E-Insight

February 2006

Survey Shows Majority of CVMBS Admin-Pros Satisfied with Current Jobs

A survey of CVMBS administrative professional staff conducted in December 2005 found that a large majority were satisfied with their jobs, pleased with College communication, and sought more information regarding career advancement.

Thirty-two percent of the College's administrative professional workforce responded to the survey. Of that percentage, approximately three-quarters were in a research-related class series. This is very reflective of the CVMBS administrative professional workforce, so results certainly correlate to that sector of the employee base. There were three main interest categories surveyed: 1) Job Satisfaction; 2) Communication; and 3) Job Description, Classification, and Recognition.

In the category of "Job Satisfaction," the overall mean score was 5.5 (on a scale of 1-7; with 1 equaling "Very Strongly Disagree" and 7 equaling "Very Strongly Agree"). This is an excellent score given by our administrative professional staff, and indicates that most are satisfied with their current positions and receive personal satisfaction from what they do for the College.

Administrative professionals believe that communications within the college are strong (overall mean score of 5.5). Administrative professionals had candid comments within this section including many which inferred they do not believe their supervisors effectively resolve employee problems and issues within respective working areas. Many analogies can be derived from these comments - one being that since the majority of respondents are in research-related series, the assumption is that the supervisors addressed in these comments are PIs, and are dealing more with research-related concerns than human resource related problems. This is an on-going HR issue that encompasses all employee types, and there is no "quick fix." It is imperative that information about specific problems be given to administrators in order to effect change. It is the role of these administrators to work with the Assistant to the Dean for HR in this College to bring concerns to light and allow for mediation when deemed necessary.

The final category surveyed was "Job Description, Classification, and Recognition." This category hovered around the mean rating of "5". It appears that many of the respondents to this survey are unaware of the Research Associate series progression. It could be assumed that those new to this series within the last four years are unaware that a conversion took place in 2002 which created a career ladder. Numerous comments were submitted addressing the lack of information that administrative professionals have regarding the mechanism by which departments determine merit raises.

Recommendations made include:

• Communicate training opportunities to administrative professional staff in areas that were identified by them to be important such as: supervisory training, stress management, and resolving employee issues.
• Encourage department heads and directors of major units to devise a mechanism by which administrative professionals are made aware of how merit increases are derived.
• Provide a copy of the research associate series description to all employees in this College within that classification. Provide spot training if necessary to describe the series to our newer research associates.
• Encourage positive reinforcement from supervisors to our administrative professional staff. A small thank you can go a long way.
• Salary equity comments were predominant throughout the survey. Ensure administrators are prepared to answer questions concerning equity and salary increases (or lack thereof) to administrative professional staff.

"I want to personally thank everyone who participated in this survey, and appreciate the candidness and appropriateness of the meaningful responses we received," said Mary Ann Valdez, Assistant to the Dean for Human Resources.

Full results of the survey will be available on the CVMBS Web site in February.