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Voice project assesses health at USC
6 December 2008
Universities everywhere comprise people with strong and varied views. We tapped into these views at USC a few months ago, and last week the survey leader presented his results, ahead of us opening up debate on the issues next year and inviting all staff to again be involved.
The topic was an employee opinion survey. A group from Macquarie University surveyed staff of USC on a range of human resource and general management practices to assess the health of the climate at the University.
The ‘Voice Project’ compares USC’s performance not only against 17 other Australian universities, but also against data from 2000 other organisations broadly representing the Australian economy, giving us benchmarking insights and opportunities to modify our practices.
There was a good response rate for such surveys (53 percent), with only a 3.1 percent margin of error, providing validity and weight to the responses.
USC’s pattern of results were generally above university benchmarks, indicating a higher positive response to our workplace than at the other universities. This result in some ways parallels the positive results USC received in the Good Universities Guide, and with the Australian Universities Quality Agency.
USC's strengths, as identified by staff included:
- having a strong sense of engagement
- possessing a strong sense of loyalty and commitment to USC
- being proud to tell others they work here
- being willing to put in the extra effort for the University
- having a high level of job satisfaction
- believing the facilities and grounds to be of a high standard
- being very satisfied with the benefits they received (superannuation, leave etc)
- possessing a clear view of their individual roles
- clearly understanding how they contribute to the University as a whole
- perceiving good team work within their immediate work areas
Staff also identified areas for improvement, including communication, both between the work areas and from senior management, increasing the involvement of staff, and introducing more efficient processes.
A number of initiatives are already being considered and the work with staff will continue in 2009. Staff are to be congratulated on their participation and their frankness, to enable us to get this excellent insight into USC.
The University has annually developed and is close to overtaking much longer-established universities. With so many positive attitudes evidenced in this survey, it is easy to see why we have made such progress so quickly.
Professor Paul Thomas AM is Vice-Chancellor at the University of the Sunshine Coast.