UCSF to Conduct 2021 Staff Engagement Survey
As part of ongoing efforts to make UC San Francisco a great place to work, UCSF will conduct its annual engagement survey of all staff from April 27 to May 21.
IT field services technicians (from far left) Miguel Ortiz, Bobby Cusack, Alex Lee, Jourden Fernandez and Michael Reilly set up devices for an acute care COVID-19 unit at UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion. Photo by Susan Merrell
Campus and UCSF Health staff members will have the opportunity to share candid feedback by completing the short, confidential survey, administered by Gallup. To make it as easy as possible to complete, the survey’s digital platform is compatible with smartphones as well as computers.
“Our goal is to ensure that UCSF provides a supportive and inclusive work environment where everyone has the opportunity to do their best work,” said Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS. “I urge all staff to make their voice heard by sharing their opinions about working at UCSF.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UCSF canceled the 2020 survey, which would have launched in the early days of the Bay Area’s shelter-in-place orders and the first surge of coronavirus cases. With two full years since the last staff engagement survey, it’s important to hear from staff, who make up the largest population of the internal UCSF community.
Managers and work teams use survey results to create action plans designed to build upon their strengths and to overcome challenges. At the UCSF-wide level, the results are evaluated for trends and patterns to better understand the differences in perceptions among UCSF’s staff and to identify opportunities for improvement across the institution.
UCSF has been working to respond to the results of the 2019 staff survey, which found that overall engagement – as measured by Gallup’s Grand Mean, a composite score of engagement indicators – showed a small increase over the previous year. The 2019 Grand Mean was 3.96, based on a five-point scale, which puts UCSF at the 58th percentile of organizations surveyed by Gallup.
As previous survey results have found, UCSF’s greatest strength is that staff feel a strong connection to UCSF’s overarching mission of advancing health worldwide through care delivery, research and education, and appreciate the quality work demonstrated by their colleagues.
The 2019 survey results reflected that the UCSF environment is perceived as diverse, yet it does not foster inclusion to the same degree for all staff groups, particularly those who identify as Black and Latinx. This sense of belonging is an important element of the organization-wide action plan. The unequal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racism that disproportionately affect people of color have only increased UCSF’s commitment to addressing equity and inclusion.
Following the practice of previous years, UCSF’s Learning and Organization Development Department will partner with Gallup to share the 2021 survey results in town hall meetings, analyze feedback, and develop an UCSF-wide action plan to address issues identified.
“Staff participation in the survey is vital because it provides quantitative data about the employee experience here at UCSF,” said Nancy Duranteau, UCSF’s Chief Learning Officer and director of Learning and Organization Development. We’ve used this information at the UCSF-wide level to create action plans focused on supporting managers as advocates for their staff, helping employees navigate our organization to grow and contribute, as well as to increase a sense of inclusion and belonging for all of our employees.”