"In order for us to obtain a reliable result – and to change and improve the working environment where necessary – it is important that as many employees as possible respond to the survey. Everyone deserves a good working environment. As an employee, you are at your workplace for large part of the day, and when you are pleased with your job, you feel and perform better," says Hans Adolfsson.
This is the fifth time that an organizational-wide survey on working environment has been conducted at the University. The objective is to obtain an overall picture of how employees experience their work situation, and demonstrate strengths and weaknesses in the organisation. The outcome of the survey provides a basis for and support for the development of operations at departments and units. The question battery for this year's survey is basically the same as used in 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2014.
"Compared to four years ago, there have been some new questions about values, equal opportunities and harassment. However, the results will be comparable and hopefully provide good conditions for implementing improvement measures at departments and units, says Lars Nordlander, head of the Office for Human Resources.
Survey via e-mail
On Friday, the web-based survey will be sent by e-mail from the feedback solutions company Quicksearch to all employees that have been working at the University for the past 3-6 months. The e-mail will be sent from the domain name @mail.quicksearch.se, but the sender address will be Umeå universitet. The e-mail subject line will be: Medarbetarundersökning/Employee survey 2018 - Umeå universitet, and the e-mail text body will be signed/submitted by the Vice-Chancellor.
The employees included in the survey are fixed-term contract and permanent employees, including those on sick leave or parental leave, postdoctoral fellows and doctoral students.
The survey takes approximately 15–20 minutes to complete and can be done under a three week period by computer, mobile phone or tablet. The answers are completely anonymous, and are only managed by Quicksearch, which compiles the group-level results.
Several of the survey questions concern opinions of leadership. For those employees who have multiple workplaces, it may be problematic to answer these questions.
"If you are employed in several places with different managers, departments and units have decided in advance which person or group you should keep in mind when answering. You can, among other things, see who is named when answering survey questions about your immediate head of office, says Lars Mähler, project manager for the survey.
Feedback prior to the summer
Heads of departments/units will receive the results in the beginning of May. They will then share the results with their members of staff. Thereafter, a joint effort be initiated to plan and implement the necessary measures.
For more information