More than 400 employees registered to attend the April Town Hall Thursday to hear the results of Algonquin College’s Pulse Survey and participate in a lively question-and-answer session about the survey and other topics of interest.  

Hosted by President Claude Brulé, the two-hour event was dominated by a discussion of the 20-question survey, which was launched January 26 to all paid active employees.  

David Soltis, Director, People and Culture in Human Resources, said the survey captured “the pride, passion, resilience and continued focus on the learner experience that our employees bring, day in and day out. It showcases what we’ve done well and where we can improve going forward putting a greater focus on workload and work/life balance.” 

The Workload/Work Life scores declined marginally from 66.5 per cent in 2019 to 65.7 per cent this year, the latter number the same as the Higher Education Database. The Psychological Health and Wellness score stands at 77.4 per cent. There were no similar questions in the earlier survey, and these questions have not been asked often enough by other post-secondary institutions to provide a valid benchmark.   

The survey results and related questions and answers, as well as questions posed by employees on other topics, are included in the recorded Town Hall, which can be watched here. The College results will also be posted to the Employee Engagement website.  

Despite the stresses of the pandemic, the survey registered many of the strengths employees associated with work at the College. President Brulé said he was very pleased with the results overall.  

“There are always areas to improve,” he noted. “We have the spirit of continuous improvement (at the College) and we’re going to focus on that as well. But let’s take a moment to celebrate the great results you’ve seen here.”  

Some of the highest ratings were in response to such statements as: I enjoy my work; I am willing to give extra effort at work if needed; and I usually feel energetic and enthusiastic about my work. The most improved scores were for the statements: Algonquin College cares about its employees; I would not leave Algonquin College if an equivalent employment opportunity became available elsewhere; and, I would recommend Algonquin College as an employer to friends/family.  

When asked, ‘In your opinion what do you feel Algonquin College has done well to support employees in response to COVID-19?’, the top comment areas were: effective communication; effective support; focus on safety; technology; and greater flexibility. 

The survey also highlighted possible areas for improvement. The lowest rating was in response to the statement: Work is distributed fairly and evenly within my department. The response to the statement: My job allows me to balance my work and family/personal life, decreased most compared to 2019. The response to the latter was also lower compared to the Higher Education Database.  

The results of the survey will be shared with members of the Leadership Team, who will then bring them to their respective teams to discuss their strengths and opportunities to improve engagement.  

Diane McCutcheon, Vice President, Human Resources, said she plans to look at the results in detail with her team and determine what needs to be done to effect improvements. “We can start look at whether (the department’s results are) a capacity issue, and then how do we fill any current vacancies that we have; how do we make sure we have our capacity shored up. … What are the concrete, actionable things that we can start putting in place as a team.”   

She added that across the College, fulsome conversations will be valuable in determining what the survey data means to the various schools and departments, “what are the pain points and how do we solve them. There might be different solutions for different areas, but it’s important that all of us make sure that we’re listening to the results and acting on them.”