Future of Work follow-up survey finds continued interest in measuring productivity, additional training

In May 2022, faculty, staff and graduate students had the opportunity to share comments, concerns and ideas by completing a workplace experience survey as part of the Future of Work project.

“We are deeply appreciative of the time respondents spent to provide feedback as the Future of Work project continues,” said Bill Bell, vice president for human resources. “Since the workplace experience survey ended, our partner, IDA+A, has helped us to review the results.”

More than 3,800 staff, faculty and graduate students completed the survey — a 26.4% response rate total. Of those who participated, 41% identified as working entirely on campus, 43% as working in a hybrid model and 16% as fully remote. 

The majority of survey respondents believe their at-home workstation to be adequate. However, responses show that additional training is still a need regarding various tools (i.e., Microsoft Teams, project management software, etc.). Specific results will be shared with the teams responsible for those systems for additional review and follow-up.

Additionally, supervisors stated the need for methods to measure employee productivity.

“We plan to follow up on what we learned from the survey,” Bell said. “The committee will explore opportunities for providing additional training that supervisors can use to set effective goals and objectives for their teams, with an emphasis on measuring outcomes.”

The Future of Work Project Team and Executive Committee will use the information gathered from the survey results to continue to move the project forward toward its outcome: a flexible, collaborative workplace strategy that supports current employees, attracts new employees, and supports Purdue’s residential learning and research environments.