At the beginning of September, the IU Bloomington Staff Council solicited a second set of survey responses from IU staff as a follow up to our original staff COVID-19 survey, conducted in April 2020. We want to share these results with the professional staff community with the goal of building advocacy and a platform for positive change.
3,790IU-Bloomington staff members were invited to take the survey
1,183IU-Bloomington staff members responded
How do you anticipate spending the majority of your work time over the next 1-2 months?
| I will work almost exclusively at home. | 59.7% | |
| I will work mostly from home with occasional trips to campus. | 26.4% | |
| I will work almost exclusively on campus. | 7.9% | |
| I will work mostly on campus but supplement with work from home. | 6.0% |
How would you rate the following concerns now, particularly as they affect your ability to conduct your job duties?
For each of the answers below, the colors correspond as follows:
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
Lack of space (working from home)
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
| 64.8% | 22.8% | 9.7% | 2.7% |
Lack of technological equipment (working from home)
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
| 58.9% | 28.3% | 10.2% | 2.6% |
Childcare/kids out of school
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
| 69.8% | 9.8% | 9.4% | 11.1% |
Caring for another member of my family
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
| 74.0% | 14.4% | 7.9% | 3.7% |
Inability to perform my job functions remotely
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
| 70.6% | 20.8% | 5.5% | 3.0% |
Lack of reliable internet access (working from home)
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
| 59.7% | 27.0% | 8.8% | 4.4% |
Job insecurity
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
| 43.8% | 32.1% | 15.3% | 8.8% |
Keeping up with changing guidelines
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
| 40.1% | 34.3% | 18.1% | 7.5% |
Feelings of anxiety or isolation
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
| 33.0% | 33.0% | 22.2% | 11.7% |
Food insecurity
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
| 92.9% | 5.9% | 1.0% | 0.3% |
Pressure from my supervisor/department to be productive
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
| 64.5% | 20.6% | 9.5% | 5.4% |
Fear that decreased productivity at this time will put future career opportunities at risk
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
| 52.4% | 23.1% | 14.9% | 9.6% |
Discrimination/Racism
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
| 86.0% | 6.6% | 4.3% | 3.0% |
Unsafe home environment
| Not a Concern | Minor Concern | Moderate Concern | Major Concern |
| 99.0% | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
Do you feel that your supervisor or department has expressed concern for your well-being during COVID-19?
| Yes | 84.6% | |
| No | 9.7% | |
| Unsure | 5.7% |
Do you feel well informed about Indiana University’s decision making and updated policies regarding COVID-19?
| Yes | 89.6% | |
| No | 10.4% |
Have you taken advantage of any aspect of IU’s Employee Assistance Program during COVID-19?
| Yes | 6.8% | |
| No | 83.8% | |
| No, but I plan to | 9.3% |
Have you taken advantage of any of the resources posted on Healthy IU’s COVID-19 resource page?
| Yes | 24.8% | |
| No | 63.8% | |
| No, but I plan to | 11.3% |
What are your biggest concerns regarding COVID-19 and your continued work at IU?
The following quotes are selection of responses received to this question:
I worry about the mental health of all of our employees and students as well as the financial impact that this pandemic will have on the University over the next several years.
Given the state of higher education, I worry that there will be layoffs at IU and that my family will be affected. It feels like there is pressure to be even more productive than before the pandemic to justify my employment, but with my feelings of isolation/disengagement at a record high, that's hard to do.
With so many students coming to Bloomington and the town seemingly returning to "normal" operations with restaurants and businesses, the surge of cases has increased as expected. As someone who lives alone, I have tried to be strategic about how to socialize to this point. With the increase of risk with the increase of cases, feelings of isolation has also increased.
Budgets and job cuts OR lack of advancement. I am a young professional with a long career ahead of me, and I'm worried that financial damage to the university will inhibit my opportunities in the future and force me to leave the university -- something I don't want to do.
My biggest fear is how performance is/will be evaluated during this time.
My job is easily done from home and my team has adapted to full time remote work.
My biggest concern is actually working too much. It is so hard to separate home and work life- they all run together now. And the workload seems to continue to increase and always some new fire to fight. I have been working to set boundaries for myself and help my staff to do the same, but it is really hard. I feel I am always working.
My biggest concern is that we will be asked to come back earlier than when I feel is safe. Me and my team are able to continue to be highly functioning while working from home, and I support IU spending resources to direct funding/resources (cleaning supplies, masks, testing, barriers) for student services that require direct contact.