Benchmarks from the Harvard Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE)

Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey

University Faculty Meeting

October 10, 2013

What is COACHE?

A collaborative project at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University initiated in 2002

Purpose:

Developed for provosts and academic leaders to identify ways to improve the academic workplace in order to increase faculty recruitment and retention

The Survey

Designed to answer the following questions:

• How do faculty of different career stages experience academic work life at my institution?

• How do their experiences compare to those of faculty at peer institutions?

• What policies or practices are associated with high levels of faculty satisfaction and vitality?

UR Participation

• Survey is administered every three years

• UR participated in the 2006, 2009 and 2012 Surveys

• Originally focused only on pre-tenure faculty

• Now includes tenured faculty as well

• 2012 also included non-tenure-track faculty but national response rate was insufficient for benchmarking

Survey Results

• UR Response Rate: 43%• Confidentiality

• COACHE administers the survey and does not provide UR with individual results (data file), a list of respondents or non-respondents, or with any personal identifiers

• UR only receives a summary report

• Benchmarks• This presentation focuses on the benchmark scores that COACHE

uses to assess faculty job satisfaction• Includes 21,000 faculty respondents nationwide

What is a Benchmark Score?• Rather than looking at each individual question on the

survey separately, COACHE aggregates responses to questions that are related to develop a benchmark score

• Each benchmark score represents the average score of several questions that share a common theme

• The advantage of using a benchmark score is that it provides an overall sense of how faculty feel about a particular aspect of their work/life

• Using a benchmark score also makes it easier to compare across institutions

COACHE Benchmarks

UR Respondents Compared to Respondents from All Institutions Participating in the 2012 COACHE Survey

Nature of Work

Service

Research

Teaching

1 2 3 4 5

3.2

3.5

4.0

3.3

3.7

3.9

UR

All

Highest Score

Lowest Score

Interdisciplinary, Collaboration, Mentoring

Mentoring

Collaboration

Interdisciplinary Work

1 2 3 4 5

3.2

3.6

3.0

3.1

3.7

2.9

UR

All

Lowest Score

Highest Score

Tenure and Promotion

Promotion

Tenure Reasonableness

Tenure Clarity

Tenure Policies

1 2 3 4 5

3.7

3.8

3.4

3.5

3.3

3.8

3.2

3.4

UR

All

Lowest Score

Highest Score

Resources, Policies, Benefits

Health and Re-tirement Benefits

Personal and Family Policies

Facilities and Work Resources

1 2 3 4 5

3.6

3.2

3.7

3.5

3.2

4.0

UR

All

Lowest Score

Highest Score

Leadership

Departmental Leadership

Senior Leadership

1 2 3 4 5

3.8

3.4

3.8

3.5

UR

All

Lowest Score

Highest Score

Department

Departmental Quality

Departmental Engagement

Departmental Collegiality

1 2 3 4 5

3.9

3.7

4.0

3.8

3.7

4.0

UR

All

Lowest Score

Highest Score

Appreciation and Recognition

Appreciation and Recognition

1 2 3 4 5

3.4

3.5UR

All

Lowest Score

Highest Score

HOW WE USE COACHE RESULTS

Changes Made

• Parental leave policy and sick child care service added

• Increased starting salaries by rank and reduced salary compression through significant Spring 2012 faculty salary market adjustment

• Continued benchmarking of faculty salaries to ensure that we stay competitive

• Created the Faculty Enrichment Advisory Group with Mellon Foundation Grant support

• Support for cross-school, interdisciplinary and team teaching through FYS, University Seminars, and new majors

• Support for faculty research, including research incentive accounts

Continued Focus

• Faculty mentoring and development• Clarity of tenure and promotion expectations

• Interdisciplinary and cross-school opportunities

• Diversity

Next COACHE Administration

• Fall 2015

• Will include full-time pre-tenure and tenured faculty

• One tool, but an important one in assessing faculty satisfaction and concerns

QUESTIONS