How is the CALS community?
Are we healthy and thriving?

CALS Climate Survey

The UW–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) Climate Survey is being conducted by the CALS Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI) in Fall 2024 to help centers, departments, units, and senior leadership better understand CALS workplace climate. Workplace climate is how employees perceive and experience their workplaces, which includes the culture of their workplaces (values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors).

CALS aims to use the results of the survey to identify areas for growth and opportunities to become a healthier community where people thrive. CALS is committed to improving our climate and being a welcoming and inclusive place for learning, research, teaching, extension, outreach, and service.

All CALS employees, which include faculty, staff, postdoctoral staff, and graduate students (i.e., graduate assistants, project assistants, research assistants, teaching assistants) are invited to participate in this survey. We want to hear and understand your experiences in and thoughts on CALS. The survey should take you about 20-30 minutes to complete.

Your participation is voluntary and your survey responses are confidential. Data will only be reported in group form and never for an individual. ODEI has partnered with the UW Survey Center (UWSC) to help protect participants’ confidentiality, as well as develop this climate survey and create the reports for CALS and its units. For analysis and reporting purposes, your answers will be combined with those from participants across the college and within your unit in a way that will not allow you to be identified.

If you have questions about the climate survey, please feel free to reach out to ODEI at odei@cals.wisc.edu or Nathan Jones, the Project Director at UWSC, at nrjones@wisc.edu.

Quick Facts

Nov 21 – Dec 17

Survey Open Dates

20-30 minutes

Time to complete survey

Online (WiscMail)

Survey Access

Daily (Mon-Fri)

SurveY Office Hours

UWSC & ODEI

SurveY Administrator

Biennial

Frequency of SurveY (Planned)

Curious about ODEI and CALS Climate Survey?

Join ODEI online to learn about the team’s work and ways to engage, and for Q&A.

Thursday, November 21, 2024 at 1pm
Thursday, December 12, 2024 at 10:30am

Register online HERE.

Elements of Healthy Climate

For CALS to have a healthy workplace climate, our faculty, staff, and students need to have a connection to their units and CALS as a whole. Through the climate survey, ODEI seeks to understand the levels of community members’ sense of belonging, psychological safety, organizational trust, and engagement. We expect there be a spectrum and range for all four elements, since we all do not have the same experiences.

More learning opportunities on these four themes will be available in Spring 2025.

Sense of Belonging

How comfortable are you with bringing your whole self to CALS? Are there aspects of your identity that you minimize or hide?
How does your unit receive different people?

People feel they belong when they are valued, included, and accepted. Individuals who have a sense of belonging in a given space, believe that they are connected, supported, and respected. Belonging is significant to the well-being and lifelong development of individuals. People are more likely to succeed when they feel like they belong and can bring their whole, authentic selves (all of their identities) into spaces.

Psychological Safety

How safe do you feel at CALS? Do you feel like you can share your views, offer an opposing opinion, and brainstorm new ideas?
How does your unit respond to different opinions and new ideas?

Psychological safety is “a condition in which [people] feel included, safe to learn, safe to contribute, and safe to challenge the status quo—all without fear of being embarrassed, marginalized, or punished in some way,” according to Timothy R. Clark, author of The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety. Psychological safety encourages open communication, promotes learning and growth, and improves engagement and morale, which together increases potential and can lead to continuous improvement, innovation, and productivity.

Organizational Trust

How much trust and confidence do you have in your unit’s leadership and CALS’ senior leadership to guide and support community members to accomplish the CALS mission and goals?
Do you trust leadership to make decisions on your behalf? What has impacted your level of trust in CALS?

Organizational trust is how much confidence employees and stakeholders have in the integrity, fairness, and competence of an organization and its leadership. It encompasses trust in the organization’s intentions, actions, and communications. Trust within an organization is multi-faceted, including aspects like trust between employees and management (vertical trust), trust among peers (horizontal trust), and trust in the organization’s processes and systems. Organizational trust can lead to increased employee engagement, productivity, and retention.

Engagement

How committed and invested are you in your work in CALS? How connected do you feel to your work, team, unit, and CALS? Do your personal goals and values align with those of your team, unit, and CALS?

Engagement refers to “an individual’s sense of purpose and focused energy, evident to others in the display of personal initiative, adaptability, effort, and persistence directed toward organizational goals” (Macey, Schneider, Barbera, & Young, 2009). Essentially, engaged employees see their work as an opportunity to be their authentic self, where they work towards their purpose and apply their skills and knowledge. When observing engaged employees, they can often be described as immersed, involved, enthusiastic, or committed. Engaged employees help improve organizational morale and performance, and retain and recruit talent.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Expand All|Collapse All

Who is the CALS climate survey for?expand_more

The CALS climate survey is for faculty, staff, postdoctoral staff, and employed graduate students (i.e., graduate assistants, project assistants, research assistants, teaching assistants). The survey is different from other campus-wide surveys and is meant to complement the surveys administered by other UW-Madison units, including the student climate survey, staff climate survey, and faculty worklife survey.

What is the CALS climate survey? Why is the CALS climate survey being conducted?expand_more

The CALS climate survey is a tool to help CALS understand its workplace climate. It will provide a snapshot of how employees perceive and experience their workplaces, which includes the culture of their workplaces (values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors). CALS aims to use the results of the survey to identify areas for growth and opportunities to become a healthier community where people thrive. The survey is one part of ongoing efforts to improve CALS climate, and will likely spark more questions that may lead to conversations, focus groups, and other follow-up steps.

What kinds of questions are asked on the CALS climate survey?expand_more

The CALS climate survey is intended to capture how employees perceive and experience CALS at the center-, department-, and/or unit-level, as well as CALS overall. The CALS climate survey is divided into 4 main sections:

Your CALS Role and Affiliations & Your Experience in Your CALS Center, Department, and/or Unit
Your Overall Job Experience
Your Overall CALS Experience
Your Personal Attributes

I have multiple CALS affiliation, can I submit feedback for each center, department, or unit?expand_more

Yes, you will have the opportunity to submit separate survey responses for each of the CALS affiliations that you may have (up to 3). For example, an Associate Dean may respond as a member or the Dean and Director’s Office and their academic department. Another example would be a staff member who serves multiple departments, they could respond as a member of each of the departments they are a part of.

When will the CALS climate survey be open?expand_more

The climate survey will be available starting Thursday, November 21, 2024 through Tuesday, December 17, 2024.

How can I access the CALS climate survey?expand_more

All CALS employees should receive an invitation with a survey link via their UW-Madison email (WiscMail). Please note that everyone will receive a unique survey link, so please do not forward survey invitations to others. This allows someone to start and restart the questionnaire, and to end reminders when the survey is completed.

If you do not receive a survey invitation, please email ODEI at odei@cals.wisc.edu with the following information and we will work with the UW Survey Center to send you a survey invitation.

Your Name (First, Last)
Your Center, Department, or Unit Name(s)
Your Job Title

How much time will the CALS climate survey take to complete?expand_more

The climate survey should take you about 20-30 minutes to complete.

If you start the survey and are unable to finish it, you can exit and return to it later by clicking again on the link in your email. If there is a question you leave blank, you will be informed that it was left blank. You may then either return to answer that question or continue on to the next question.

Can I use work time to complete the CALS climate survey?expand_more

Yes, you can use work time to complete the CALS climate survey and meet with ODEI for office hours. If you run into any issues, please contact ODEI at odei@cals.wisc.edu.

Can I skip questions on the CALS climate survey?expand_more

Yes, you may skip questions on the CALS climate survey. However, there are questions at the beginning of the survey related to your CALS role and affiliation(s) that you may not skip. These questions help determine the flow of the survey. Your survey participation is voluntary and we understand that you may not be comfortable or may not be able to answer all questions. All of your responses are appreciated and will be handled with care.

I am the only or one of a few _____ in my center, department, or unit. How can you ensure my confidentiality?expand_more

Your survey participation is voluntary and your responses are confidential. Data will only be reported in group form and never for an individual. For analysis and reporting purposes, your answers will be combined with those from participants across the college and within your unit in a way that will not allow you to be identified. ODEI has partnered with the UW Survey Center (UWSC) to help protect participants’ confidentiality, as well as develop this climate survey and create the reports for CALS and its units. For analysis and reporting purposes, your answers will be combined with those from participants across the college and within your unit in a way that will not allow you to be identified.

Your survey responses will be handled with care, and ODEI prioritizes the safety and protection of the people who make up the CALS community.

The last CALS climate survey was in 2020. Why is a new survey being administered now in 2024? How often will the survey be going forward?expand_more

The last CALS climate survey was administered in 2020. Since then, CALS has gone through leadership transitions, with the biggest one being a new dean. In 2021, CALS also established the ODEI. With the creation of the new office, it has taken time for the office to build the team, get to know the various units within CALS community, identify needs and goals, and establish services and processes.

ODEI was initially expected to conduct a survey fairly soon after having the office established. However, the ODEI intentionally took time to get to know CALS and build relationships with the community. ODEI wants everyone in the CALS community to know that their experience matters and have what they need to feel that they belong.

The plan is to administer the CALS climate survey every two years (biennially) going forward. This allows for time to aggregate and analyze the data, share the results, make follow-up and action plans, and implement changes. Although some of these things may take longer than 1-2 years, we hope that people will see efforts being made and engage in the efforts.

What can I expect after participating in the CALS climate survey? How will survey results be used?expand_more

After the CALS climate survey closes on Tuesday, December 17, 2024, the UW Survey Center will aggregate the data collected. The UW Survey Center will work with ODEI to analyze the data throughout Spring 2025 for CALS overall, as well as each center, department, and unit. ODEI will share survey results in Spring 2025 will the CALS community, as well as group-specific results with each center, department, and unit. Discussions about follow-up and action plans will also start in Spring 2025.

Does indicating that I’ve seen or experienced sexual harassment and/or hostile and intimidating behavior on the climate survey count as reporting?expand_more

No, survey results cannot serve the same purpose as direct reporting violations to UW–Madison policies related to sexual harassment, hostile and intimidating behavior, or hate/bias incidents. However, survey results can help CALS understand the culture and behaviors around sexual harassment, hostile and intimidating behavior, and hate/bias incidents.

If you would like to learn more about reporting, please feel free to contact ODEI at odei@cals.wisc.edu or visit our webpage on climate response.

Have a question about the CALS climate survey?

Come visit the ODEI team during office hours at Agricultural Hall, Suite 42 (lower level) or log into Zoom.
November 21 – December 17, 2024 (closed on November 28-29)
Monday 9:30am – 4:00pm
Tuesday 9:30am – 2:00pm
Wednesday 9:30am – 11:15am
Thursday 11:00am – 4:00pm
Friday 2:00pm – 4:00pm (Zoom only)

If these dates/times do not work for you, please feel free to email odei@cals.wisc.edu to schedule a meeting.

How is the CALS community? Are we healthy and thriving?