Throughout the University, academic and support units are addressing the findings of the 2004 Faculty/Staff Survey. All University units, including the College of Medicine and the Dickinson Law School, participated in the survey, which drew a response rate of 51 percent, or more than 7,800 responses. This is the first of occasional articles, prepared by the Office of Human Resources, describing unit responses to the survey and how the survey results are being used to clarify issues and identify opportunities for improvements.

If the 2004 Faculty/Staff Survey is any indication, the University's Housing staff takes great pride in caring for its student residents.

"Results from the survey clearly demonstrate how involved our employees are with our students," Gail Hurley, assistant vice president of Housing, Food Services and Residence Life, said. "Our employees really care about our students and I value that about them. As a follow-up to the survey, managers in the Division of Housing are exploring means of providing more recognition for our employees' care and concern for student residents."

Because the survey identified areas of concern as well as areas of strength, Hurley said division managers felt it was important to share the results with all Housing employees. They then met with Division Human Resources personnel to determine how to best put the information in a format that would be most beneficial to technical service employees.

Chad Henning, assistant director of Housing for Pollock and South Halls, designed a six-page handout that summarized employees' responses to the survey and compared the results with the previous survey done in 1996.

Strengths identified by respondents in the survey's Attitudes and Practices section were summarized, as were opportunities for growth. Two pages of the handout were devoted to a sampling of responses to the survey's two open-ended questions: "What are the things you like about working at Penn State?" and What do you think should be done to make Penn State a better place to work?" Noting that employee input is valued, the final page of the handout asked, "Where do we go from here?"

A copy of the handout was distributed to each employee and was posted in common areas. Housing management staff then met with employees in smaller groups in the residence hall areas and discussed the information.

"Overall, the handout was well received," Henning said. " Our employees were pleased to see the results of the survey. Often there is a feeling that another survey is conducted and then nothing gets done about it. Publication of the handout and the discussions with employees demonstrated that we take the information seriously."

One concern highlighted in the survey was a low response rate. In the small group discussions, employees indicated that the low response rate resulted from a lack of feedback in the past.

"In all of our discussions," Henning said, "we emphasized that feedback is important to us and follow-up will help make improvements. We view feedback as a positive aspect of the Faculty/Staff Survey."

Hurley said Housing management staff is developing a summary of the employee discussions and some focus groups may result from that effort. Also under consideration is an internal survey in the Division of Housing and further efforts to improve means of communication.

"Communication is an area for which we continue to have concern," she added. "Perhaps, there always will be issues with communication, but I hope we can address certain aspects and improve specific areas. We want our employees to see that we are making progress and that we take their concerns and suggestions for improvement seriously."

OFFICE OF HUMAN RESOURCES

Unit Responses to the 2004 Faculty/Staff Survey (Housing)