from 90.9% satisfaction with the availability of an Employee Assistance Program to 55.5% satisfaction with the availability of facilities and equipment for recreational and fitness programs at UNT.  It should be pointed out that the two lowest levels of satisfaction for opportunity for professional growth (65.7% satisfaction) and the opportunity to provide input into the decisions made in the staff’s unit or department (63.5% satisfaction), but the percent was still above 50%.  However, these response rates have only changed by a few percentage points from the 1997 Staff Survey.

 Office evaluation for quality of service: (Item 79 thru 118)
All departments and offices in the survey had a satisfactory rating of quality of service.  There were seven departments and offices that had ratings of 90% satisfaction or higher.  All other departments and offices had at least a minimum satisfaction rating of 76%.