Staff Experience Survey, Fall 2022

The employee climate and engagement survey was developed to understand institutional, departmental, and supervisory factors that impact your work experience and performance at UMB.

Your participation will help University leaders and managers build and maintain a culture of inclusion, equity, and continuous improvement to enhance the staff experience at UMB.

The survey was available Sept. 20-Oct. 7, 2022.

Survey Results

Staff Experience Survey | Diversity | Culture | Staff Experience | Transparency | Positive Changes | Belonging

Thank you for participating in the staff experience survey. Please explore the Experience Survey Results

Survey responses are anonymous. 

If you have questions about the survey, please contact umbexperience@umaryland.edu.

Purpose Statement

In an effort to attract, cultivate, and retain an engaged and diverse workforce grounded in our core values, and accountability, transparency, and effectiveness, the employee climate and engagement survey was developed. The last time we took the survey in 2019, we had a high response rate, which helped us do a better job of identifying areas where staff experience was positive as well as areas that needed improvement. 

By participating in the survey, you will help us better understand your perceptions on institutional, department, and supervisory factors that impact your work experiences and performance. Ultimately our goal is to continue to build and maintain a culture of continuous improvement and to ensure that UMB core values are fully integrated in the staff experience. Upon analysis of data, we will share the findings with the institution. The results will be used to discuss improvement measures, engage in action planning, and help to inform policy change. 

Key points

  • Vital part of the strategic planning process that will enable us to focus on areas that need improvement to enhance the staff experience at UMB.
  • Your participation is vital. We want to hear from you.
  • We would like to learn more about your experience and how we can integrate our core values more fully in our experiences at UMB.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Staff Experience Survey? 

The purpose of the Staff Experience Survey is to understand how you feel about working at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and about a variety of specific topics concerning your work setting. It measures department and leadership performance from the employee’s perspective and provides valuable data for improving the work environment.

How is the survey being conducted? 

The Staff Experience Survey is completely web-based. All surveys must be completed online.

You will receive an email invitation directly from umbexperience@umaryland.edu, which has a unique security password for you. Log-in information cannot be shared with others.

You can take the survey on work time or off work time using a laptop or mobile device. Note: If you decide to complete the survey outside your regular work schedule, you will not be paid for that time.

How is the Staff Experience Survey different from the 2016 and 2019 Gallup surveys? 

The previous surveys combined one survey for all faculty and staff. This year, each group will receive separate surveys with specific questions related to the work of each population.

Also, the Staff Experience Survey will have more behavioral, organizational, and actionable items whose results will enable units to take tangible action to make changes to enhance staff experience.

The reporting structure and delivery to units will be more in-depth and user-friendly and will offer more demographic breakdowns in an interactive and web-based format with comparison across years.

What will happen to the results from the previous two surveys? 

Questions that are similar from the previous surveys will be mapped and coded to look at changes over the last six years.

The new questions about interpersonal behaviors, conduct, core values, and diversity will serve as a baseline for future years.

When is this happening, and how long will it take? 

The survey will launch Sept. 20, 2022, and run through Oct. 7, 2022.

The survey takes on average about 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

You will receive an email invitation directly from umbexperience@umaryland.edu, which has a unique security password for you. Log-in information cannot be shared with others.

You can take the survey on work time or off work time using a laptop or mobile device. Note: If you decide to complete the survey outside your regular work schedule, you will not be paid for that time.

How will information be used? 

After the survey is closed, Tritonlytics, the external survey administrator, will present insights and recommendations to UMB leaders and managers to assist us in creating actionable plans for improving the work environment, enhancing staff experience, and strengthening employee engagement.

The results of the survey will be available for departments/units/schools providing at least five respondents. Unit responses will be further summarized at the administrative/school unit and department levels and then ultimately at the Universitywide level.

When will staff find out about the survey results? 

University survey results will be available on the Human Resources website, the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion website, and our new Institutional Dashboard site.

Departments with five-plus respondents will receive department-level reports with results for each question and theme, and departments with 25-plus respondents will receive the reports with scatterplots and findings by demographic groups. Department leaders are expected to share the results with their teams.

Does everyone have to complete a survey? 

All staff are strongly encouraged to participate in the survey. The Staff Experience Survey is important because it will help us learn more about your thoughts and experiences about your work environment as we seek to continue to improve performance of our units and UMB as a whole. Higher rates of participation help to ensure that we are collecting the most valid data and can make the necessary changes.

If you have a conflicting priority or some other reason for not completing the survey, please consider discussing it with Human Resources, using the survey email link, umbexperience@umaryland.edu.

What UMB units will receive the Staff Experience Survey? 

All seven schools and administrative units (e.g., Administration and Finance, President’s Office, Research and Administration) at UMB will receive the survey.

Since 2015, other universities have been participating in the Staff Experience Survey. This means your responses not only positively impact UMB’s efforts to enhance the workplace climate, but they also contribute to an expanding benchmarking study that is benefiting higher education as a whole.

What does DEPARTMENT mean in the survey questions? 

DEPARTMENT may be defined differently for each reporting unit. Clicking on those words in the survey questions will bring up information on how the terms are defined for your unit.

What if I have recently changed departments? 

If you changed departments ON or BEFORE Aug. 20, 2022, you should respond to the survey items for your NEW department. If you changed departments AFTER that date, you should respond for your OLD department.

How is my anonymity being maintained? 

Responses will be summarized by a third party, Tritonlytics, into one report for each department. Individuals will not be identified and only aggregated data will be reported.

Further, to do our best to ensure that survey responses are anonymous, we have done the following:

  1. Pre-established “blind lists” of email addresses, grouped by reporting area that are never directly visible by administrators.
  2. Randomized the distribution of ResponseIDs, eliminating the possibility that a specific user’s response could be identified based upon survey or alphabetical order.
  3. Ensured that no respondent IP addresses, email addresses, or other identity-related information is logged or stored (i.e., no cookies.)
  4. Ensured that outside of the emailed invitation itself, no record exists correlating a specific user with a specific response.
  5. Ensured that a secure SSL certificate is utilized for all online survey activity, preventing others from “listening in” on the survey responses.
  6. Ensured that only invitation recipients can take the survey. By utilizing a uniquely generated passphrase per ResponseID, the emailed link to each respondent cannot be modified in an attempt to respond for others.

If you have any further questions regarding anonymity, please contact umbexperience@umaryland.edu.

What if I can’t finish the survey all at once? 

If you cannot finish the survey all at once, you can return to it at a later time. Click the FINISH LATER button. Your responses will be saved from where you left off. Be sure to keep your original email to re-enter your survey. If you delete that email, you cannot be sent another one.

Once you hit SUBMIT SURVEY, your survey will be submitted and you cannot return to make any changes.

You must complete the survey by midnight on Oct. 7, 2022.

When is the deadline? 

The last day to participate in the online survey will be Friday, Oct. 7, 2022.

What is the gift I heard about? 

Information about incentives is forthcoming.

What is the schedule for this year’s survey? 

The survey opens Sept. 20, 2022. Reminder emails will be sent out on dates to be determined. You may opt out of receiving these reminders on the last page of the survey.

The last day to participate in the survey is Friday, Oct. 7, 2022.

The last day to redeem your gift is to be determined.

 

Bruce E. Jarrell, President of UMB, works at his desk

I want UMB to be a place where everyone feels welcome, has a sense of belonging, and is supported to succeed. Together we make that a reality by acting on our core values and working together to improve UMB’s culture and climate. Thank you in advance for taking part in this survey and committing to UMB’s success.

-Bruce E. Jarrell, President of UMB