Your Voice matters: Digging into the results from Dal's latest workplace survey

Dalhousie’s faculty and staff are motivated to do a good job, get a strong sense of achievement from their work and have workplace flexibility. However, they continue to experience challenges with workload, and some do not feel recognized or valued by the university.

Those are just some of the highlights from the 2023 Your Voice workplace survey that are now available to the Dal community. Dalhousie conducted the Your Voice workplace survey last November, part of its regular biennial check-in on how employees, university-wide, are feeling about their work at the university.

“The Your Voice survey gives our faculty and staff the opportunity to share their feedback on how they are experiencing Dalhousie as a workplace, including what is working and what needs improvement, says Grace Jefferies-Aldridge, vice-president, people and culture. “It provide us with valuable information that will inform the approach we take in the coming years to support our employees’ needs.”

View the full report: Dal’s 2023 Your Voice workplace survey [PDF] on the HR myDal site (login required)

The Your Voice response rate, 46 per cent (36 percent faculty, 52 percent staff) improved on the 2023 survey, with more than 2,100 faculty and staff completing the survey, an overall increase of 10 per cent for faculty and 8 per cent for staff.

The Your Voice survey, conducted by Narrative Research, was distributed to all full-time/part-time faculty and staff (50 per cent FTE or greater) in fall 2023. There were separate surveys designed for faculty and staff. The survey is confidential and no personally identifiable information was shared.

A closer look

Overall, the results with employee engagement scores are quite high:

• On average more than 80 per cent of faculty and staff at Dalhousie report feeling motivated to do a good job, feel a sense of accomplishment through their work, and feel they work with people who are committed to their work.
• More than 70 per cent of faculty and staff say they look forward to coming to work, while a majority [59 – 70 per cent] of both staff and faculty feel a sense of pride in the university’s accomplishments and would recommend Dalhousie as a good place to work.

The survey also identifies areas for Dalhousie to improve:

•  Notable numbers of faculty, 54 per cent, and staff, 38 per cent, report feeling highly pressured at times while working at Dalhousie.
• 41 per cent of faculty and 59 per cent of staff report they feel recognized for their achievements.
•  51 per cent of faculty and 66 per cent of staff report that they have access to career development opportunities at the university.

Turning results to action

The Your Voice survey provides results across the organization – institutional and departmental. Snapshots of results for each faculty and large administrative department that have sufficient participation (greater than 10 respondents) will be reviewed with leaders in the coming weeks, and various forms of communication and dialogue on the results are underway.

“Now that we have the survey data, we can build the university’s action plan, and help leaders build their individual department and faculty ones, to celebrate what’s working and address the concerns identified,” says Janice MacInnis, manager, organizational health. “This year, we’re also inviting Your Voice champions in each faculty and unit to help share the survey results and build meaningful action plans specific to their unique results.”

The Your Voice workplace survey continues to be a critical tool to help us gain a better understanding of how faculty and staff are feeling and learn more about their day-to-day experiences. If you have questions about the Your Voice workplace survey results, please send them to YourVoice@dal.ca.