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New Campus Survey Sketches Work/Life Pressures on Employees
By VIC COX
Flexible work schedules
allowing staff employees more latitude to respond to family needs, such
as caring for children or elderly relatives, are one of the most frequently
cited options needed to manage work/life stresses, according to an analysis
of comments arising out a survey conducted in the spring of 2002.
Commuting and parking problems have also generated interest in compressed
workweeks and telecommuting options, reported Wendy Nishikawa, coordinator
of the campus Work/Life Program and organizer of the on-line survey.
Academic employee respondents, who already have a large degree of
job flexibility, tended to want more help with spousal employment than
staff, she added. But both staff and academic employees' comments emphasized
how hard it was to live on the South Coast with the salaries earned
from UCSB.
"It is easy to see that financial strain causes much of the
stress on campus," Nishikawa concluded after reading nearly 900
comments received from 1,428 participants, in addition to their responses
to survey questions.
Of the survey's total respondents, 82 percent were staff (66 percent
of them female) and 18 percent academic employees (45 percent female).
With this breakdown no one claims the survey to be statistically representative
of the UCSB workforce, but nearly half of the valid e-mail addresses
generated responses, which is impressive.
Gauging workforce needs was one of the primary tasks assigned to
the work/life office when, following his task force's recommendations,
Chancellor Henry Yang created it nearly two years ago as part of Human
Resources.
Though anecdotal information helped launch the program, the survey—the
"UCSB Work/Life Survey Report," which will be posted on the
HR Web site in August—was designed to refine priorities by eliciting
definitions of the pressures employees seek to balance between work
and home life.
"Though we had an idea, we wanted to know what issues they really
cared about," said Cynthia Cronk, director of Human Resources and
one of the task force leaders. "I was surprised by how many people
took the time to write a comment."
While expressing "a little disappointment" in the low response
from faculty, Academic Personnel Director Pat Sheppard noted that a
similar work/life survey of all UC faculty currently being conducted
for the Office of the President might fill in the gaps. She also was
impressed by the UCSB survey's comments.
"It was a good survey that identifies real problems, and shows
the value of family-friendly policies as recruiting tools," said
Sheppard, who was a co-leader of the work/life task force. "It
takes us to the next step."
Despite the limitations of the sample and on-line inquiries, Cronk
said she was satisfied that the survey was worthwhile. Unfortunately,
she said, budget reductions will prohibit repeat surveys.
However, alternate work schedules are part of HR's training workshops.
"We hope supervisors will see the variety of schedules as options
they want to try," she said, especially during the voluntary work
time reduction known as the START program.