Madison Reporter

In April 2024, the University of Wisconsin-Madison conducted the Administrative Quality Satisfaction Survey (AQSS) to assess employee experiences with administrative services. Participants included faculty, academic and university staff, limited appointees, graduate assistants, and post-docs/post-degree individuals.

The survey achieved a response rate of 13.9%, collecting over 15,000 qualitative responses. The overall satisfaction rating rose to 3.90 out of 5 from 3.81 in 2022. Local units received higher ratings at an average of 3.97 compared to central-level units' average score of 3.83, consistent with previous results.

There was notable improvement in satisfaction within finance, human resources, information technology, communications, and general administration services. Despite these improvements, perceptions of customer service varied significantly across campus and the seven focus areas surveyed.

Rob Cramer, vice chancellor for finance and administration stated: “One of the university’s ongoing commitments is the improvement of customer service and we are working on ways to enhance consistency and reduce complexity, including with the transition to Workday in July.” He emphasized that the survey is crucial for tracking efforts to improve administrative services continuously.

Respondents noted positive changes in research compliance, travel and purchasing processes as well as increased training and professional development resources for employees.

Future improvement areas include clearer communication regarding benefits, career paths, reimbursement policies, and major initiatives like Wisconsin RISE and Workday.

Charles Isbell, provost commented: “This initiative supports a more effective and responsive environment aligning administrative services with the essential work that drives our institution forward.” He highlighted that identifying areas for administrative enhancement allows faculty and staff to focus on their research and teaching duties.

Since July 2024, project teams have held meetings with representatives from over 20 schools, colleges, and divisions. These sessions aimed at presenting unit-specific findings help leaders understand their results better and identify potential improvement areas.