Last updated on January 6, 2020
Q. Why are we conducting this survey?
A. CUL has a strong tradition of commitment to building a more positive and productive workplace. We conducted and acted on library-wide staff surveys every five years (ClimateQual 2008 and 2013). It is time to do an assessment of engagement and other markers of the workplace again. The survey is one of several venues available to CUL staff to provide feedback. In the survey everyone has the same opportunity to contribute. The result will be a quantitative score in measured areas and a listing of all free-text feedback staff give. The goal is to identify both our strengths and weaknesses. Your feedback will help all of us, as well as administrators and supervisors, to improve the Library.
Q. What is the name of the survey?
A. 2020 CUL Staff Engagement Survey Gallup Q12
Q. What is the All-staff Survey and what has Gallup to do with it?
A. The survey aims to solicit Library staff feedback about our organization. In the most recent past, we used the ClimateQUAL questionnaire offered by the Association of Research Libraries. This time, we opted for the questionnaire designed by Gallup Inc. The survey will be available online. You will be provided with survey details including instructions for how to access and participate in the survey.
Q. Who is Gallup? Why Gallup?
A. Gallup Inc. is an independent consulting firm specializing in conducting polls and understanding public opinions in different types of organizations worldwide. A small CUL staff team, consisting of Denise Smith Colon, Steven Folsom, Aliqae Geraci, Amelia Kallaher, Brenda Marston, and Gaby Castro Gessner evaluated vendors who offered staff engagement surveys. Their recommendations were reviewed by the Library Directors Leadership Team (LDLT) whose preferred choice was supported by the Library Executive Group.
Q. When is the survey?
A. The survey will be open to Library staff at 6:00am on Monday, Jan. 6, 2020. It will close at midnight on Monday, Jan. 20, 2020.
Q. Who is eligible to participate in the survey?
A. All current, benefits eligible staff of the Library are eligible. Participating in the survey is entirely voluntary. To have the most valid results, we hope to have a high participation rate. In 2013 (ClimateQual), the response rate was 72%.
Time spent responding to the survey counts as work time.
Q. Do I have to take the survey? May I stop participating at any time?
A. Your participation in the survey is completely voluntary. You may choose not to take part at all. If you decide to participate, you may stop participating at any time during the survey.
Q. How long is the survey?
A. We anticipate that the multiple-choice section can be completed in 10-15 minutes, with additional time needed to respond to the open-ended questions. Naturally, time spent responding to the survey counts as work time.
Please note that staff may choose to skip (or just respond “don’t know” to) questions, or exit the survey at any given point.
Q. What questions will be asked?
A. We contracted with Gallup to deploy their Q12 survey, which is about employee engagement, and to add additional questions on the topics of Change Management, Communication, and Leadership. CUL has not pre-selected questions to avoid introducing bias and that is also why the survey questions are not available to any of us in advance. The only questions that CUL developed are the open-ended questions that will be added to the multiple-choice questions provided by Gallup.
Q. How will I take the survey?
A. Gallup will send each eligible staff member a personal link via email. The invitation email will come from: support@mail.gallup.com . Please don’t share your link with others. The individual link will allow demographic data to be pre-populated in Gallup’s system, and will ensure that only authorized CUL staff will be able to take the survey.
Your feedback is confidential. No one in CUL will have access to responses tied to individuals’ identifying information.
Please note, even though most demographic data is pre-populated, you will receive two prompts before you start the survey:
- You have to select your country of residence (this is NOT related to immigration or citizenship; it has to do with providing you with the appropriate consent form as that varies depending on where one resides).
- All participants must agree to the Consent Message to take the survey. Participants who do not consent cannot take the survey.
Q. Is my feedback confidential?
A. Your feedback is confidential. No one in CUL will have access to responses tied to individuals’ identifying information.
Gallup informed us that it maintains high standards of confidentiality by rolling individual responses into workgroup results and adhering to strict standards regarding who can see individual responses. Gallup is a member of CASRO (Council of American Survey Research Organizations) and adheres to its strict standards of professional conduct.
Library Human Resources and the Assessment and Planning are working with Gallup to set up the above-mentioned aggregation of responses. CUL will receive the free-text comments verbatim with no indication of who the comments came from. To maintain your anonymity, avoid entering identifiable information in your responses and word your comments in a way that they do not identify you.
Q. What will happen after the survey is complete?
A. We will receive preliminary results from Gallup within a week of the survey’s end date. In February, Gallup will be providing an overview for library leadership and aggregated results of the multiple-choice answers for all of CUL. A list of all free-text feedback will be shared after that presentation.
Q. Will I see the results?
A. Yes, the aggregated survey results will be shared with all staff at the same time.
SURVEY MECHANICS
Q. I didn’t receive a link to the survey. Whom do I contact?
A. Please contact LibHR@cornell.edu if you did not receive a survey link by end of the day on January 6, 2020.
Q. How do I make sure the email from Gallup with the survey link does not go to clutter?
A. The invitational email will come from this Gallup address: support@mail.gallup.com. To avoid those messages going into the clutter or junk mail folders, you can proactively add the domain to the safe sender list by completing the following steps:
- In the Home section of the Outlook tool bar, click on the Junk drop down and choose Junk E-mail Options…
2. Choose the Safe Senders tab and click add:
3. Enter @mail.gallup.com and click OK
4. Click OK to close the Junk E-mail Options
Q. How does the survey refer to different levels of our organization?
A. Gallup offers very limited option for CUL to change the expressions used in the questionnaire to match our usage at CUL. Please use the following definitions when you encounter these terms:
- Institution = CUL
- Organization = your department or the unit library that you are most closely affiliated with.
- Supervisor = direct or immediate supervisor
- Co-worker = staff or colleagues in your immediate work group/team/unit
Q. Can the survey be paused? How do I return to it later?
A. The survey can be stopped and resumed at any time during the dates the survey is open (Jan. 6-20, 2020), as long as you have not clicked the Submit button.
Q. Is the survey accessible?
A. The Gallup survey instrument complies with University Policy 5.12, Web Accessibility Standards. Should you need help accessing the survey, please contact: support@mail.gallup.com
Q. Can I change my responses?
A. You can change your responses only before you click the submit button.
Q. Is there a word limit to the open-ended questions?
A. Yes, there is a 1,000 character limit for each of the open-ended questions.
Q. How will Gallup ensure confidentiality in reporting on the department/unit level?
A. For reporting, we are grouping staff by department. Recognizing that confidentiality of responses might be an issue in small departments, we are aiming to have a minimum of 10 staff members to each group.
If your department has fewer than 10 people, your responses will be aggregated to the next level, and only your supervisor’s supervisor will see those responses.
For example, HR has three staff members reporting to the director (Lyndsi). Her three staff members’ responses will be rolled up to Ezra, who is Lyndsi’s direct supervisor. Their responses will be grouped with all of Ezra’s other departments.
In departments of 10 people or more, the direct supervisor will see the results as long as there are more than five responses. If fewer than 5 people respond to the question out of the 10 people in one group, results will not be shown at all.
Q. Will Gallup be also reporting by demographic categories?
A. Yes, demographic data, such as endowed/contract, years in position, academic/non-academic; supervisor/non-supervisor, etc., could be used as reporting variables and cross-tabulations, but only in aggregate form (minimum size groups of ten individuals).
Q. Whom do I contact if I have additional questions?
A. Please send questions about the survey to LibHR@cornell.edu. This FAQ is being updated over the next few weeks. Please check back for more information.