UAB Talent Performance and Relations now has a quicker turnaround on receiving data and exporting reports with the creation of new dashboards — a key to helping with employee retention efforts at UAB.
“Before this project, we would pull data in an as-requested basis. The previous exit survey platform had features that allowed users to enter free-form information which made it nearly impossible to effectively sort and use the data collected,” said Jimmy Freeman, an HR relations representative with UAB Talent Performance and Relations.
These new dashboards help users match exiting employees, and their answers from exit surveys, with their former work areas. These dashboards are created for areas that have five or more exit survey responses, to help preserve confidentiality. Each question within the survey is broken down on the dashboard as “Strengths” and “Opportunities.” These come from the combination of answers from Strongly Agree and Agree selections, as well as Strongly Disagree and Disagree. Since these sections are easy to see, they can help leaders see what is working for employees and what can be addressed.
HR Information Systems and Talent Performance and Relations met in May 2021 to begin the process of collecting data. The Annual Exit Survey Report launched in March 2023 with data from exit reports compiled from 2022. This annual exit survey report was designed to establish a baseline to identify trends. By June 2023, the quarterly report was ready to publish.
“Their desire was to produce these reports on an annual and quarterly basis for the institution,” said Lesley Newell, a senior Business Intelligence Specialist for UAB IT who worked as the data visualizer on this project. “They provided me with their vision of the reports, which I created multiple dashboards in Tableau. They are now able to receive the data and export the reports within days versus weeks.”
The Exit Survey Dashboards, when paired with other surveys and employee feedback, can help make an impact on the workforce. Leadership across campus will be able to identify trends and opportunities to improve employee retention. After reviewing the dashboards, Leadership can reevaluate and set new goals, while management will be able to pick up on issues to be addressed.
“Exit survey dashboards have been a long-held desire for Talent Performance and Relations,” Freeman said. “Our ultimate goal is to assist with UAB’s employee retention efforts. With the help of HRIS we have met our goal. The team is very knowledgeable professionals, and Lesley’s expertise in Tableau was essential to our ability to accomplish the goal.”