Skip to main content
Employee Engagement

Employee engagement refers to the level at which staff members are invested in, and committed to, their work and their organization. It’s more than just satisfaction or happiness; engaged employees are genuinely passionate about their tasks, eager to contribute positively, and feel a deep alignment with their organization’s values and goals.

REMINDER: Please help us reach our 69% participation goal by submitting your 2023 Employee Engagement Survey before October 23!

IT@UCF Prioritizes
Employee Engagement

Engaged IT staff are not only more productive, but they also exhibit a greater propensity for innovation, collaboration and problem-solving. In the dynamic landscape of technology, where adaptation and forward-thinking are vital, having an engaged IT team can significantly enhance the institution’s resilience, agility, and technological efficiency. An engaged workforce reduces turnover rates, improves team morale, and contributes to an overall positive organizational culture, benefiting staff and the university community.

How We Prioritize Employee Engagement

CAPTURING EMPLOYEE VOICE

Recognizing that our staff is our greatest asset, a multi-faceted approach to engage and connect with IT@UCF has been developed. A crucial component of this strategy is “Capturing Employee Voice,” a channel that enables the department to hear directly from its employees. Through avenues such as Employee Engagement Surveys and Committees, the department opens up dialogue, gauges sentiment, and implements initiatives based on valuable feedback. With employee voice as a guiding factor, the aim is to create a more responsive and inclusive workplace.

Employee Engagement Committee

IT@UCF leadership formed the Employee Engagement Committee (EEC) in 2021 after the release of the first feedback survey. This group is comprised of about 40 diverse volunteer members of the IT@UCF community who dedicate hours focusing on how to enhance department-wide employee engagement and developing and executing initiatives to address areas of improvement.
Look At What The EEC Is Currently Working On
Areas of Focus
Icon a a person in a magnifying glass, representing Employee Recruitment and Retention
Recruit & Retain

This area focuses on bringing in the best talent and ensuring they remain with IT@UCF. Strategies include prioritizing current employees for new roles and improving the onboarding experience.

Initiative Status % Complete
Prioritize internal candidates In Progress 90%
Assign new employee a "go-to" person On Hold 10%
Career and Growth Conversations In Progress 20%
Exit Interviews Completed 100%
Post openings where talented people network Completed 100%
Icon of two employees holding a rising chart line over their heads, representing Employee Growth and Development
Growth & Development

Here, the emphasis is on helping employees enhance their skills and progress in their careers. Initiatives include setting budgets for training and ensuring everyone has a clear and current job description.

Initiative Status % Complete
Annually budget for employee growth and development. Not Started
Ensure all employees have current and accurate job descriptions. Not Started
Develop Staff [Skills] In Progress 40%
Develop Management Skills In Progress 50%
Icon of two people each with their own speech bubble, representing Employee Voice.
Employee Voice

This area is dedicated to ensuring that all employees feel heard and can contribute their ideas and feedback. Actions range from implementing more effective communication channels to expanding open forum sessions like “Ask Me Anything.”

Initiative Status % Complete
Design and implement Creative Hour / Space In Progress 20%
Survey Communication SWAT In Progress 20%
Improve communication feedback loops and consistent "open door" practices. Not Started
Offer 360 assessment Not Started
Conduct "skip-level" or "double skip-level" meetings and “listening” tours. Not Started
Develop and communicate criteria for the highest performance ratings. Not Started
Build upon the Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions. Expand the AMA agenda. Completed 100%
Create consistent communication across deputy CIO and director levels. In Progress 50%
Allow for anonymous submittal of questions. In Progress 80%
Create an up-voting system. In Progress 80%
Icon of two people stacking puzzle pieces to make a tall structure, representing Employee Value
Employee Value

The aim here is to make sure every staff member feels valued and recognized for their contributions. Initiatives include celebrating top performers and creating programs that acknowledge employees’ efforts publicly.

Initiative Status % Complete
Set employee recognition and acknowledgment as a core IT value. Completed 100%
Enhance the IT@UCF Superstar award. In Progress 75%
Standardize a public facing acknowledgment method. On Hold 75%
Create a mentorship program On Hold 0%
Icon of two individual climbing a mountain, with the one further up offering a helping hand to the one below. This represents Senior Leadership
Senior Leadership

This focuses on enhancing the effectiveness and responsiveness of the leadership team. Projects in this area range from providing managers with the resources they need to refining decision-making processes and strengthening overall leadership dynamics.

Initiative Status % Complete
Identify Managers that need access to an operational budget. Not Started
Recognize employees’ need for differentiated management styles. Not Started
Improve the methods of conflict resolution. Not Started
Identify a list of supplies and tools along with a lifecycle timeframe to replace. In Progress 60%
Define and publicize the IT@UCF vision, mission and value statements. Completed 100%
Publish the organization chart at regular intervals during the transformation. On Hold 76%
Present "State of IT@UCF“ - i.e. metrics, achievements, and challenges. Completed 100%
Empower employees, teams, and leaders to make decisions. Not Started
Improve employee retention processes with competitive counter-offers. In Progress 90%
Determine proper staffing levels using staff-to-device and/or customer ratios. On Hold 50%
Adequately fill open positions Completed 100%

Yearly Employee Engagement Survey

Each year a survey is conducted throughout IT@UCF to gather feedback from the community. These survey submissions are critical to informing IT@UCF leadership of areas where improvement is needed and not needed. A dedicated staff-run Employee Engagement Committee also uses the survey results to prioritize problem areas and implement real solutions.
Employee Engagement Survey Mythbusters

All feedback is taken into consideration regardless of your role in IT@UCF, length of employment, leadership status, and other demographic information. This survey is completely anonymous and the questions asked aim to aggregate collective feedback, not target specific employees.

New perspectives provided by newer employees also provide fresh points of view that prevent us from getting stuck in a closed-loop of thinking.

The Employee Engagement Survey is a collaborative effort to measure the engagement of the IT community across UCF (IT@UCF). This effort is sponsored and shared by not only UCF IT but also the Division of Digital Learning, College of Engineering, College of Business, College of Nursing, College of Medicine, Office of Research and affiliated departments, Provost’s Office, and the Office of the President.
People Element was selected as a third-party vendor to partner with UCF to help ensure all individual responses to the survey remain confidential. Responses to the survey are kept confidential in that only demographic data (not personal information) associated with participants is reported back to UCF in aggregate (e.g., department, location, tenure, etc.). Additionally, this demographic data is only reported back to UCF by demographic category once a confidentiality threshold of 3 has been met (i.e., at least 3 participants within any demographic category need to complete the survey before that category can be reported back). Any responses to the open-ended comments are shared as written.

Here are examples of survey findings and changes made…

  1. Created the Project Management Office (PMO) IT@UCF People Program which is comprised of 17 projects that will directly address areas of concern from the feedback received.
  2. Improved the recruitment processes by establishing exit interviews and posting job openings where talented people network.
  3. Established employee recognition and acknowledgment as a core IT value.
  4. Built upon AMA sessions to incorporate guest hosts and address sought-after topics.
  5. Created a new set of mission, vision and values statements based on survey results and employee priorities.
  6. Enhanced employee recognition through Superstar Awards, employee spotlights and more.

The survey only contains 67 questions and could take you less than 15 minutes to complete. The survey autosaves so you can return to finish it at any time.

Your name is included because each link is unique to prevent multiple submissions from one individual. The survey is confidential but controlled and should not be forwarded to other employees.
The survey autosaves and you can return to finish it at any time, regardless of whether you closed out of the survey window, logged off your computer or your computer battery died.

Get Involved with the Employee Engagement Committee

Join the Committee!
Interested in joining the Employee Engagement Committee? Click here to email committee member, Calston Llewellyn, to join.
Reach Out To The EEC!
If you don’t have time to join the committee, share your great ideas our dedicated mailbox TogetherInIT@ucf.edu.​

Expressing Intentional Gratitude

  • Superstar Awards
This monthly accolade serves to recognize either an individual or a group who has made a notable impact in IT-related fields and embodies the core values of IT@UCF. The open nomination process creates an inclusive environment where any UCF employee can nominate a deserving colleague or team. The Superstar Award Selection Committee is made up from various CITC members which review the nominations and select a winner by majority vote each month. Click Here To Make Your Nomination

  • Employee Spotlights

Another monthly commendation, reserved solely for individual. This feature aims to the community become more familiar with those who embody the highest standards of professionalism, innovation, and commitment to the UCF IT community. By showcasing these role models, the Employee Spotlight not only rewards dedication but helps draw the IT community closer by getting to know individuals on a more personal level.

  • End-Of-Year Celebrations

Whether celebrating project completions, tenure milestones, or simply the dedication of the team, the End-of-Year Celebrations honor the collective achievements reached by the IT@UCF community over the past year. This annual event serves as a forum for reflection, recognition, and festivity, providing a fitting conclusion to a year of hard work.

Maintaining Transparency

  • Ask Me Anything Meetings

These sessions are a townhall style exchange, featuring a different guest speaker each month from within and beyond UCF IT. Dive into specific topics, ask pressing questions and contribute to the rich dialogue as we navigate the ever-changing landscape of technology together. It’s your opportunity to connect, learn, provide feedback and shape the conversation in our IT community.

  • Campus IT Community Meetings

Leaders and innovators from various IT departments across the campus come together to share insights, updates, and breakthroughs. These meetings provide a dynamic forum for discussing ongoing projects, exploring new ideas and strengthening our collective IT endeavors. Engage with key officers and project leaders as we shape the future of technology at UCF.

  • CIO Videos

Monthly in-depth updates from UCF IT’s Chief Information Officer. These videos cover a wide array of topics crucial to the IT community at UCF, from operational updates such as network degradation and service desk volume comparisons, to strategic discussions like IT strategy formation and high-level project updates. The CIO videos serve as a transparent channel for disseminating information and aim to keep the team informed, aligned, and engaged. View these videos on the official UCF IT Office of the CIO YouTube Channel.

  • IT@UCF Newsletter: The Download

“The Download” is a monthly newsletter brought to you by the Office of the CIO. This digital newsletter provides the IT@UCF community messages from leadership, important news and updates, employee engagement opportunities and much more. You can receive the latest issues in your mailbox by subscribing here or view an archive of all issues of The Download here.

  • Quarterly Reports

The Information Technology Quarterly Update is a cumulative quarterly report consisting of an overview of IT accomplishments and updates across campus. This is distributed via email and posted on the CITC Teams Group. Additionally, an archive of past Quarterly Reports can be viewed here.