MyVoice FAQs

All ongoing and fixed term UWS staff, both professional and academic staff, are asked to complete the survey. The survey does not need to be completed by casual staff or staff employed by UWS entities.

Yes, MyVoice survey responses are completely anonymous. The results are collected using a secure Voice Project website, and IP addresses cannot be tracked. Results will be compiled independently by Voice Project and UWS will not have access to any individual survey responses.

Voice Project will analyse the results and produce a number of reports for UWS. Survey results will not be reported for areas of the University with less than ten staff, to protect staff anonymity.

Voice Project will be able to identify completion rates for work areas, but not whether individual staff members have completed the survey.

No, individual survey responses will not be provided to anyone at UWS.

All ongoing and fixed term UWS staff are strongly encouraged to complete the survey, however it is not mandatory.

The survey is an opportunity for you to have your say and to let the University know what you think about working at UWS and which areas need improvement. 

The University would like at least 70% of staff members to provide their feedback through the survey, but we hope to capture the opinions of as many staff as possible.

The survey aims to measure staff engagement across a range of areas, for example, organisational direction, leadership, facilities, resources, job satisfaction, and learning and development.

Most of the survey questions are statements which require you to rate how much you agree/disagree with the statement. For example, “I am aware of the vision senior management has for the future of UWS”.

You will be asked to rate how much you agree/disagree with each statement according to the following rating scale:

• Strongly disagree
• Tend to disagree
• Mixed feelings/neutral
• Tend to agree
• Strongly agree
• Not applicable/don’t know

There are also three open ended questions allowing you to provide a more detailed response.

The survey will be conducted regularly but not annually. At this stage it is expected that the survey will be conducted every two years.

The survey will be available online from Monday 19 March to Friday 30 March 2012.

No, the survey is only available online.

Staff will receive an email with a link to the survey on Monday 19 March. The survey will be accessible from any computer with internet access.

The following Australian universities have completed the Voice Project survey: 

Australian Catholic University, Australian National University, Central Queensland University, Charles Darwin University, Charles Sturt University, Curtin University, Flinders University, Griffith University, La Trobe University, Macquarie University, Monash University, Murdoch University, RMIT University, Southern Cross University, Swinburne University, University of Notre Dame, University of Adelaide, University of Ballarat, University of Canberra, University of Melbourne, University of New England, University of New South Wales, University of Newcastle, University of Queensland, University of Southern Queensland, University of Tasmania, University of Technology Sydney, University of the Sunshine Coast, University of Western Australia, University of Wollongong, Victoria University

The survey takes approximately 20 minutes to complete.

Most questions ask you to rate how much you agree or disagree with a statement. There are only three open-ended questions allowing a more detailed response.

Yes you can. All you need to do is create a password you can then use to re-access the survey and select the “Return Later” button at the top of the survey web page.

Voice Project is a research and consulting company which conducts staff engagement and organisational surveys using a survey tool designed by Dr Peter Langford and his team at Macquarie University.

Voice Project has administered and implemented staff engagement and organisational surveys across a broad range of industries, including more than 35 Australian and New Zealand universities since 2002. Voice Project has significant experience in the higher education sector.

We want to give all staff the opportunity to express their views on a range of aspects of working at UWS. This will help us to identify things we are doing well and things we need to improve.

The survey will measure staff engagement, gain staff feedback across a range of areas, and identify areas for improvement. The survey is an initiative of the Our People 2015 staffing strategy.

Staff engagement is a measure of how passionate people are about their work and workplace. It encompasses commitment and loyalty to their organisation and how proud people are to be a part of it. It includes how satisfied people are with the work they do, the sense of personal accomplishment that it provides, and also their desire and intention to remain with their organisation. Staff engagement has been shown to be strongly connected with productivity, innovation, turnover, and a range of other factors.

The MyVoice survey will measure staff engagement alongside a broad range of management practices to find out how we are performing in these areas.

The majority of the survey questions are standard questions used by universities across Australia. This will enable us to benchmark the results with other universities.

A small percentage of the questions have been customised for UWS to gain staff feedback on specific UWS initiatives.

The results of the survey will be used to identify and prioritise areas for improvement and change.

Organisational Development Consultants and HR Business Partners will work with groups to identify areas of achievement and areas for improvement that will be used as part of your School or Unit planning.

The survey results will inform decision making at an Executive and senior management level, as well as inform strategic planning at the School/unit level.

The results will also form a basis for benchmarking within UWS and with other Australian universities.

Yes, we will provide all staff with a summary report of the survey results.

In addition, HR Business Partners and Organisational Development Consultants will discuss the overall survey results and the results specific to each area, with the Heads of each School and Divisional unit.

We will also be providing staff with ongoing updates on new initiatives and improvements being made as a result of staff feedback.

The MyVoice survey opens on Monday 19 March and closes on Friday 30 March. Voice Project will provide the UWS Executive with a summary report of the results in May, and will present the summary results to the Senior Staff Forum in June. Staff will receive a summary of the overall University-wide results by the end of July. HR Business Partners and Organisational Development Consultants will assist Divisional, School and Unit Managers with presenting the results specific to each area. These presentations will commence in the second half of the year.

Action plans will be developed and implemented throughout 2012 and 2013 to make changes in areas needing improvement. This may involve some updating of existing School and unit strategic plans for the second half of 2012. HR Business Partners and Organisational Development Consultants will be working with teams to identify priorities and assist in this process.