HBO staff again more satisfied despite work pressure
More than three-quarters of university college employees are satisfied or very satisfied with their job in education. But the high workload remains a point of attention and communication in the workplace also leaves much to be desired.
Picture: Type tank
Compared to 2016, the percentage of satisfied employees has again increased slightly from 78 percent to 80 percent the biennial report from Zestor, where the AOb works together with other unions and employers.
The survey is based on answers from more than 9 employees of 16 universities of applied sciences. With these figures, the sector scores higher than the average in the Netherlands, where 71 percent are satisfied or very satisfied with their work.
Quality
Three themes are the most important according to the respondents: the 'quality of the educational program' (scores an average of 7,6 among all respondents), the 'quality of the university college' (7,1) and the 'cooperation within the university college' (7,1 , XNUMX).
The quality assessments per institution vary considerably. One university of applied sciences scores an 8,5 for quality and the other a 6,3, but they are not mentioned by name in the report. It also appears that employees of small universities of applied sciences are more satisfied with the quality of their educational institution than their colleagues at medium to large universities of applied sciences.
Employees of small universities of applied sciences are more satisfied with the quality of their educational institution than their colleagues at large and medium-sized universities of applied sciences
Of all employees surveyed, 28 percent say they can get the best out of themselves. This percentage is also higher compared to the working population of the Netherlands (7 percent). However, only 9 percent of those surveyed indicate that they owe this potential to their university of applied sciences. 'Evidently, employees of the university of applied sciences think that they do get the best out of themselves, but that they largely do this on their own', says the report.
Of all employees surveyed, 28 percent say they can get the best out of themselves
Workload
Satisfaction with workload scores relatively low (6,8 on average). 53 percent of the teachers think the workload is (much) too high, against 30 percent of the support staff. Most complaints are about the time available to do the work. Teaching staff has more problems with this (rating: 5,2) than support staff (6,7). The same pattern can be seen in the appreciation for the balance between work and private life (6,3 versus 7,5).
53 percent of teachers think the workload is (much) too high
Improvement
Another point for improvement is collaboration within the team. About 36 percent of employees think this could be done better. They are especially dissatisfied with the extent to which colleagues hold each other accountable for their responsibilities and with the openness of communication.
It is also notable that the employees are not very satisfied with the participation council. The valuation is much lower at large universities of applied sciences than at small ones.
