University of Southern California
PA-13: Assessing Employee Satisfaction

USC WorkWell Center conducted its Healthy Campus Survey in September-October of 2022 with the goal to understand the issues, interests and constraints related to the health and well-being of USC employees (with well-being related to employee satisfaction and engagement). This survey assists in measuring progress and outcomes toward a culture of health and well-being by looking at attitudes, perceptions, values and knowledge. The Qualtrics survey was developed with both faculty and staff input and pilot tested prior to distribution.

The Healthy Campus Survey implemented 49 questions to assess employee satisfaction and engagement in relation to wellbeing in the workplace with the following categories:
- Employee Interests (6 questions)
- Leadership and Organizational Support (6 questions)
- Values and Culture (2 questions)
- Practices and Policies (2 questions)
- Environmental Support (4 questions)
- Health & Quality of Life (5 questions)
- Lifestyle Behaviors (6 questions)
- Workplace Functioning (WOS) (7 questions)
- Satisfaction (1 item)
- Demographics (9 questions)
- Survey Feedback (1 item)

The Healthy Campus Survey was distributed to all USC faculty and staff across schools and academic units (including Keck Medicine of USC). Distribution methods included emails (to all faculty and staff), listservs, newsletters, and announcements at meetings, with twenty 50$ gift card prize incentives to encourage participation. Ultimately ~1,600 respondents took the survey, but were representatives across both academic and non-academic staff.

In addition to this survey, the university is planning to implement an updated Culture Values Poll (survey) in January 2024, following the last 2019 Culture Values Poll which received 20,000 respondents.

The Healthy Campus Survey results will be used to ultimately elevate health, well-being, and quality of life for faculty and staff by offering resources, learning opportunities, and programs, and by collaborating with campus and community partners to infuse health and well-being into practices, policies, services, and learning, teaching, and working environments.

From the Culture Values Poll in 2019, the results (~20,000 respondents) were shared with the USC Community in December 2019, followed by a series of 175+ Town halls and Discussion sessions designed to offer the community an opportunity to share their perspectives on the Top 10 values/poll results, behaviors that best align with an enhanced culture, and identification of systems and processes (recommended actions) to prioritize improvements. Engagement and input from governance bodies was critical in ensuring the:

1) refinement of and defining USC’s Unifying Culture Values; Integrity, Excellence, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Well-being, Open Communication, and Accountability;
2) identification and development of aligned behaviors for each value;
3) recommended actions on systems and process improvements to enhance culture.

These values, behaviors, and actions were shared with President Carol Folt and USC's senior leadership team in October 2020, were unanimously approved, and were shared with the USC Community on November 16, 2020. Since, USC moved forward on the USC Culture Journey with a multi-pronged approach toward culture transformation. See more details in the attached report (also linked here): https://culturejourney.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/12/USC-Culture-Report_FINAL.pdf

Culture Journey initiatives for the coming year include:
-Execute a second culture assessment and climate survey to learn how units, schools, and the university at large are performing relative to the Unifying Values (this will be distributed in January 2024).
- Publish and share a Culture Dashboard with data from the survey.
- Host town halls and discussion sessions to sustain a focus on culture at USC and within the schools and units.
- Continue promoting centralized reporting portal where any member of the USC community can submit university concerns which will be handled equitably, consistently, and without retaliation.
- Institute an Employee Relations program to provide consultancy to departments throughout the university promoting good management practice and finding effective resolutions to issues that arise.
- Roll out DEI report and talent recruiting development programs to attract and retain diverse employees and support their growth and development at USC.

The results from the 2019 Culture Values Poll can be assessed here: https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.usc.edu/dist/8/650/files/2019/12/USC_Cultural_Values_Poll_Findings_Dec_2019.pdf

Data up to date as of 11/15/23