Human Resource Services
The
Office: (406) 243-6766
10 April 2008
TO: Faculty Senate Members
FROM: Betsy
T. Hawkins, Director of Human Resource Services
SUBJECT: FAQs regarding the Upcoming Opinion Survey
for The Chronicle of Education Great
Colleges to Work For Program
President Dennison and Provost
Engstrom chose to have The University of Montana (UM) participate in The
Chronicle of Higher Education research project- Great Colleges to Work For Program.
The Chronicle and ModernThink, a research and consulting firm, have created an
important new study about higher education. The project is designed to recognize
institutions committed to developing great workplaces and to compile detailed
benchmarking data about trends in compensation, benefits, and other employment
issues.
Human Resource Services (HRS)
will provide the resources and support needed to successfully participate in
this project.
Your role will be to learn
about this project, and if chosen to complete an on-line survey, complete the
survey by April 25, 2008.
Why is The
·
Cost Effective
·
Gain Insight -
This survey was developed specifically for higher education by Modern Think and
a blue ribbon committee of industry experts.
The report that we receive this summer will provide a great opportunity
to benchmark the quality of The University of Montana’s workplace practices
against those of some of the nation’s great colleges and universities.
·
Improve Organizational Effectiveness - This summer UM will receive reports from
ModernThink. The results of these
reports will be shared with the campus community. The data will help contribute to both the
preparation for accreditation and the academic strategic planning process. We are committed to use the information to
assess our current effectiveness, as well as to focus on our future priorities.
·
Who will be surveyed?
The survey will be
distributed to a sample of UM’s full-time faculty, administrators and
professional staff on April 11, 2008.
Approximately 600 employees will be asked to complete the survey.
What are the steps and timelines to
complete the survey?
On April 11th, 2008, this
survey will be distributed to a random selection faculty, administrators and
professional staff members. If you are included in this random sample of
employees, you will receive an invitation encouraging you to take part in this
survey. This invitation will be sent to you via a letter containing
instructions about how to take the online survey. If you receive the invitation, please take a
moment to complete the survey. Our goal is to have 100% of those randomly selected complete the survey. However, a 65% participation rate will meet
the standards established by ModernThink.
Deadline for completion of
the survey is April 25, 2008.
How long
will it take to complete the employee survey?
The
survey consists of 70 statements, 3 open-response questions and a number of
demographics questions. It typically takes about 15-20 minutes to complete.
Who decides which employees will receive
the surveys and how they are distributed? Do we have to give you a list of who
is being surveyed?
ModernThink provided guidance
and specific instructions to HRS to select the random sample of 600 full-time
faculty, administrators and professional staff. The selection was made across the entire
full-time faculty, administration and professional staff population. The sample is proportional to the total number
of employees in each of these categories.
In addition, to ensure the process
is completed correctly, HRS submitted a detailed description of the selection
process to ModernThink.
Do we have to complete the surveys
online?
Yes. The
Can participants see a copy of the survey?
The entire survey is not
available for viewing. However, you can
go to this site and see a sample of questions:
http://chroniclegreatcolleges.com/images/documents/samplemthigheredsurvey.pdf.
This 70 question on-line survey takes into account student learning,
collaboration, development, and communication throughout the entire
campus.
Will my responses be kept confidential?
Yes! Your participation and honest feedback is
critical to the assessment process. To ensure the confidentiality of your
responses, your survey will be processed by ModernThink, LLC. Our institution
will not be given any information that would enable us to trace survey
data back to any one individual. As a
matter of fact, ModernThink, has gone to great lengths to ensure the anonymity
of individual survey responses. For example, they only report data back to
institutions when there are five or more participants in a particular
demographic category. They have the
following confidentiality statement:
STATEMENT OF CONFIDENTIALITY
The program partners, The Chronicle of Higher
Education and ModernThink, LLC, respect your privacy and actively protect the
confidentiality of the data collected at both the institutional and individual
level.
Note: If you have any
questions about this Statement of Confidentiality, please call Amy Anders at
ModernThink. Amy can be reached at (302) 764-4477 ext. 102.
In addition, the following
are additional safeguards:
1)
Self-identifying demographic questions at the end of the survey are strictly
voluntary. If a survey-taker chooses to provide that information for any
reason, ModernThink and The Chronicle accept that act as explicit consent to
use the information in the ways described in this Statement of Confidentiality
or as described at the point where they so choose to disclose.
2)
The
3)
At the end of the survey, employees are given an opportunity to respond to
open-ended questions in their own words. They are advised at that time
that their employer may request and receive a verbatim transcript of all
comments. They are further advised that if they wish to remain anonymous,
they should refrain from writing their name and/or any other identifying characteristics
in their comments.
Who can I contact with additional
questions about the Employee Survey or Institution Questionnaire?
Please contact Betsy Hawkins, Director Human Resource Services at ext. 5703 if you have any questions.