Faculty & Staff Engagement Survey Frequently Asked Questions

W&L wants to hear directly from the colleagues who create the experience of learning and working here every day. Confidential feedback gives us a clearer picture of what matters most to employees, highlights the strengths we can celebrate, and points out areas where we can continue to grow.

Now is the right time for this survey because it has been a decade since our last ModernThink assessment, and our campus has experienced substantial change — including the pandemic, shifts in how we work, and leadership transitions across the university. Gathering confidential feedback now will help us understand how these developments have shaped the employee experience and where we are thriving or have opportunities to improve. We also believe it is important to survey our campus more regularly and will be implementing a three-year cycle moving forward. This moment offers a meaningful opportunity to listen, learn, and ensure W&L remains a great place to learn and work.

ModernThink LLC is a nationally recognized organization specializing in surveys of this kind for higher education. The higher education benchmark data ModernThink will provide will give W&L valuable insight into how we compare to other schools across the nation.

Human Resources led the survey effort with a core implementation team including Florentina Butler, Paige Gance, Kristy Crickenberger, Brian Laubscher and Leslie Wingard-Cunningham. W&L worked in close consultation with ModernThink to develop and refine the survey. ModernThink is partnering with the implementation team to customize the survey, administer the survey, ensure confidentiality, and aid in the dissemination of the results. 

The survey statements solicit feedback on a broad range of topics focused around the following themes:

• Collaboration
• Communication
• Confidence in Senior Leadership
• Inclusion, Belonging & Community
• Faculty & Staff Well-being
• Faculty Experience (Faculty and Adjuncts only)
• Job Satisfaction & Support
• Mission & Pride
• Performance Management
• Professional Development
• Supervisors/Department Head Effectiveness

The online survey should take approximately 18 to 22 minutes to complete. If you are unable to complete the survey after you begin, you will have the option to save your responses and access them later.

The survey consists of statements that staff and faculty respond to using a five-point agreement scale (Strongly Agree, Agree, Sometimes Agree/Sometimes Disagree, Disagree, Strongly Disagree). Additionally, there is a Not Applicable response option. The survey instrument also includes a section on benefits satisfaction and two open-ended questions. 

There is also a question about your primary work location and the percentage of time you work on campus. This question helps ModernThink and the university better understand how employees are experiencing their work environments, whether on campus, hybrid, or remote, and to interpret survey results within the context of different work arrangements.

Your voice matters. Hearing broadly from faculty and staff ensures we gain an accurate, meaningful understanding of the employee experience across campus. Every perspective adds insight into what is working well and where we have opportunities to grow. Please take this opportunity to share your experiences so we can continue strengthening W&L.

Yes, participation is completely voluntary.

All benefits eligible faculty and staff members of our institution are invited and encouraged to participate in the survey.

All faculty and staff members will be invited via email to take the survey hosted on ModernThink’s secure website. The survey is available for two weeks and is extended depending on the response rate.

You will receive a unique survey link in an e-mail invitation sent to you directly by ModernThink. 

You may take the survey at any time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from work or from home (for hourly paid employees, please note that any time spent taking the survey must be recorded as hours worked). Internet access is required. Employees taking the survey can use the same workstation, as long as each person uses the unique email survey link.

Yes. The purpose of the survey is to get honest feedback and to hear from employees confidentially.

W&L is using an external partner (ModernThink) to administer the survey. It is web-based and automated with a secure internet connection. Each employee will receive an email invitation from ModernThink to participate in the survey. Once you click on the survey link, you will go directly to ModernThink’s website. W&L has no access to this website. Your responses will be submitted directly to ModernThink’s database, and all processing will be done by ModernThink. You will not be asked your name on the survey. The email will include a unique link for each user. This information is stored on the ModernThink server. This information is for access only and your email will not be linked to your individual survey responses.  

At no point will your manager or any other W&L employee see your individual survey results; they are combined and only reported back to your university in the aggregate/grouped format. No one at W&L will know if or how you personally responded.

No. The survey will be completed on ModernThink’s private server. The email address is only used to access the survey and to ensure that only one survey is completed per employee. Emails are purged from ModernThink’ s system once the survey project has been completed.  

Your answers will be stored each time you select the SAVE & CONTINUE button at the bottom of a survey page. If you get interrupted, you can come back to the survey. You will need to log on to the ModernThink survey site to re-access the survey. To protect your confidentiality, you will not be able to access the survey after you click the SUBMIT button on the last page of the survey.

For technical questions or problems with the survey site please contact ModernThink at 888-684-4658 or surveys@modernthink.com, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. After hours, leave a message and your call will be returned as promptly as possible.

While a 100% response rate is not necessary, we like to see as high a response rate as possible. Average response rates for ModernThink surveys typically range between 40% and 65%. From February 2 - 16, the survey will be available and we will share our response rate with the community at large. We hope that each of you will use this information and opportunity to encourage your colleagues to participate. 

Once survey results are received, university leadership will review the findings carefully, identify key themes, and consider potential areas for action. We are committed to sharing the results and emerging themes with the campus community — including during Fall Academy — and to using what we learn to help inform future planning and discussions.

While the formal timeline for the next survey is not yet established, our institution will be repeating this process every three years. This year’s results will provide us with important baseline data so that we chart our progress moving forward.

If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions regarding the survey and/or the survey process, please do not hesitate to contact Jodi Williams at jwilliams@wlu.edu.