As we approach the midpoint of the Fall 2024 semester, it is important and appropriate for us to reflect on the Total Organizational Health (TOH@UTC) initiative and the extent to which its core elements are present for employees across our campus. Although there is still work to be done in identifying and improving TOH for all employees, there are many indications of progress and success since this initiative began in early 2023. In this post, we are recognizing a few examples of this, to help encourage all of us to celebrate our collective achievements and hopefully to renew our motivation and commitment to continue building and sustaining TOH@UTC. We hope these examples also help to illustrate what this “TOH thing” can look and feel like for employees across our campus.
As a reminder, the framework guiding the TOH@UTC initiative is built around five main components to a healthy and safe work environment and work experience (see U.S. Surgeon General, 2022 for details, https://tinyurl.com/USSGworkerwellbeing): Protection from Harm, Connection and Community, Work-Life Harmony, Mattering at Work, and Opportunities for Growth. Each of these areas are further broken down into two core human needs, such that there are 10 total factors that we are working to promote here at UTC as a way of protecting and promoting the health, safety, and well-being of all employees and our university overall: Psychological and Physical Safety, Security, Social Support, Belonging, Autonomy, Flexibility, Dignity, Meaning, Learning, and Accomplishment.
The various task forces, ongoing monitoring of HR-related metrics, and recurring surveys of TOH-related themes (e.g., McLean, COACHE, our campus TOH progress checks) have shown us that employees’ experiences with these TOH-related factors differs across campus, but that most employees are experiencing a mix of strengths and areas for improvement when it comes to these factors. Campus-wide, we saw pretty consistent TOH perceptions through the 2023-2024 academic year (you can see a summary of this here: https://www.utc.edu/total-organizational-health/toh-data). At the level of specific areas and departments, we also saw that real improvements are possible with TOH, when efforts are made to respond to specific needs in these workgroups. As highlighted in previous blog posts and most TOH-related campus communications, if you are interested in discussing TOH needs and strategies within your work area or department, please connect with Dr. Chris Cunningham and the TOH@UTC team by emailing toh@utc.edu or calling 423-425-4264.
In addition to the numerical data gathered through the various data sources mentioned earlier, we also have gathered a large amount of qualitative or open-ended feedback from employees over the course of this TOH@UTC initiative. A very encouraging finding from our most recent campus-wide TOH progress check evaluation (mid-April 2024) was that the number of positive TOH-related experiences shared by campus employees exceeded the number of negative TOH-related experiences by nearly 2 to 1 (i.e., 208 positive comments to 108 negative comments, from more than 500 employees who responded to that survey). These and other comments received by the TOH@UTC team over more recent months suggest that this initiative is moving in a positive direction. To help you see evidence of this for yourself, we have compiled example quotes from recently gathered data to illustrate what UTC employees are experiencing with respect to the five broad TOH@UTC components.
Protection from Harm
“I feel welcomed, heard, encouraged, and supported within my office. In times when I have needed help (professionally–like easing a workload AND personally–like needing a ride to work when I had car troubles), I have felt comfortable enough to ask members of my office and I have received willing and enthusiastic responses.”
“My supervisor is very supportive, and a positive and secure environment is built around us.”
Connection and Community
“I feel fortunate to have a supportive department head and colleagues in my department. When issues have arisen, I have multiple people I can reach out to for advice and support.”
“I feel as though my supervisor views our relationship as that of a team. We collaborate and support each other. It’s a very nice and refreshing feeling to know that I will be listened to and appreciated.”
“I work in a highly collaborative and supportive office. Our direct supervisor cares about us as individuals and as a functional unit and strives to make sure we have everything we need to do our jobs well.”
Work-Life Harmony
“I feel the role I am in comes with respect and autonomy, both in terms of how I choose to do my job and in terms of flexibility for scheduling and work/life balance.”
“I am given the freedom/flexibility that I need to accomplish my work while also being able to manage my home life.”
Mattering at Work
“My work is meaningful because at UTC we transform the lives of students through education and make a measurable impact on our community.”
“My position on this campus aligns with my passion to help others. I feel like I make a difference.”
“Over the past 15 years, I have had the pleasure of witnessing and contributing to the growth and success of UTC. The support and encouragement from leadership…have been instrumental in making this journey so fulfilling.”
Opportunities for Growth
“I could not be more satisfied with my position and the opportunities that it provides to both serve and to learn.”
“I believe that everyone I work with is dedicated to creating an environment that fosters professional growth for colleagues and the best possible experience for students.”
Usually in this blog series we focus on providing resources to address specific TOH-related needs for our campus. We hope that our attempt to tell a bit more of our shared story regarding TOH@UTC is encouraging and effective as a reminder that the TOH@UTC initiative is important worth our continued attention. It is not an easy task to build and sustain a culture for UTC that protects and promotes health, safety, and well-being for all employees and supports the resilience of the overall institution. Achieving this objective is possible when we are all able to keep the elements and goals of the TOH@UTC initiative in our minds as we work with and support each other each day. We remain optimistic that the positive effects of this initiative can continue to grow and spread across campus as long as we all remain committed to building a work environment that we are proud to call our own.