A survey given to employees in Spring Semester shows that classified staff and administrators are unhappy with certain aspects of Ohio University.
Classified staff members may be the most disgruntled employee group at Ohio University, according to quantitative results from the ModernThink Climate Survey.
The survey, which was administered last spring semester, was used to measure employees’ attitudes regarding the working environment at OU.
Out of the 70 questions on the survey, classified staff members had the highest average rate of disagreement for the provided statements with 23.1 percent.
Faculty members followed with 20.7 percent, administrators with 13.7 percent and executive administrators — which is comprised of some of OU’s top officials — disagreed on an average of 4.8 percent.
“It was kind of surprising because I have not seen … the dissatisfaction,” Maryann Lape, chair of Classified Senate and an administrative coordinator at OU Lancaster, said. “I’ve not encountered that on my time at the Lancaster campus.”
The overall rate of disagreement for all employee groups is 18.3 percent.
“Two different groups having a different perception indicates something needs to be addressed … we don’t know what that is yet,” Valerie Young, department chair and associate professor of chemical engineering, and a co-chair of the Work Climate Task Force in Faculty Senate, said.
The task force, which is comprised of 24 faculty, administrative and classified staff members, will determine areas that can most easily and quickly be improved based on the results.
About 650 administrators and 450 classified staff members took the survey.
The remaining data from the survey won’t be disseminated to the university until after a meeting with the survey company on Nov. 18.
Similar surveys have been taken at about 800 other institutions around the country.
Officials hope to be given a better understanding and analysis of the data from the survey at the meeting.
Statements such as “I am paid fairly for my work,” were met with about 25 percent disagreement from the two employee groups.
While not representing a majority of the opinion, questions answered with a large negative response are still a red flag to officials.
“Pay is always an issue at the university across the board, so that one doesn’t really surprise me,” Cathleen Waller, director of the Child Development Center and chair of Administrative Senate, said in response to one of the questions. “Once we get the (qualitative) data it’s going to be easier to say, ‘This is a significant issue,’ and ‘How are we going to respond in a positive way?’”
The qualitative data will include written responses employees had to the survey’s questions, offering more detail about specific strengths and weaknesses of OU’s work climate.
A breakdown of some of faculty’s most disagreed-with statements can be found here.
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