Administrative Quality Satisfaction Survey seeks employee feedback

Our campus and the community have many things to be proud of, including sustained excellence in academics, research and public service. Our success in these areas is supported by a variety of administrative activities that help us hire talented employees, allocate our financial resources appropriately, have systems and technology that meet our needs, communicate with our campus community, and so much more. It is imperative that these administrative services work for UW–Madison so that UW–Madison can work for the world.

The Administrative Quality Satisfaction Survey asks participants for feedback about their experience with a range of administrative services at UW–Madison. Questions relate to administrative activities at both the campus (such as the Office of Human Resources or Budget Office) and local level (such as the human resources or finance teams in the employee’s unit). The survey is sponsored by Provost Karl Scholz and Interim Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Rob Cramer.

“When our administrative services work well, our faculty and staff have more time to focus on the core of our teaching, research and service mission,” Scholz said. “This survey gives us an opportunity to identify opportunities for improvement and learn from areas that are already performing at a high level.”

The 2022 Administrative Quality Satisfaction Survey will open Thursday, Feb. 3. Surveys will be distributed via email to all faculty, staff, postdoctoral and graduate assistant employees. Translated versions of the survey will be available in Spanish, Chinese, Hmong, Tibetan and Nepali. Supervisors are expected to allow employees to complete the survey during work time.

UW–Madison has partnered with a third-party organization called HelioCampus to distribute the survey, support analysis, and keep responses confidential.

Survey participants will have an opportunity to share their experience with, and perception of quality for, eight categories of administrative services — including communications, facilities, finance, general administration, human resources, information technology, research administration and student services. The survey allows participants to distinguish between policy, process and performance for each activity.

The primary use of survey results will be to assess and improve overall satisfaction with these activities.  Results may lead to follow-up focus groups to better understand survey responses or investments in resources such as staffing or employee training.  Results may also serve as a valuable baseline for the Administrative Transformation Program. The survey is not being used for evaluation of budgets or employee performance.

“We encourage all participants to be as open as possible in their responses,” Cramer says. “Having a baseline understanding of how well our administrative services support our campus mission allows us to measure our growth more precisely and invest in our resources, including our people, more strategically.”

Employees will receive an email from the provost and vice chancellor via HelioCampus on Feb. 3, with a link to complete the survey. Participants are encouraged to check their “Other” or “Spam” folders if they do not see the survey in their primary inbox.