Employee Morale Survey

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, employees are coping with not only the stress of working remotely, but many other stresses, including health concerns, their long-term well-being, and how loved ones are faring. The Employee Morale Survey was developed by People & Culture and the Vice Provost for the Faculty as a quick way to regularly check in with our employees. The confidential survey captures their experience of remote work during this unprecedented time and helps us determine how best we can support employees through the challenges they are experiencing.

Employee Morale Survey #7 - Launched April 2

Notable highlights

  • Firstly, 50% of us want to work a hybrid schedule going forward, mixing on-site and remote work. 8% want to work on-site full-time and 33% would prefer to continue working full-time from home. Now is the time for managers and teams to be actively discussing remote schedules, on-site schedules and preferences ahead of our planned July 12 return to the workplace. 

  • 37% of us report feeling extremely or moderately exhausted after video conferencing, with an additional 51% reporting somewhat or slight exhaustion.

  • 27% of us have extreme or moderate eye irritation after video conferencing, and 45% always or often want to be alone afterwards.

  • 40% are either extremely, moderately or somewhat moody after video conferencing.

  • 37% multitask always or often during video conferences with 25% of those who do, reporting that they have to in order to get their work done. However, the largest response to why we multitask is that “some meetings don't require our full participation and so it’s ok to multitask.” 

Full Report

The full report of the survey results includes breakouts by ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and division.


Employee Morale Survey #6 - Launched February 12

Notable highlights

  • 81% of you will take the Covid-19 vaccine when available. Additionally, 13% of you confirmed you had already taken the vaccine. Only 6% would not get it when available.

  • 63% of staff would be likely or very likely to trade their dedicated campus office/desk space/cubicle in exchange for some degree of remote work, compared to 31% of faculty. Both Academic and Staff respondents had similar reasons as to why they would be unlikely to exchange their dedicated workspace. The top reasons for both populations were: 

      • Required for the job.

      • Work requires confidential/private space.

      • Helps with productivity/collaboration/coordination/quiet space/convenience.

      • Do not want to share.

    • Just 2% of faculty and 4% of staff had taken advantage of their 120 hours of campus­ sponsored emergency backup care available through Bright Horizons. The other data obtained in relation to dependent care was not reliable due to confusion created by our questions. We will fix this in the next iteration.

For our foundational questions there were relatively unchanged results:

  • 51% identified your mood as “OK” or “pretty good,” up 4 points from the November survey. This could be explained by many factors, including the vaccine roll-out, a new presidential administration taking charge, or simply the new year — new attitude.

  • 85% agree that your well-being is important to your supervisor, largely unchanged; however, almost 1 in 5 of the individual comments that do not agree mention their supervisor does not ask about or prioritize their personal wellbeing. Managers, this is an easy fix!

  • 86% agree that you are treated with dignity and respect while at work, up 2 points from the November survey, and 78% of you feel you can be your authentic self working for UC Berkeley, unchanged from November.

Full Report

The full report of the survey results includes breakouts by ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and division. Examples of this deep dive include:

  • The following divisions had over 50% reporting ‘Very Likely’ to trade their dedicated campus office/desk space/cubicle in exchange for some degree of remote work: Administration, Central Accounting Ledger, Finance, Haas, L&S Undergraduate Division, Research Administration Units, School of Journalism, Summer Sessions/Study Abroad/OLLI, UDAR, University Extension.


Employee Morale Survey #5 - Launched November 9

Notable highlights

  • 47% identified your mood as “OK” or “pretty good,” largely unchanged from the last survey.  

  • 84% agree that your well-being is important to your supervisor, also largely unchanged.

  • 84% agree that you are treated with dignity and respect while at work, compared to our October 2019 survey of 82%. That’s a great datapoint to consider that, even with all that this year has thrown at us, we are still treating each other well.

  • 78% agree you can be your authentic self at work, a number also largely unchanged from 2019. 

  • 67% told us that your workload has increased since the pandemic.

  • 55% of you are experiencing forms of burnout as we expected, but, with vaccines on the way, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Until then, we have resources that can help, and we hope you use the downtime over  Winter Curtailment to recharge as best you can. Check out this article to read about how staff are feeling across the country.

  • Just 33% of you identify as belonging to a Staff Org or Community of Practice. This shows that great opportunity exists not just for raising awareness among our employees but for active participation too. You can learn more about these organizations on our staff organization web page

Full Report

Thefull report of the survey results is now available, with breakouts by ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and division. In reviewing the disaggregated results, you will note that there is very little variation in responses between different demographic groups, an indication that we are making progress towards providing an equitable experience for our employees, regardless of identity. 


Employee Morale Survey #4 - Launched September 2

Notable highlights

  • 47% identified your mood as “OK” or “pretty good,” a decrease of five percentage points from our last survey and down 15 points from May. 36% said you felt “bad” or “not so great,” an increase of six percentage points and up 14 points since May.  

  • 4% more of you felt that Berkeley cares about your well-being, bringing that score up from 72% in agreement to 78% in agreement.

  • In response to “What could your immediate supervisor do to help you feel appreciated?” 28% answered “Recognize Great Contributions (specific kudos, gratitude, compensation, small tokens, etc.)” 

  • 68% (40% weekly, 28% monthly) of you said your immediate supervisors give recognition or praise for you doing good work. However, the troubling takeaway is the remaining 32% of you that report your immediate supervisor only does this quarterly, annually, or never. We will be working as a campus to do a better job of making sure that people are more frequently recognized for their contributions.

  • In response to the “What would make you feel appreciated?” question, 48% of you would like work time to pursue a personal project or charity work. Although we cannot pay people to pursue personal projects, we will explore ways of allowing people to engage in community projects consistent with our mission. As a reminder, staff are already permitted to engage in professional development and staff organization activities as part of their regular workday.

Full report

The September Employee Morale Survey was sent to 13,950 employees, and received 4,567 responses for a response rate of 33%. See response breakdowns to each question by count and percentage, review responses broken down by demographic factors, and see comparisons to previous survey responses in the full report of the survey results. Scroll to the top of the page to see responses to high-level questions over the lifetime of the Employee Morale Survey.

Action steps


Employee Morale Survey #3 - Launched July 14

Notable highlights

  • 52% identified your mood as “OK,” or “pretty good,” a decrease of 10% from our last survey. 30% said you felt “bad” or “not so great,” an increase of 8%. 

  • If shelter-in-place orders are modified and we begin to bring limited numbers of employees to work on-site, 77% of staff and 62% of academics would prefer to work from home, and 15% of staff (a 10% decrease from the prior survey) would prefer to work onsite versus 26% of academics

  • 58% of you answered the Child and Dependent Care questions. And 24% of staff and 39% of academics reported spending 16 or more hours per week on caregiving during the normal working week. That indicates that almost a third of you are probably getting your regular work done by staying up late or working on weekends. We recognize that this is unsustainable and are exploring solutions.

  • 65% of staff and 81% of academics feel that their career development would be negatively impacted by their current caregiving needs, and of that, 1%, or 33 people, said it would cause them to leave their jobs at Berkeley. That drives home the point that caregiving during this pandemic is having a massive career impact and gives voice to how stressed and anxious we are in the current situation and the career repercussions many of us will feel well into the future.

  • Finally, 42% would use a University subsidized back-up care program in your home versus 25% who would use on or near campus childcare centers. 33% would opt to use an online resource to create a ‘bubble share’ arrangement with other campus affiliates.

Full report

Bar chart of responses broken down by ethnicity

The July Employee Morale Survey was sent to 13,950 employees, and received 4,270 responses for a response rate of 31%. See response breakdowns to each question by count and percentage, review responses broken down by demographic factors, and see comparisons to previous survey responses in the full report of the survey results. Scroll to the top of the page to see responses to high-level questions over the lifetime of the Employee Morale Survey.

Action steps

  • Created working group that is actively exploring a range of potential dependent care solutions, including the launch of a website that will help Cal affiliates with children find and support each other with personal “share-care” arrangements.

Employee Morale Survey #2 - Launched May 22

Notable highlights

  • 62% identified your mood as “OK,” or “pretty good,” an increase of 6% from our first survey. 22% said you felt “bad” (4%), or, “not so great,” a decrease of 7%. 

  • For those of us who are able to work from home, slightly more (85%) said they had the equipment needed than in the first survey. This is positive, but still concerning that 15% of you still don’t have what you need to get your work done. Ergonomic chairs and desks (as recommended by an ergonomic assessment) top the list of needs.

  • 87% believe that your immediate supervisor cares about your well-being, while the number for UC Berkeley caring about your well-being rises slightly from the first survey to 82%.

  • If shelter-in-place orders are modified and we begin to bring limited numbers of employees to work on-site, 69% would prefer to continue working from home

  • When shelter-in-place orders are completely lifted, 79% want to work from home 2 or more days per week as part of a regular ongoing schedule. 

Full report

Bar chart of responses broken down by genderThe May Employee Morale Survey was sent to 13,950 employees, and received 5,686 responses for a response rate of 41%. See response breakdowns to each question by count and percentage, review responses broken down by demographic factors, and see comparisons to previous survey responses in the full report of the survey results.Scroll to the top of the page to see responses to high-level questions over the lifetime of the Employee Morale Survey on our People & Culture website.

Action steps taken as a result of responses

  • Created a working group to examine solutions to the challenges posed by the lack of dependent care now and anticipated irregular school schedules in the Fall.

  • Beefed-up the People & Culture COVID-19 resource page.


Employee Morale Survey #1 - Launched April 9

Notable highlights

  • Although 56% of you identified your mood as “OK,” or “pretty good,” 29% said you felt “bad” (5%), or, “not so great.” As we would expect, many of our colleagues are overwhelmed by all of the uncertainty, both professional and personal, caused by the pandemic. Many of you expressed concerns about job security, stress levels, isolation, and the need to adjust workload and productivity expectations.

  • For those of us who are able to work from home, 84% said they had the equipment needed, and many expressed the desire to continue working from home after the crisis. However, one of the largest themes from your comments was the need for reimbursement for, or access to, remote work equipment, particularly as it relates to ergonomics. We believe that as the shelter-in-place orders have continued, more of us are beginning to experience ergonomic and equipment issues. 

  • You answered positively to UC Berkeley’s handling of the COVID outbreak, with 88% agreeing that our campus is managing change well and 90% agreeing that we are communicating that change well. Notably, 81% agree that UC Berkeley cares about your well-being. These positive ratings are further supported by hundreds of your comments commending the University’s response. 

Full report

Bar chart of survey responsesThe April Employee Morale Survey was sent to 13,950 employees, and received 5,598 responses for a response rate of 40%. See response breakdowns to each question by count and percentage, review responses broken down by demographic factors, and see comparisons to previous survey responses in the full report of the survey resultsScroll to the top of the page to see responses to high-level questions over the lifetime of the Employee Morale Survey on our People & Culture website.

Action steps determined as a result of responses

  • Limit meetings on Friday afternoons and limit the length of meetings

  • Use virtual ergonomic assessments to make sure remote workers have access to necessary equipment, including chairs and desks, paid for by the University

  • Continue providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to employees who are required to be on campus

  • Improve the usability of the UC Berkeley COVID-19 web page

  • Explore ways for people to return to their offices to obtain smaller items such as computer peripherals, chairs, and other critical equipment and materials

  • Provide direct training to managers to help them better support their employees and themselves, beginning with a Managers’ Forum on May 6, 2020 at 1:00 p.m

A full description of the action items can be found here on our People & Culture website.