Summer/Fall Planning Survey

In Winter 2021, Western’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) administered a survey in partnership with Western’s COVID Incident Management Team that focused on assessing employees’ level of comfort of returning to university sites, depending on various scenarios. Results of the survey are being factored into planning for Fall 2021.

For the purposes of the report, responses of faculty and staff are reported separately. Unless otherwise indicated, the designation of an employee as faculty or staff was determined by their response to the first question of the survey, rather than their employee classification. The first question asked employees to indicate whether their position was best described as faculty or staff. Some questions were asked of both faculty and staff, while others were asked only of one or the other; this is indicated on each result’s graph.

All current Western employees were invited to participate.

In total, 55.6% of faculty and 64.7% of staff responded to the survey. Results of the open comments at the end of the survey for faculty and staff are still under analysis for themes due to the volume of comments received.

Employee Type

Which best describes your position at Western?

A pie chart showing 43.7% of respondents were faculty and 56.3% staff

There were a total of 1,540 respondents for the survey, comprised of 673 faculty and 867 staff.

Presence on Campus

How frequently have you been on a campus site since the remote working order in March 2020?

25.9% of staff and 13.5% of faculty have not been on campus since March 2020

Of the employees who responded, 81% have come to campus at least once over the past year, totaling 1,246 employees. Over 30% of staff and 15% of faculty have regularly been on campus.

A stacked bar chart showing that more staff than faculty are considered critcal on site employees.

Are you currently a critical on-site employee?

At the time of this survey, critical on-site employees were considered employees who had to be on campus to complete their job responsibilities and those duties were critical to maintaining Western’s infrastructure.

VACCINATION STATUS AND INTENT

A stacked bar chart showing that just a small percentage of staff and faculty have vaccines thus far.

Have you received a vaccination for COVID-19?

Just under 6% of Western employees have already received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccination. At the time of this survey, vaccine eligibility was limited to people who met the criteria of Phase 1A or 1B Tier 1.

A stacked bar chart showing nearly all faculty and staff intend to get a vaccine.

Do you intend to get vaccinated?

(asked only of respondents who indicated they had not been vaccinated)

Of the employees who have yet to be vaccinated, almost all are planning to get vaccinated once they are eligible. A total of 91.5% of survey respondents indicated they intend to get vaccinated. 

CONCERN WITH RETURNING

A horizontal bar chart showing roughly 2/3rds of employees and faculty are slightly or not concerned with returning.

How concerned are you about the university returning to regular operations?

(asked only of respondents who indicated they had been on campus regularly)

Over 400 employees stated they were regularly on campus during the academic year and were able to answer this question. Nearly 63% of employees said they are not at all or slightly concerned, compared to a little over 37% being very or extremely concerned.

A chart showing concerns of faculty staff: most being concerned with not yet having a vaccine, people not following safety protocols, and case counts are still high

What are your concerns about the university returning to 'normal' operations?

(asked only of respondents who indicated they had been on campus regularly)

Top reasons for being concerned about returning to campus out of those who are regularly on campus already did vary between faculty and staff. The most common concern for faculty was their vaccination status (37.5%) and for staff it was others not following safety procedures (28.1%).

READINESS TO BE ON CAMPUS

Would you be ready to teach/work on campus if there are _% of students, faculty, and staff on campus?

More faculty than staff would be comfortable returning to campus

Would you be ready to teach/work on campus if _% of people on campus have been vaccinated?

A stacked bar chart showing that as more people are vaccinated, more faculty and staff are comfortable returning to campus.

Both graphs show the number of people who indicated “yes,” they would be ready to return if a condition was met. For both scenarios, staff were less likely to be willing to return to campus.

Bar chart showing that nearly all faculty and staff want the current case count to be lower.

We had 7 positive case counts on our main Bellingham campus last week. Would you be ready to teach/work on campus if the current positive case counts were _?

(asked only of respondents who indicated they had not been on campus regularly)

This graph shows the number of people who indicated “yes,” they would be ready to return if that condition was met.   
With the ability to select all that applied, 30.9% indicated the employee would feel comfortable on campus if there were about 7 positive cases a week or more.

CONDITIONS TO RETURN TO CAMPUS

Stacked bar chart showing nearly all faculty and staff definetly or probably want testing to continue.

We are currently testing students who have a regular presence on campus. Would we need to continue this program to make you feel comfortable and ready to teach/work on campus?

(asked only of respondents who indicated they had not been on campus regularly)

For employees who have not been on campus regularly, 85% indicated that regular testing of students would definitely or probably need to continue for them to feel comfortable returning to campus.

Bar chart showing an even split between faculty and staff for each option in the graph:elder/child care, more cleaning on campus, and improved ventilation.

What other conditions would need to be in place for you to feel comfortable and ready to teach/work on campus?

(asked only of respondents who indicated they had not been on campus regularly)

Of the employees who are not on campus regularly, 17.3% indicated a need for child or elder care, 55% need more cleaning on campus, and 68.9% need improved ventilation in campus buildings, in order to feel comfortable returning.

VACCINE CONDITIONS TO RETURN TO CAMPUS

The majority of faculty and staff would not return without a vaccine received themselves

Would you be willing to come back to campus to work even if you have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccination?

(asked only of respondents who indicated they had not been on campus regularly)

Over 72% of employees indicated that they would definitely or probably not be comfortable returning to work on campus until they are vaccinated.  At the time of this survey, less than 6% of employees indicated they have been vaccinated.

A stacked horizontal bar chart showing faculty and staff desiring a high level of vaccination by coworkers prior to returning to campus.

If you have received the vaccine, what percent of coworkers would have to be vaccinated for you to feel comfortable returning to campus?

(asked only of respondents who indicated they had not been on campus regularly)

Once they are vaccinated, 77.3% of employees indicated that they would need more than 60% of their coworkers to also be vaccinated to be comfortable returning to campus.

IN-PERSON CLASSES

A bar graph showing 67.9% first year students and 42.1% nearing graduation are populations that would benefit the most.

What student population do you consider most critical in terms of benefitting or requiring face to face instruction?

(asked only of faculty that indicated they had not been on campus regularly)

In this “select all that apply” question, 67.9% of respondents felt that first-year students would benefit most and 42.1% said students nearing graduation. Text responses for other groups included those such as first-generation students, and students of historically underrepresented/marginalized groups.

A graph showing lab, field courses, performance, and practicum were most critical to have in person

What classes do you consider most critical in terms of benefitting or requiring face to face instruction? You are encouraged to consider academic activities outside your department or college.

(asked only of faculty that indicated they had not been on campus regularly)

Over 80% of respondents indicated labs as being critical for in-person delivery,  down to 13.6% indicating lectures were one of the most critical to have in-person.  
Faculty were allowed to write in other responses, which included items such as studio courses and other hands-on classes.

REMOTE WORK WILLINGNESS

Pie Chart: 28.5% Part-time, 36.7% Yes, 34.8% No

If it is determined that your teaching could be done remotely, would you be interested in remote teaching even after the pandemic?

(asked only of faculty that indicated they had not been on campus regularly)

Once remote teaching is no longer required, 65.2% of faculty indicated interest in at least part-time remote work. 

Pie Chart: 47.9% Part-time, 5% No, 47.2% Yes

If it is determined that your position could work remotely, would you be interested in doing so even after the pandemic is over?

(asked only of staff that indicated they had not been on campus regularly)

Interest in remote work among staff was much higher than faculty, with approximately 95% of staff indicating interest in continuing to work remotely at least part of the time.

STAFF REMOTE WORK

Pie Chart: 90.3% Yes, 9% Sometimes, 0.7% No

Do you have a job where you can work remotely?

(asked only of staff that indicated they had not been on campus regularly)

There is only a small percentage of staff working remotely who do not have work that can be done remotely.

Pie Chart: 29.6% Highly Likely, 30.5% Likely, 32.2% Somewhat Likely, 7.6% Not at all likely

If the circumstances on campus in regards to COVID allowed you to feel comfortable, how likely would it be for you to return to campus?

(asked only of staff that indicated they had not been on campus regularly AND that they would be interested in working remotely after the pandemic is over)

Of the 95% of staff who indicated they were interested in continuing to work remotely, the majority said they are somewhat to highly likely to return to campus once they felt comfortable.

Questions about the survey? Please contact covid19planning@wwu.edu