Survey Summary   

In March 2002, 2,100 benefits eligible administration and staff received surveys through UNT campus mail.  The Associate Vice President for Institutional Research and Accreditation arranged a drawing for prizes for those who completed the survey.  As an incentive, a cover letter from UNT’s Staff Council Chair was included with the name of the survey respondents in each one of the surveys sent to the university staff.  Each participant was asked to send in the survey and then send in the letter with his or her identification separately if they wanted to be included in the drawing for the prizes.  The letter was entered into a drawing pool for the gifts contributed by the university community.  This drawing may have impacted the doubling of the response rate from the 1997 Staff Survey. 

As can be observed from the tables below, two job categories were not equally represented in the distribution of employees at UNT in the 2002 Staff Survey: clerical staff and technical staff.  However, the response rate for each of these groups was such that their views did impact the overall ratings in the survey.  Hispanic and Black staff member respondents were well represented in the survey results. 

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. 

 Working environment at UNT: (Item 1 thru 27)
When staff were asked if they felt as if they were a real part of the UNT Community, 80% replied yes.  Seventy-two percent of the Black staff felt as if they were a part of the community, while 83% of the Hispanic staff agree. In the 1997 Staff Survey, the overall agreement rate for all staff was 78.1%. 

Ninety-four percent of the staff survey respondents believed that their work contributed to the overall goals of the university, the same overall percentage as reported in the 1997 Staff Survey.  The Offices of Development and University Marketing and Communication reported 100% agreement with the statement that their work contributed to the goals of the university.

Ninety percent of the staff survey respondents agree that they were treated with respect by their coworkers in their department.  The highest reported subgroup was a 100% reporting of respect by coworkers in the Provost Office.  All other offices reported a respect rate greater than 87%. 

In the 2002 Staff Survey, 77.8% of the staff reported that their job title and descriptions were consistent with what they do in their job-related activities, compared to a 74.7% overall agreement rating in 1997.  The agreement levels ranged from 73.3% to 81.5%.

Sixty-six percent of the participating staff agreed that adequate opportunities for transfer to other positions existed at UNT, an increase from 55% in 1997.  For the 2002 Staff Survey, the values ranged in agreement from 83% in Administrative Affairs to 41.7% in Development.  Of those reporting their job responsibility as clerical, 64.9% of the respondents reported adequate opportunities to transfer to other positions.   Forty-nine percent of professional and service-related positions believed adequate opportunities to transfer to other positions were available.

Half of the survey population reported adequate opportunities for promotion at UNT.  These agreement values ranged from 70.0% in the Provost Office to 35.9% in the academic departments.  Fifty-two percent of administration related positions reported an agreement with adequate opportunities for transfer. Forty percent of clerical and service-related positions were reported in agreement with this statement.  Among the races of the staff respondents in the survey, Hispanics reported the highest agreement rate at 62%, while white staff reported the lowest agreement rate at 43%.  Overall, the net change from the 1997 Staff Survey was an increase in agreement by five percentage points.

Seventy-one percent of the survey population reported adequate opportunities for gaining new knowledge and learning new skills necessary for advancement at UNT.  This was down five percentage points from the 1997 Staff Survey.  Service-related staff reported the lowest opportunities to gain new knowledge (66.8%). 

Sixty-four percent of the staff reported the staff evaluation process was used as a positive tool to help them do their jobs more effectively.  Scores ranged from 72% to 50 % agreement level.  Overall, this agreement level increased seven percentage points from the 1997 survey.

Approximately 75% of the 2002 Staff Survey respondents agreed that the staff evaluation process helps clarify how well they are meeting expectations and that their supervisor/department chair takes the evaluation process seriously.  No similar question was asked in the 1997 Staff Survey.    

Two questions with high agreement ratings included “my supervisor allows me to participate in training programs and professional development” (86.9%), and “insurance and other benefits at UNT are adequate” (85.3%).

One of the lowest agreement ratings for any of the questions in this section related to the fairness with which salary increases at UNT.  The agreement rate for this question was 38.4%.  The highest agreement rate for this question by any of the offices or departments was 51%, while the lowest agreement rate as 30.8%.  Staff with clerical job classifications reported a low 22.4% agreement level, the lowest reported for any of the job classifications.  Black staff members reported the lowest agreement level at 27.5%.  The agreement rate for determining salary increase in 1997 was 34.8%.  Percentages by the larger departments and offices can be found in Appendix A.

Sixty-five percent of the respondents agreed that the university is committed to making changes to improve working conditions at UNT.  All offices and departments reported similar figures.  Overall, this was a six percentage point increase since 1997.  Academic affairs reported the largest agreement level increase at 17 percentage points when compared to the 1997 Staff Survey.

Two areas with high level of agreement are: staff’s department places a high priority on students (90.0%), and their department is supportive of efforts to recruit and retain ethnic minority employees (89.6%).  White staff had the highest agreement level (91%), and Black staff had the lowest agreement level (76%), a minimal change from the 1997 Staff Survey. 

The UNT campus was considered a safe campus by 92%.  However, only 36.4% agreed that adequate parking for staff was available, and this was a perception consistent across all offices and departments.

Three questions were asked regarding the current holiday schedules.  Ninety percent of the survey respondents agree with maintaining the same holiday schedule as in the past.  Only 20% wanted to keep the university open during part of spring break so that additional holidays could be taken.  Twelve percent wanted to work instead of taking mandatory vacation during the holiday and spring break vacations.

Staff were asked if their department head/director involves them in the development of long-term department plans.  Fifty-seven percent of the staff agreed with this statement, but large differences occurred between various departments and offices.  Answers ranged from a high agreement rate of 76.9% to a low agreement rate of 20%.  Those staff with clerical job descriptions reported the lowest agreement rate of all job classifications with  a 36.2% rate.

Seventy-four percent of the survey population believed that their department heads/directors communicated effectively with staff members in their department.  Approximately the same percentage (74.5%) of the survey respondents felt that the university had an interest in the welfare of staff members who work at UNT.  These questions were not asked on the 1997 Staff Survey.

The 2002 Staff Survey included a new set of questions about work stress.  Question 25 asked if the staff member found their workplace to be stressful, and 49% agreed  All departments and programs had approximately the same level of agreement by job class.  Fifty-two percent of the supervisors agreed that the workplace is stressful, compared to 43% of those who were not in supervisory positions.  Thirty-nine percent of the supervisors said the stress was associated with their workload.  Those staff with technical classifications reported the least stress at 35.4%.  All other job classifications reported similar agreement levels as the mean for all groups combined (49%). There was no difference in gender perceived stress.  Respondents had 14 categories that impacted their level of work related stress.  The categories are listed in descending order of rating percentage.

 The methods that staff reported using to manage stress in the work environment are listed below: 

 Working Environment by Word Classification at UNT: (Item 28 thru 37)

 A selection of words were given for staff to indicate the environment at UNT.  This range of words are listed below: