Photo Marthe Hofsteenge The most satisfied university employees in the Netherlands work at Wageningen University. That at any rate is the finding of the recently published Employee Monitor, which compares the scores of WU and WR with one another and with eight other (anonymized) universities.
The 2023 Employee Monitor was carried out by the research firm IVA Onderwijs, which conducts similar surveys at various other Dutch universities. That gives them interesting data for comparisons. However, there are only ‘very limited possibilities’ for comparing the results with historical data, according to the report, as the firm that carried out the previous surveys did not share its data. In addition, the questionnaire has changed.
Of the 7797 WUR employees who were sent an email about the monitor, 4769 completed the questionnaire. This response rate (61 per cent) is higher than in 2021 (55 per cent). The highest rates were at Wageningen Food Safety Research (70 per cent) and Concern Staff (69 per cent).
Clarity
In terms of employee satisfaction, WU (7.9) and WR (7.8) head the group of universities. But that lead should be put into perspective: the lowest score is still 7.3. WU and WR also score better than the other universities on ‘clarity’: the tasks are clear, authorizations are clear and there is clarity on the results expected of you. The aspect of ‘challenges’ gets an above-average score too: people at WUR find their work sufficiently challenging. They are also happier with their colleagues on average.
However, WUR also scores high for inappropriate behaviour: one in five respondents say they have experienced this (almost twice as many as at some other universities). The report does not say whether that means transgressive behaviour is more common here or whether people at Wageningen are more alert to such behaviour. The report also has nothing to say on the topic of hot-desking and losing your personal desk. Resource recently reported on this topic, a major source of frustration for many. See the intranet for more on the survey results.
