What is happening as a result of the 2023 Campus Engagement Survey?
Overall Results | Institution-Wide Actions | School/Unit Actions
Overall Results
The overall response rate to the online survey conducted February 6-20, 2023, was 42 percent with over 4,000 faculty and staff responding.
View Results of the 2023 Survey
- View university-wide results from ModernThink that present the overall percent positive and overall percent negative responses from the 2019 and 2023 Campus Engagement Survey.
- View the town hall presentation below where ModernThink representative Rich Boyer presented the overall results to include our strengths and opportunities.
- View presentation slides.
Institution-Wide Areas of Improvement
Information from the 2023 survey, including comparisons between the data collected in 2019 and 2023, were reviewed alongside the Faculty IDEA Survey to identify four recurring themes for improvement and planned actions to take over the next year to address them. Our areas of improvement included...
- Performance Management
- Communication and Collaboration
- Respect and Appreciation
Information from this survey, including comparisons between the data collected in 2019 and this year’s results, were reviewed alongside the Faculty IDEA Survey to identify four recurring themes for improvement and planned actions to take over the next year to address them:
-
Faculty and staff want to understand the vision for UAB.
Completed ActionsPLAN:UPDATE:UAB will share and seek feedback on the 2024-2028 Strategic Plan and its vision.- The 2024-2028 Strategic Plan was announced at the town hall on October 23, 2023.
- Feedback was gathered and addressed (see UAB’s Strategic Plan: Feedback and Revisions).
- The UA System board approved the new plan in January 2024.
-
Faculty and staff express the desire for more communication, respect and appreciation.
Completed ActionsPLAN:UPDATE:HR's Learning & Development (L&D) will create new programs & resources to enhance communication, appreciation, and accountability.Check out new programs on L&D’s Learning Calendar.- Making Recognition a Routine went live in January 2024.
- A new program on Psychological Safety went live in February 2024.
- Accountability in Action is slated to go live in Q1 of 2025.
PLAN:UPDATE:The Office of Marketing and Communications will offer templates and guidance to help local communicators in schools, colleges, and units amplify key news and messages.UAB's professional communicators have received...- Regular project updates emphasizing the engagement survey's importance and action steps.
- Encouragement to use approved Reporter and UAB News stories as templates.
- Content, design assets, and toolkits to amplify key messages like "Great Colleges to Work For."
PLAN:UPDATE:We will launch a campaign to promote the UAB’s refreshed Shared Values and show how employees embody these values daily.- UAB's new Shared Values have been approved and updated on all marketing efforts and websites.
- The Office of Marketing and Communications will continue to write stories to highlight the values throughout the year.
- Learning & Development piloted an interactive workshop to help teams become familiar with the new shared values and how to "walk the talk."
- A new webinar series highlighting the shared values launches in January 2025.
PLAN:UPDATE:The Office of Compliance and Risk Assurance will lead a refresh of the Code of Conduct.- The Code Tour was launched during Compliance and Ethics Week 2023 to promote UAB's eight standards of behavior.
- Over 445 UAB employees participated in training sessions and related activities.
- Each academic unit must include Code of Conduct awareness as part of their risk mitigation plans.
-
Faculty and staff are interested in performance management.
Completed ActionsPLAN:UPDATE:The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and HR's Learning and Development (L&D) will partner to offer workshops to help managers and employees understand expectations and get the most out of UAB's performance management process.- L&D revised and updated all performance management programs to set the expectations for a people-centered approach.
- CTL continues to offer workshops for faculty to increase their performance and support advancement.
- The Provost Office provides chairs training in topics including how to have performance conversations with their faculty.
PLAN:UPDATE:Human Resources will continue to enhance and support the performance management tools and processes.- In 2023, the Perform app (performance evaluations for staff) was updated based on feedback to include a separate section for goals, which can be updated and modified throughout the year.
- In 2024, the Perform app was updated to allow employees and managers to provide status updates and details to performance goals to encourage more frequent meetings.
-
Faculty and staff want more shared governance.
Completed ActionsPLAN:UPDATE:UAB leadership will work with the Faculty Senate to increase communication about the important work they do in representing the faculty.- UAB has worked with the Faculty Senate to ensure there is Faculty Senate representation on all university-wide committees.
School/Unit Goals and Actions
Engagement Survey App
An engagement survey app was created for senior leadership to report their goals in the three main areas of improvement and provide quarterly updates.
- 22 leaders recorded over 111 goals/planned actions based on engagement survey results.
- As of June 2024, three leaders have provided a quarterly update in the app providing progress on 13 goals/planned actions.
Blaze Action Learning
As part of the Blaze Leadership Academy, participants complete an action learning project where they are placed in a group and seek out a way to improve the university and present their developed proposal to senior leadership at the Blaze Leadership Capstone. The past 2023-2024 cohort all decided to focus on the engagement survey results and made proposals on how to improve Performance Management and Career Development.
These items are currently under consideration.
