Doing work that makes a difference, offering jobs that fit the individual and show flexibility, and creating a high degree of pride in an institution all show up clearly as hallmarks of the 97 Great Colleges to Work For in The Chronicle’s 2010 survey, pointing to strengths of colleges and universities as employers.
But colleges have been challenged to maintain those attributes during the past year—and the year before that—as the lingering recession has forced budget cuts that continue to reach employees. Salaries have been trimmed, people have been laid off or told to take unpaid furloughs, and hiring has been frozen at many colleges and universities.
All of this has contributed to an atmosphere of some uncertainty. In the current survey, about 43,000 professors, administrators, and staff members from 275 colleges were asked to agree or disagree with statements such as “senior leadership shows a genuine interest in the well-being of faculty, administration, and staff.” The percentage of positive responses to that statement in 2010 was lower than in 2009, dropping to 63 percent from nearly 67 percent.
For administrators, the drop was from about 75 percent to 72 percent. For faculty members, positive responses dropped from 62 percent to 59 percent, and for staff members they dropped from 67 percent to 63 percent.
MORE ON THE ACADEMIC WORKPLACE: Buy The Chronicle‘s Special Report
Other statements, having to do with maintaining a work-and-life balance, showed some of the lowest average scores in the survey, perhaps indicating the stress of increased workloads.
However, the news is not all doom and gloom by a long shot. Over all, the survey indicates that people very much like to work in higher education. The survey had 60 statements, scored on a five-point scale with strong agreement at the high end. Some of the highest scoring statements in the entire survey were items such as “I have a good relationship with my supervisor/department chair” and “I am given the responsibility and freedom to do my job” and “I am proud to be part of this institution.” How these characteristics play out at three individual institutions can be seen in our in-depth profiles of Juniata College, the University of Southern California, and Wake Technical Community College.
The benefits of working at a college also scored strongly. Five items—vacation time, retirement plans, medical insurance, tuition reimbursement for employees, and life insurance—were all rated highly by our respondents.
Great colleges, it turns out, also have some unexpected benefits. Discount opera tickets, free veterinary care for pets, and access to the creations of a gourmet cooking school were some of the perks that colleges offer employees. One administrator told us that in a competitive hiring market, these little things can make a college stand out in a prospective hire’s mind.