Measuring and Improving Employee and Student/Customer Engagement

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Lynne Armstrong
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1 Measuring and Improving Employee and Student/Customer Engagement Dr. Constantine Papadakis President Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA StudentsFirst is a bold new initiative launched in summer 2005 by Drexel University. Aimed at improving services and processes that affect students engagement with the University, StudentsFirst draws on the knowledge and practices of corporations that continuously measure and improve their services and processes to meet and anticipate customer needs and preferences. Drexel developed a partnership with the Gallup organization to help define and understand how student/customer engagement relates to employee engagement and to build improvement projects around the metrics obtained by a detailed survey. We are the first university to use the Gallup approach to identify ways for improving the student/customer and employee experience at Drexel. StudentsFirst Supports Drexel s Strategic Objectives StudentsFirst was designed to enhance indicators that are important for the sustained long-term growth and success of Drexel University. For example, the rate of retention between the freshman and sophomore years is a good indicator of graduation rate. For a number of years, Drexel experienced steady improvement in freshman retention, up to 86 percent, but recently the growth in the retention rate has leveled off. At the same time, students were registering higher levels of overall satisfaction with the academic programs at Drexel, so we began to look into the quality of the student experience outside academics. The concerns most often raised by students involve administrative issues for example, interactions with staff members who prepare tuition bills, administer financial aid, advise on course selection and provide housing and food service. Some students have been frustrated about having to visit multiple offices to solve problems and often receiving conflicting information. Prior to StudentsFirst, Drexel had begun to implement a one-stop shopping approach to student service, even sending a delegation to Tufts University to observe the functioning of a centralized services office at an institution known for a high student retention rate. Such an approach not only increases student satisfaction but improves employee efficiency. Engaged Employees Lead to Engaged Customers When it comes to the administrative functions addressed by StudentsFirst, we think of our students as customers. Some students do not appreciate the use of the term in an academic setting, but a June 2005 editorial in The Triangle (Drexel s student newspaper) made a useful distinction: When we pay bills, request reimbursement, and work out financial aid, we should be serviced as customers However, when we open our minds to the education that professors at Drexel offer we are students.

2 The StudentsFirst initiative was developed on the premise that employees who are committed to and engaged with the University will transfer their enthusiasm to the students they serve. The concept of engagement is important. Business research indicates that merely satisfying employees and customers does not necessarily lead to positive business outcomes. Employees and customers who are just satisfied can be lured away. On the other hand, a fully engaged employee is involved in, and enthusiastic about, his or her work and is likely to commit deeply to the organization. A fully engaged customer is one who feels that the product or service or brand is irreplaceable. Drexel links the engagement of our employees and our students because we are convinced that the two measures are relative. We will become optimally successful if both indicators are very high. In order to maximize the engagement of Drexel s employees, Drexel University designed StudentsFirst with five interrelated elements: Communication Training Process improvement Rewards and recognition Measurement Enhancing Communication Employees of many corporations are regularly briefed on their company s mission and customer characteristics and their own role in serving the customer. At universities, where multiple priorities and constituencies can diminish the overall institutional message, staff members have more difficulty connecting with the broad purpose: to serve students. StudentsFirst strives to remind every employee that his or her work impacts the student, whether or not he or she has direct contact with students. Communication enhancements focused first on developing a concise set of values that would contain and reference all that Drexel stands for in terms of great customer service. The advisory group that developed these called them the FIRST Principles: First impressions count It starts with me Recognize, respect, respond Success through service Take time to communicate These principles quickly became the mantra of StudentsFirst. Their development was the beginning of a three-step approach to communication that continued with training on the FIRST Principles message and, finally, rewards and recognition for individuals who have best acted to demonstrate that message. Other improvements to communication included increased contact between the president and staff employees, and the expansion of the capability for a Web-based free exchange of views between staff and administration ( During the first year of StudentsFirst, I led seven town hall meetings attended by nearly 700 employees across campus that both informed and inspired employee commitment to the StudentsFirst initiative. 2

3 Reinforcing the Message through Training Based on the values statements contained in the FIRST Principles, Drexel s organizational development team created employee training programs focused on the behaviors that result in student engagement. Drexel executives and academic deans met with a consultant to understand their role in supporting and implementing StudentsFirst. All 350 supervisory employees participated in FIRST Principles for Leaders, and all other employees attended FIRST Principles for Success. Following the training principle called behavior modeling, the examples and skillpractice activities in FIRST Principles training grew out of life in the trenches at Drexel. Student development specialists working in the student affairs and provost s areas have provided ongoing consulting and serve as a touchstone to the reality of the student s world. The training programs action plans are designed to inspire real change back at work. The FIRST Principles are reflected in other messages to employees, starting from their first day: A session introducing StudentsFirst values has been added to the newemployee orientation program. The performance appraisal program also now includes evaluation of each employee and manager according to the principles. At every opportunity, Drexel now states to employees a simple and clear message: We are here to serve the students. Improving Processes for Student Services StudentsFirst has tackled the tough issues around malfunctioning systems and processes that require breaking down barriers between functional areas. Universities are typically hierarchical in structure, and sometimes units compete. In order to solve customer service problems, Drexel s divisions need to become more collaborative. This requires honest examination of what is happening and what needs fixing, and then getting the job done. To promote process improvement, we have sponsored two programs. The first is known as STOP, which stands for Stop the Obstructive Practice or Policy. Administered through the StudentsFirst Web site ( STOP allows Drexel employees, students and families to communicate and be rewarded for ideas for operational improvement. Employees have been creative in suggesting changes. For example, as a result of STOP, improvements have been made to admissions marketing, student employment, travel reimbursement procedures, new employee sign-ups and grant financial management. At Commencement this spring, two employees received recognition and cash awards for outstanding suggestions to STOP, both of which have enhanced the student experience. The second initiative for promoting process improvement was a Six Sigma Green Belt certification course for selected employees, modeled on the quality methodology used in many technical and service industries. To date, 60 employees have completed the course through Drexel s Goodwin College of Professional Studies. Their action learning has involved high-impact projects affecting technology commercialization, methods for working with ranking agencies and student billing and payment procedures. The changes to the way Drexel does business with and for students have involved dozens of people coming together with positive energy to make the University better. 3

4 Recognizing and Rewarding for FIRST Principles Drexel s rewards and recognition program is an integral part of the StudentsFirst initiative. It rounds out the activities that focus attention on service to and for students. If we are going to change Drexel s culture and make that change stick, we must communicate the need for change, learn what that change looks like through consistent training and finally recognize as models those people who demonstrate through their actions the changes we want for everyone. StudentsFirst rewards and recognition feature several levels. Applause provides a simple, Web-based form for sending an greeting card that says thank you for demonstrating one of the FIRST Principles. Drexel Salutes offers modest cash awards for deserving employees selected through a nominating process. Finally, the President s Award provides a substantial cash prize to several employees each year for exceptional demonstration of the FIRST Principles. These programs highlight the accomplishments of employees who serve as models for others, so the large awards are presented at a University-wide event. In March 2006 the first Drexel President s Award Ceremony was held at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. Nearly 700 employees attended the gala celebration. Taking a Baseline Measurement Drexel is a university with strong business and engineering traditions, and our community understands that in order to target issues and verify results, there must be a baseline from which to measure. So early in the development phase of StudentsFirst, the pulse of the campus was taken. Several years ago the University implemented an employee satisfaction survey that asked primarily whether the employee was satisfied with various services and functions of the University as an employer. This time, the administration hoped to better understand the connection of Drexel with its people, to learn how well employees and students engage with, or emotionally commit, to Drexel. To develop a baseline for the new StudentsFirst initiative, we selected a methodology that would both collect information and guide our actions to move Drexel forward. We developed a partnership with the Gallup Organization because Gallup s approach to assessing engagement for both employees and students is consistent with the premise of StudentsFirst: that engaged employees relate positively to engaged customers. Gallup has applied its Human Sigma format to more than 330 corporations. Drexel became the first university to use this tool to identify ways for improving the customer and employee experience. For the customer survey, a team of administrators who understand student needs worked with Gallup statisticians to develop an assessment instrument addressing the concerns of Drexel s students. Gallup s assessment helped Drexel define and understand how customer engagement relates to employee engagement and to build improvement projects around those metrics. A major advantage of the Gallup approach is that in addition to providing overall University measures on a variety of planes, results were produced at the local level. Each manager with five or more direct reports, including the president, received a scorecard with an analysis of employee engagement. Those with student contact also received a 4

5 scorecard indicating how well students are engaged with their unit and with the University. The baseline assessment of employees and students occurred in late winter 2006, with the surveys administered entirely online. The response rates were extraordinary a good sign that both employees and students are excited about expressing their views to help the University. Nearly 90 percent of staff employees and about half of all registered students answered the survey (see Figure 1). Drexel s initial employee engagement results (see Figure 2) were above average in relation to the Gallup Comparative Database, which includes responses from 4.5 million employees in more than 330 corporations. This speaks very well for our organizational climate and the quality of our management. We rated highly on the caring relationship between supervisors and employees, and we can be proud of the level of communication about career progression and employee development that we promote. We also have identified some areas for improvement. We will be addressing concerns about resources available to get the job done. We will conduct dialogues about increasing the trust level and sense of camaraderie among our employees, and we plan to work especially hard on increasing collaboration and communication among our work groups. Also, we are looking at the processes for resolving student problems seamlessly. With the targeted information provided by the assessments, our managers have designed action plans for improvement. In developing these, managers have sought ideas from their employees. The results have been extraordinary: more than 100 improvement projects are underway. Check-ins occur with senior management every 30 days to determine whether we are on schedule and on track. Drexel managers and employees have been told that the Gallup survey is a good yardstick but is not the product. How the metrics are transformed into action is critical. In 2008, the University will again take our own measure. We expect to see considerable progress toward providing better service to our students. Fifty-two percent of the undergraduate students who responded online to the Gallup Poll indicated that the main reason they chose Drexel University was our co-op program (see Figure 3). Eighty-two percent of the students agreed and strongly agreed that their co-op experience will be extremely useful to them in their future careers (see Figure 4). However forty four percent of them indicated that they did not feel strongly connected to Drexel University while on co-op assignment (see Figure 4). This led our administration to take certain remedial steps including allowing students on co-op to take one online course free of charge. Students who responded to the Gallup Poll were very positively inclined toward Drexel s Enrollment Management services with fifty eight percent of them agreeing and strongly agreeing that Enrollment Management always provides prompt, complete and accurate responses to their questions (see Figure 5). In contrast students were not very complimenting towards our Financial Aid Office with more than one-third of them disagreeing and strongly disagreeing that they receive prompt, complete and accurate responses to their questions from our Financial Aid Office (See Figure 6). In response, the university took the following corrective action: 5

6 1. Reached out and provided six workshops to College-level administrative staff on financial aid advising and administrative policies which affect students financial aid packages such as credit load, allowable inclusions in cost of attendance, and satisfactory academic progress for financial aid 2. Provided four financial literacy workshops during the freshman course University 101 in the fall of The program was designed and delivered by EdFinancial Services. Through this process, each freshman was exposed to the basics of managing student loan debt, use of credit cards, long-term debt repayment issues, identity theft, and budget planning. 3. Collaborated with Student Life to have Drexel as a stop on the NBC10 Money School College Tour in fall, Workshops and information booths provided important debt management and budgeting information to Drexel undergraduate students. 4. Current students and their families are now provided with six reminders each year regarding deadlines for renewing federal, state, and university financial aid. 5. Upgraded the Drexel University Financing Options Guide and accompanying financial aid award letter to provide comparison information about the range of financing options available to students and families. 6. Enhanced the student financial aid appeals process. In , 186 students were awarded an additional $298,908 in grants and $641,771 in loans to assist with unanticipated issues in paying their Drexel bill. 7. Implemented RightNow, customer relationship management software that tracks students service interactions with the Financial Aid Office. 8. Scheduled weekly training with financial aid staff to keep them abreast of evolving issues with financial aid policies nationally and at the state level. 9. Provided additional training to employees of our Bursar s Office on financial aid policies that affect students bills. StudentsFirst as a Lasting Culture Change After a year, there are many indications that Drexel s StudentsFirst initiative has taken root to change our culture. The College of Information Science and Technology (IST) is using the Gallup data to build an engagement-focused culture. One project will improve communication with co-op students who are working in jobs away from campus, addressing one of the issues identified by the assessment: students on co-op do not feel connected with the University during their work experience. After expanding the assessment results through student focus groups, a team of College faculty and staff is also redesigning the delivery of student advising. During this process, IST identified some best practices including: Keep an open mind! Every suggestion has value. Listen to students and staff. (Students especially felt as though no one was listening.) Discuss the Gallup results with staff, and make the design and implementation of action plans a priority for the department. Make sure that everyone understands the University s mission and how each person has impact on the student experience. 6

7 Sponsor events that encourage faculty and staff to interact with one another. These contacts are not just social they enhance understanding of others roles and foster collaboration and collective problem solving. Find creative ways to recognize employees for exceptional customer service. Other University units are showing early success in implementing projects that build on the Gallup data. The Office of Enrollment Management, led by Vice President Joan McDonald, has developed an office-wide career development program for employees. Such targeted efforts to support employees growth will pay off in greater commitment by employees who, in turn, inspire more engaged student customers. These are but two examples of how this bold and comprehensive initiative is affecting life at Drexel. StudentsFirst is for the long-term. As I have stated, It is nothing short of a culture change. We are thinking like a corporation, not like a university. 7

8 Figure 1 Employee and Student Survey Participation Figure 2 8

9 Figure 3 Main Reasons for Choosing Drexel - Undergraduates Figure 4 Student Attitudes Towards Co-op 9

10 Figure 5 Total Student Attitudes Towards Enrollment Management Figure 6 Student Attitudes Towards Financial Aid Office 10

Co-op Placement Packet

Co-op Placement Packet Career Services, 900 Asp Ave, Suite 323, OMU, Norman, OK, 73019 Phone: (405) 325-1974 Fax: (405) 325-3402 www.hiresooner.com ENROLLING IN THE CO-OP COURSE HOW 1. Obtain permission