President David Skorton will ask Cornell staff members next week to participate in a confidential universitywide survey about various aspects of their work experience. The request supports a call from the Employee Assembly to conduct a formal study of employee engagement.

The Office of Institutional Research and Planning (IRP) developed the survey by conducting several focus groups spanning the occupational categories of Cornell staff. The survey is meant to gather feedback, identify common themes, facilitate discussions about employee engagement, and inform any consideration of improvements or advancements that might be suggested.

According to IRP, the survey will take about 10 minutes to complete, and supervisors have been encouraged to allow staff to take the survey during paid work hours. Employees are encouraged to complete the survey on the Web, although paper surveys will be available on request. Staff members can skip any questions that they do not wish to answer and still submit their surveys. Only grouped results will be reported -- individual responses will remain completely confidential and will not be shared with anyone.