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Internal communications improving
The majority of UB faculty and staff believe internal communications at the university have improved over the past year, according to the results of an online survey administered by the Office of University Communications.
More than 60 percent of survey participants said UB is providing them with the necessary information to do their jobs. The latest survey also shows marked improvement in respondents’ evaluation of the amount of email from the university administration.
“We’re gratified by these findings and we want to work to make internal communications more effective,” says Joseph Brennan, associate vice president for university communications. “The staff in University Communications has worked hard to provide our colleagues with accurate, timely and engaging news and information. And we will continue working to improve our service to the rest of the university.
“We appreciate all the help that we’ve gotten along the way from our colleagues in University Human Resources and from the many faculty and staff who have made suggestions on how we can better serve them,” he says.
The most recent survey, posted online from April 29 through May 7 and open to all faculty and staff, drew 393 responses, 97 percent of which were from faculty or staff.
In addition to general questions, it asked respondents about three University Communications products: the UB Reporter, both print and online versions, which were redesigned last summer to improve internal communications, and “This Week @ UB,” a weekly email aggregating top news and announcements that launched last September with the same goal.
Among the results:
• More than half of respondents read the print UB Reporter weekly or once or twice a month. While more than 62 percent find the newspaper very valuable or useful, nearly a third of respondents said they would not miss it if it were not published.
University Communications has each week printed 5,000 copies of the UB Reporter that were distributed at drop points across UB’s three campuses. Monitoring of distribution points last semester revealed that more than half the copies remained at the drop points one week after publication.
• More than one-third of respondents visit the online UB Reporter weekly, and another third visit it occasionally. More than 75 percent find its content very valuable or useful.
Online readership of the UB Reporter has gained steadily since the redesigned publication was introduced last August; the online product is receiving on average more than 6,000 unique visits weekly. The week of the crash of Flight 3407 in Clarence Center, the publication had more than 11,500 unique visits.
• More than 20 percent of survey respondents read the entire “This Week @ UB” email, while more than 67 percent skim the email for items of interest to them. Only 12 percent of respondents either do not read the email or report not receiving it in their inboxes on Monday mornings.
• More than 60 percent of respondents feel that the amount of official email communication they receive from the university administration is just right.
• Similarly, 60 percent of respondents said UB gives them the necessary information to do their jobs. This compares with 45 percent of faculty and 55 percent of staff in last spring’s survey. About one-quarter of faculty and staff were neutral on the subject.
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