Inside Iowa State
May 19, 2000
Professional and Scientific Council
Survey uncovers staff issues
by Anne Krapfl
More than half (54 percent)
regularly work 45 hours or more a week. Slightly more than a
third (39 percent) feel they are compensated fairly for the
responsibility they shoulder. And a majority (88 percent)
participated in a professional development activity in the
last year. These are some of the data produced in a blanket
survey of professional and scientific staff this winter.
Written by an ad hoc committee of the P&S Council and distributed by Iowa State's statistics laboratory, the survey asked about 50 questions covering four topical areas: work environment, professional development opportunities, benefits package and the performance appraisal/compensation process.
Survey data and a summary report, also written by the ad hoc committee, were distributed to council members earlier this month. The information will be presented during a noon open forum Thursday, June 1, in the Memorial Union Pioneer Room. It also will be available this summer to the campus community, perhaps online or in paper format at the ISU library.
"We have been aware of some of this [survey results] in anecdotal ways for some time, but questions have existed about what issues are prevalent and what's contained in little pockets around campus," said Danette Kenne, president of the council this year and chair of the survey committee since it formed in fall 1998. "This gives us a clearer picture of what's what."
One of the most remarkable statistics to emerge from the survey is its response rate: 75 percent of the 2,181 P&S employees who received the survey completed and returned it.
"The sheer number of responses really gives a voice to the fact that we care about our environment and the institution and we want to participate. We want it to be a place that works for everyone," Kenne said.
She said proposals to change policy or procedure in response to survey results will come out of the standing committees of the council in the next year or two.
"It's going to take months to digest all this, but we hope committee chairs will pick it up. We talk a lot about the challenges or problems identified by the survey, but we also need to pay attention to the good things that came up, and how we can work together to get those positive things better distributed," Kenne said.
Two council members who also served on the survey committee, Kerry Dixon-Fox and Shawn Shouse, were elected council president and vice president, respectively, for next year. Kenne said she's hopeful they'll keep the survey results in front of committees.
She also emphasized the importance of P&S committees working with the Provost Office and human resource services, if changes are to get done and be done well.
Following are excerpts from the survey results in each of the four areas.
Benefits
P&S staff indicated a 77 percent satisfaction rate with
the medical insurance options available to them. Extension
staff had the lowest satisfaction rate (72 percent); the
highest satisfaction rate (80 percent) was registered in the
units under business and finance and the IPRT/Ames Lab
umbrella.
P&S staff expressed the highest satisfaction rate (85 percent) with their retirement benefits, and the lowest (62 percent) with the dental insurance options available to them.
Professional development
A high number of P&S staff who participated in
professional activities did so on paid release time (79
percent). Of those whose professional development included a
fee, 57 percent received full financial support and nearly 80
percent received either full or "major" financial support; 7
percent received no financial support. For those who didn't
complete a professional development activity, being "too busy
at work" was the most common reason (67 percent) given.
Of the 232 P&S staff who said they took a college credit course in the last year, 64 percent applied for a P&S tuition grant.
Work environment
Overall, 89 percent of survey respondents said there are
weeks in the year in which they work more hours than what
their salary is based on. This is most common among employees
in external affairs (93 percent) and least common in
IPRT/Ames Laboratory (85 percent). The number of additional
hours worked per week tends to rise as the P-level rises. A
majority of P&S employees aren't required to work weeknights
or weekends as part of their regular jobs, but 38 percent do
have these kinds of assignments, with the highest rates of
occurrence in extension (66 percent) and student affairs (59
percent).
And while 85 percent of respondents think it's acceptable to occasionally be required to work more hours than what's indicted in their job descriptions, 72 percent think it's not acceptable when this becomes a regular occurrence.
Just one in four of all respondents said they would work additional hours only if comp time was available.
Of the P&S staff who responded, 73 percent believe their supervisors treat staff members fairly, and 77 percent said their supervisors are available to discuss work-related issues. However, just 58 percent said their supervisors take actions to resolve concerns and work issues. The same percentage said their supervisors clearly communicate priorities and expectations.
Performance appraisal and compensation
Most (91 percent) of the P&S respondents had received a
performance appraisal in the last year. Of those who did
receive one, 87 percent said their appraisal included both
written and verbal components, and 89 percent said they had
an opportunity to contribute to the performance appraisal.
Approximately two-thirds of those who received performance
appraisals felt that it reflected their performance for the
entire year. Eighty-eight percent of those receiving an
appraisal said it was completed before the annual pay
notification.
P&S staff who received appraisals were split on whether their salary increases were tied to their performance appraisals; 40 percent agreed with this statement and 40 percent disagreed; the others were neutral. Different P-grade levels reflected different opinions. Among P11-13 respondents, 35 percent agreed that there was a connection between the two, while 46 percent of those in the P16-20 group agreed. When a subsequent survey question asked for perceived relationship between their performance appraisal and the merit portion (specifically) of their pay raise, 42 percent of the respondents indicated no direct relationship.
Overall, 43 percent of P&S respondents feel they aren't paid fairly for the job responsibilities they have; this figure drops to 39 percent when they are asked to compare their pay to others at Iowa State with similar responsibilities, and to 19 percent when they compare themselves to colleagues with similar responsibilities at other universities.
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