UCSF to Conduct 2022 Staff Engagement Survey

As part of ongoing efforts to make UC San Francisco a more inclusive and supportive place to work, UCSF will conduct the annual engagement survey of all staff from April 12 to May 6.

Campus and UCSF Health staff members will have the opportunity to share candid feedback about their work at UCSF by completing the short, confidential survey, administered by Gallup. The survey can be completed from mobile phones, tablets and computers.

“Our goal is to ensure that UCSF provides a supportive and inclusive work environment where everyone feels empowered to do their best work,” said Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS. “I urge all staff to share their thoughts about working at UCSF so we can assess our progress and identify areas for continued improvement.”

The 2022 survey will include new questions related to understanding staff members’ intent to stay employed at UCSF and their opinions on workload or burnout. This data will provide information that can be used at the UCSF-wide level, as well as at the team level. As with the 2021 survey, survey participants can indicate their primary work setting – whether onsite, remote or hybrid – allowing for a deeper understanding of UCSF’s evolving workplaces. 

Managers and work teams will use the staff survey results to create action plans designed to build upon their strengths and to overcome challenges. At the UCSF-wide level, the results will be evaluated for trends and patterns to better understand the differences in perceptions among UCSF’s staff employees and to identify ways to improve the working environment across the institution.

Our goal is to ensure that UCSF provides a supportive and inclusive work environment where everyone feels empowered to do their best work.

UCSF has been working to respond to the results of the 2021 staff survey, which found that overall engagement – as measured by Gallup’s Grand Mean, a composite score of engagement indicators – showed a small decrease over the previous year. The 2021 Grand Mean was 3.94, based on a five-point scale, which puts UCSF at the 45th percentile of organizations surveyed by Gallup. 

Following the practice of previous years, UCSF’s Learning and Organization Development Department will partner with Gallup to share the 2022 survey results in a town hall meeting scheduled for July 28, analyze feedback, and refine the UCSF-wide action plan to address identified issues.

While the COVID-19 pandemic added considerable stress and strain on the workforce last year, the survey continues to show that despite the challenges, 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. Survey respondents also continue to appreciate the quality work demonstrated by their co-workers.

The 2021 survey results continued to show 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. Addressing 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 have only increased UCSF’s commitment to addressing equity and inclusion.

“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 teams and helping employees navigate our organization to grow and contribute. This information will also give us a roadmap to increase a sense of inclusion and belonging for all our employees.”

Nurturing a sense of belonging and creating a culture that embodies UCSF’s PRIDE Values are priorities as the University works across multiple fronts in response to myriad data collected in recent years, whether through annual reports or from previous surveys. Next, UCSF leaders will look at results of the 2021 UCSF Climate Survey in which faculty, staff, students and trainees responded. The results of the climate survey will be shared with the UCSF community later this spring.