ACC employee check-in survey resumes

Austin Community College District (ACC) is relaunching its collegewide employee climate check-in survey. 

This survey is a new version of the check-in survey sent out in April which paused due to concerns expressed about being able to submit more than one response.

The college brought together employee association leaders, the Office of Institutional Research and Analytics (OIRA), and the Collaboration, Connection, and Caring (3Cs) initiative leads to discuss options for collecting secure and valid data while protecting the confidentiality of employees. They secured a new survey tool that balances both needs. This provides every employee a custom link to the survey that can only be submitted once. 

All responses are confidential, and prior to analysis, all potentially identifying data will be removed. Results are reported at the group level only (employee group, race/ethnicity, etc.), and no employees will be identified or connected to their data in any report of the survey findings.  

Employees should have received an email on May 11 with a unique survey link that can only be submitted once.

“We would like to get 100 percent participation in order to ensure that every employee’s voice is heard,” says Dr. Jenna Cullinane Hege, Institutional Research & Analytics vice president. “Thank you for all you do to make ACC a place where all students and employees can thrive and feel respected, valued, listened-to, and appreciated.”

The college is asking any employee who completed the survey on April 19 or 20 to complete the survey again. The previous survey responses have been discarded in an effort  to ensure secure and valid data.

The survey may be taken online using a computer or mobile device.

The deadline to take the survey is Friday, May 21.

If you have questions about the survey, please contact Dr. Xiaoling Liang ([email protected]). 

FAQs

Q: How will ACC protect employee privacy with this survey?

A: The survey is administered by OIRA through a secure survey platform. Only two analysts in OIRA will ever have access to employee results connected to an email address. The analysts will download the data and remove all identifying information prior to analysis. No one in IT or anywhere else at the college will have access to the email address connected to a survey response.

Q: How are individual responses used?

A: Individual responses are not released to anyone including the Chancellor, members of the Chancellor’s Cabinet, or your supervisor. The only results that will be shared are group-level results. For example, the College may look at how satisfied employees are with communication within the college, and examine separately the results by employee group. Or the College may examine results for different race/ethnicity groups to support ACC’s equity work and the different experiences of employees at the College. These results are aggregated at the group-level to ensure confidentiality.

Q: What if I am the only employee on a particular campus, from a particular employee group, and with a particular race/ethnicity? Isn’t it easy to figure out my identity?

A: ACC will not release individual responses to the survey. The College also will not release results by multiple group categories simultaneously (i.e., Black males on the Hays campus employed in a professional-technical position). Statistically, conclusions that are based on a small number of responses are not helpful, so ACC will neither examine nor present results in such a way. Even if your identity could be knowable by OIRA during the analysis process, results are not released that would allow survey responses to be attributed to an individual.

 Q: What if I am still uncomfortable with some of the questions?

A: Making culture and climate improvements at ACC depends on us understanding and tracking where improvement is needed. As such, we hope you will participate in the survey. If there are questions you feel uncomfortable answering, we have made it possible to skip any questions or select the “I prefer not to answer” option.

Q: What is the purpose of the survey?

A: This climate “check-in” survey is an opportunity to conduct a mid-cycle pulse check on employees. Administrative leaders are seeking some high-level feedback about whether communication and culture efforts are moving the needle. They also want to see how the pandemic has affected employee engagement and satisfaction. The aim is to provide quick, actionable insights to keep driving improvement in the College. The full employee climate survey will be administered in Spring 2022.

The employee climate “check-in” survey results are not being used to evaluate individuals or supervisors. Results are not used for performance appraisal purposes, nor are they used for grievance or complaint processes.

Q: What kinds of questions are included in the survey?

A: The climate check-in survey asks questions about college communication, culture, work environment, and resources. All questions are multiple choice on a scale which indicates your level of agreement. There are no open-ended questions on the check-in.