The University of New Mexico is encouraging faculty and staff to participate in the 2024 UNM Employee Engagement Survey, offered Feb. 26 through March 8. The short survey will provide employees with confidential feedback to University leadership on their workplace experience.

In the second year of data collection, the goal of the survey is to listen and take the pulse of UNM employees and to help focus efforts toward achieving UNM 2040 goals, specifically the objective of sustaining a high-quality workforce.  New to this year’s survey is the inclusion of faculty members across campus, an expansion from the staff-only 2023 survey.

“This year’s expansion to include faculty is critical,” said Kevin Stevenson, Vice President for Human Resources. “Faculty and staff together contribute to the culture within our units, and understanding their perspectives is crucial to creating an environment that increases the engagement and retention of UNM’s staff and faculty.”

Year One Results
In 2023, UNM Human Resources partnered with Gallup, the leading global analytics and data gathering company, to help better understand where UNM is meeting employee needs and where there were opportunities to improve.

The initial survey found that 48% of employees who completed the survey were “actively engaged” in their work, as compared to the national average of 39% across Higher Education Institutions. For more information about the 2023 survey and results visit the UNM Engagement website. 

Acting on the 2023 survey results, Human Resources has launched several key initiatives, including a revamp of required supervisor training and an enhancement of support resources and partnerships with Staff Council to bolster employee recognition programs.

“To achieve our goal of a sustainable workforce, staff engagement is key,” Stevenson said. “We need to hear directly and honestly from faculty and staff about their experience at UNM so we can reinforce what is working and address what isn’t.”

Why is Engagement an Important Measure?
In the context of the survey, employee engagement is defined as the involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their work and workplace. “When we are engaged, we are putting our energy and passion into our work,” said Bonnie Minkus-Holmes, manager of UNM Employee and Organizational Development.

“Statistically, organizations with highly engaged employees drive performance and innovation, are healthier, have lower absenteeism, and experience decreased turnover,” Minkus-Holmes said.

Confidentiality
UNM Human Resources has contracted with Gallup to conduct the survey to ensure opinions are kept confidential. The University will only receive the aggregated results and will not have access to individual responses.

For small departments, responses will roll up within a parent department or division to maintain confidentiality.

Transparency, Reporting and Next Steps
At the completion of the survey, results will be shared campus-wide and dashboards with departmental results will be available for review and analysis, enabling managers to understand and address needs at the local level.  Results from the prior year’s survey are available via the Engagement Survey Website.

“Sharing the results with the campus community and supporting action planning within departments is essential to the survey,” Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Teresa Costantinidis said. “UNM is a great place to work and we want to continue to improve on engagement through open dialogue and transparency in the results of the study.”

How to Take the Survey
The survey is taken electronically with a special invite to your UNM email. The survey should take about 10 minutes or less and is available in both English and Spanish.

Faculty and staff should be on the look out for a direct email invitation from the Gallup survey company, along with periodic reminders. Messages will have the official Gallup logo and will come from support@mail.gallup.com with an invitation to complete the survey.

If you do not see the survey invitation by Feb. 26, be sure to check your junk or clutter folders in your Outlook email.

If you do not have regular access to computers, in-person events will be scheduled to complete the survey. Times and locations are listed on the engagement website.

For more information, visit the engagement website or email engage@unm.edu .