Goal #3: Carleton will work to strengthen faculty and staff well-being and sense of belonging
Action 9
We will create new structures for staff representation and opportunities for campus-wide engagement to strengthen employee community and agency.
A staff experience survey completed in spring 2022, as well as discussions within the Building a Community of Belonging Task Force, exposed the negative impact of internal campus hierarchies on the work lives and satisfaction of employees. The task force made a number of valuable suggestions about ways to reduce differences and barriers between exempt and non-exempt staff, between staff and faculty, and between employees and administrators, including the creation of an elected Staff Council that would include representatives from every staff employee group on campus (exempt, non-exempt, and union).
The Staff Council would collaborate to generate new approaches and perspectives related to the Carleton workplace, and would meet regularly with the administration to discuss issues of importance to staff. In addition, the creation of more community-wide events, including shared community service opportunities, can help strengthen our sense of community.
Action 10
We will initiate collaborative discussions between Human Resources; the Provost’s Office; proposed Staff Council, Staff at Carleton (SAC), and Forum; and the Faculty Affairs Committee about programs to promote faculty and staff well-being.
The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic intensified discussions that were already underway on campus about workplace stress, workload, and burnout. In a high-functioning environment dedicated to excellence like Carleton, both cultural and self-imposed expectations can lead to unsustainable levels of effort.
In his 2022 book The End of Burnout, Jonathan Malesic notes that burnout often results from a gap between the ideals we bring to the workplace and the reality of the work experience. We will explore ways to increase employee engagement and agency, analyze opportunities for reducing tasks that are no longer prioritized, and foster clarity about reasonable work expectations for staff and faculty. Satisfaction and retention of our dedicated faculty and staff will be an essential component of our success in the years ahead.
Goal 3 Metrics:
- 2021 staff survey (to be repeated every three years)
- Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) survey for faculty (to be administered spring 2024)