Employee Engagement Survey Results
Thank you to all who participated in the 2022 Washington State Employee Engagement Survey.
Why Survey Engagement?
Decades of research have revealed a strong connection between employee engagement and organizational performance. This survey provides an opportunity for us to gain a better understanding of how our employees feel about their work environment so we can continue to make improvements.
Background
The survey has been conducted with state employees since 2006. The survey was opened to Higher Education in 2021, and CWU has participated for the last two years with a participation rate of approximately 50%. CWU is committed to participating in this survey every October. We hope to have more faculty and staff participate each year so more voices are represented.
What We Learned
The questions in the survey addressed a variety of day-to-day aspects of the workplace and helped us identify several compelling messages. We were encouraged to see scores stay the same or improve for all standardized questions from 2021 to 2022.
Most notably, 86% of employees said their supervisors treated them with dignity and respect. Also, 82% of employees indicated they know what is expected of them in their jobs. It was also heartening to see that nearly three-quarters of employees feel they have the opportunity to make good use of their skills and find meaning in their work.
While we should be proud of these results, there is always room for improvement. From this survey, we see that employees need 1) a better understanding of how we measure and recognize employee success, 2) clearer communication between all administrative levels, and 3) help successfully navigating change.
What’s Next
A task force has been established that represents both faculty and staff with the charge to make sense of results from this and other feedback methods. In the coming months, a report will be presented to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) identifying several mission and vision-aligned employee engagement themes with realistic strategies and implementation plans to highlight areas of success and address deficiencies.
The work we do impacts the students of CWU every day and we couldn’t do it without you. Thank you for being part of this important work.