2006 Employee Survey
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
July 2006

The organizational climate of the college is the product of the interactions and relationships among SPC employees who work together to accomplish our institutional mission and fulfill our vision of improving each student’s life. The Employee Survey was redesigned in 2004 by the Institutional Effectiveness Committee to serve as a better measure of employee satisfaction with the overall work environment of the college. Beginning with the 2004 administration, the survey has been conducted as an online process. A total of 311 employees responded to the 2006 survey, a 6.6% decrease from the number of participants (N=333) for the 2004 survey.

The results of the 2006 Employee Survey indicate that the current organizational climate is supportive of the college’s seven areas of commitment that form the college’s system of organizational values. Commitment to students, educational excellence, and access and diversity remain the most positive factors about South Plains College as seen by employees. As in previous Employee Surveys, the college’s dedication to students emerged as the number one attribute employees do not want to see changed. The college’s friendly work environment that is characterized by supportive and cooperative co-workers and a sense of family was also identified as highly valued factors in working at SPC. These findings do not deviate from those of previous surveys. Leadership on administrative and supervisory levels was also viewed as an institutional strength.

The attached analysis includes data that describe the degree of employee agreement with the 53 statements comprising the survey. Employees had high level of agreement (greater than 70%) for 39 of the statements for an overall satisfaction rating of 73.6%. This in an improvement over the 2004 satisfaction rating of 71.7%. Of the 14 statements where overall agreement fell below the 70% benchmark, percentile improvements were made in 11 of the statements. These data indicate that subscale factors pertaining to student focus, learning focus, access and diversity, employee empowerment, supervisory management, cooperation/teamwork, internal employee relations, physical environment, community focus and leadership are viewed positively by employees.

The survey also identifies areas that employees feel are in need of improvement. These include, in order of importance:  better salaries, better or improved facilities, and better internal communications. While supervisory and administrative leadership was viewed as a strength, on the one hand, it was also identified as an area for improvement. The data would also suggest that employees desire to be more informed about and involved in planning and budget decisions.  The issue of salaries was identified by 66 respondents (36.5%) in the comment section of the survey as compared to 114 respondents (48.5%) in the 2004 survey. A greater percentage of respondents (28.7%) cited better and improved facilities as a concern, compared to the 2004 survey (24.4%).  Improvement of organizational communications was also cited by a slightly greater percentage of respondents (22.7%) than in the previous survey (20.0%). Additionally, the responses to the survey statement regarding communication between departments did not achieve the 3.50 mean benchmark nor the 70% agreement benchmark for all employee classifications. This data would point to a need to address internal communications in future planning efforts.

With the 2006 administration of the revised Employee Survey, comparative data is now available to determine if improvements have been made in the past two years. Means for all survey subscales and statements for 2006 and 2004 are provided in the report as a point of comparison (Attachment B). For All respondents, the satisfaction means exceeded the 3.50 benchmark for all 17 subscale measures. For the 53 individual statements, 94.3% of the statements (N=50) met or exceeded the 3.5 benchmark, compared to 86.8% (N=46) in the 2004 survey. Improvement in the number of statements exceeding the benchmark measure would tend to indicate a more positive organizational climate than the previous survey results would have indicated.

Similar improvements were seen in the number of statements achieving the 70% agreement benchmark among all respondents and the four employee classifications. Fourteen survey statements that fell below the 70% agreement benchmark in 2004 exceeded the benchmark for the 2006. The greatest improvement was seen among Faculty respondents who tended to exhibit greater positive agreement with statements regarding professional growth and development, value as an employee, adequate physical facilities, planning and institutional effectiveness efforts, leadership commitment to mission, accessibility of leadership and a supportive work environment. On the other hand, among those respondents who identified themselves as Administrators, agreement fell below the 70% benchmark for the first time on statements regarding curriculum development, professional development opportunities, adequate rewards and recognition, and budget alignment with goals and objectives. Among All respondents, there was less than 70% agreement that being involved in community service is an important part of my job.

In summary, SPC employees see South Plains College as a great place to work. Overwhelmingly, survey respondents believe they are contributing to the success of the college (95.2%), that co-workers are committed to helping students succeed (97.2%), and indicate they are proud to work at SPC (94.8%). It’s clear SPC employees are committed to working together to continue to make SPC a quality educational institution, while tackling the challenges that face the college.

The following report provides a comprehensive analysis of the survey data and identifies possible action items for planning purposes.

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