Sunday, August 26, 2012

Most IVC employees say: Roquemore and Co. don’t care what we think

Summary of “highlights” of IVC employee satisfaction survey (see The 2011 IVC survey: curious results):

  • By far, the largest group that participated in the survey were the full-time classified (i.e., non-instructional, non-managerial employees). They comprised 40% of respondents. Full-time faculty comprised 25%.
  • 23%—that's nearly a quarter—disagree that they are treated with "respect and dignity." That can't be good, civility fans.
  • 52% agree that "little effort is made to get the opinions...of people who work here." That is, most employees (who took the survey, anyway) feel that Roquemore and Co. don't care what they think.*
  • A quarter of respondents judged that the environment for employees (at IVC) is poor or very poor.
  • 39% of employees agree that "district administrators and managers usually make decisions that are unfair."
  • 35% of IVC employees disagree that "administration at IVC provides effective leadership...."
*I should mention that the survey question (to which I am referring here: #37H) was a tad ambiguous concerning whether it was referring to IVC leadership or district leadership. On the other hand, most of 37's elements concern IVC in particular, and we have strong independent reasons to suppose that the district Chancellor is a popular leader (including at IVC). Thus I think my interpretation—that 37H opines about Roquemore and Co, not some broader field of leadership.—is fair.

The 2011 IVC employee satisfaction survey report: curious results

VPI C. Justice
     Oddly, though employees took the IVC employee satisfaction survey back in 2011, the survey's results haven't become available until very recently (Aug. 15). Many of us here at IVC had begun to think that the survey results were being suppressed.
     Not sure about that. Many of the remarks left by survey-takers were pretty negative.
     I didn’t report on these results right away (here on DtB) because (1) I was very busy at the time, (2) when I looked them over, I could think of no way of “boiling them down” to something small and digestible. Seems to me you ought to read the whole thing. Still think so.
     Well, some readers have kept yammering about the survey and so I guess I’ve got to give it a shot. What follows presents only some of the survey results, though I made an effort to focus on what struck me as important.
     I have not included the written remarks solicited by the survey. It seems to me that it's even harder to "boil down" that stuff. Any effort to do that will look like cherrypicking.

     FINDING THE REPORT. I’m not sure that everyone has access to this site, but the url for the IVC Fall employee satisfaction survey report is this:

Prez Roquemore

     According to the communication (from the President's Office) that provided the above link, “You can find the report ... by navigating to Inside IVC > Non-Academics > Research and Planning > IVC Satisfaction Surveys.
     They're assuming, of course, that you're starting at the IVC Website.

Interestingly, classified employees were slightly more willing to participate in the survey than full-time faculty. By far, the largest group that participated were the full-time classified (i.e., non-instructional, non-managerial). They comprised 40% of respondents. Full-time faculty comprised 25%.

A quarter of respondents judged that the environment for employees (at IVC) is poor or very poor. On the other hand, 56% judged it to be good or excellent.

It seems to me that employees at one college are typically in a poor position to assess conditions for employees at the other college. IVC employees are generally in a poor position to assess conditions for district employees.

Safe town, safe college.

The campus looks good. But there seem to be bathroom and AC issues. 23% of employees don't agree that campus lighting at night is "good." That's worrisome I think.

30% of employees don't agree that job performance evals "encourage improvement." That can't be good.
20% disagree that campus publications reflect reality. But 60% agree!
What are these people reading? I must be missin' it.

Check out C. 39% of employees agree that "district administrators and managers usually make decisions that are unfair." Wow.
On the other hand, item C's statement strikes me as easily misread (one expects it to say "fair," but in fact it says "unfair"). Agree?
35% of IVC employees disagree that "administration at IVC provides effective leadership...." Wow again.
That question was pretty straight-forward. I don't see how one could misread it.
Those are high negatives, dude.
Re 35: people really like to work at IVC. That's always been true, I think, despite the nuttiness at the top.
But 31% don't agree that they have the opportunity to participate meaningfully in shared governance at IVC.
That's pretty high, if you ask me. I.e., that's pretty bad.
23%--that's nearly a quarter--disagree that they are treated with "respect and dignity." That can't be good.
Re 36: 80% feel that they are informed about "what is happening" at IVC. I wonder why?

This is item 37: "Please indicate the extent to which you agree with the following statements about communication." The above results surprise me somewhat. Many employees feel that they are informed, but just where do they think they're getting the information? (Who informs them?) 65% are "content" with the info they get on major issues being addressed by the college Prez.
On the other hand, 28% are not "content," info-wise.

Continued:
Item H is curious, given the large number of employees who feel "informed" about college issues. 52% agree that "little effort is made to get the opinions...of people who work here." That is, MOST employees (who took the survey, anyway) feel that Roquemore and Co. don't care what they think. Wow.
Further, about the same proportion of employees say they are "rarely informed about budget decisions" that affect their work area.

What strikes me about these data is the large percentage of respondents who select "don't know." (Compare with questions above.) Are these processes effective? Always, a substantial proportion of employees say they "don't know." That can't be good.
• Cal State Fullerton welcoming over 37,000 for fall (OC Reg)

…Fullerton is admitting more students this fall because admissions will tighten up in the spring, when the California State University system limits enrollment because of ongoing budget cuts, officials said. Fullerton might admit as few as 200 transfer students this spring, according to some estimates, compared to 2,000-2,500 transfers typically taken each spring….

• Jeb Bush to GOP: Time to change the tone on immigration (LA Times)
• California State University, Online, coming soon (Associated Press)
     California State University will launch a systemwide online university in 2013 that could eventually expand enrollment by 250,000 students.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...