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Friday is Hawaiian Shirt Day!: Is Your University a “Great Place to Work"?

Submitted by Ian Mikusko on Tue, 08/24/2010 - 15:43
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Forgoing the temptation to run a more conventional ‘Best 100’ list, The Chronicle of Higher Education recently released a list of 97 “Great Colleges to Work For.” The results are based on surveys responses from over 43,000 people at 275 institutions. 
 
Judging from the comments section of the list and other reaction across the internet, the list has generated a fair amount of controversy. On such a heated topic, it’s hard to find the same opinion twice. One person’s “special place to work” is another person’s place where “my point of view is heard and widely ignored.”   
 
Adding an important angle to the debate is Monica Kortsha, a reporter for The Horn, an independent University of Texas newspaper, who questions the accuracy of the survey results:
 
It should be noted that the Chronicle's results are hardly representative of the diverse community of UT employees because the survey was only sent to a number of administrators, faculty and professional staff--completely bypassing graduate students, part-time employees and service staff, like custodians and food service workers [emphasis added]. What might those members of the UT community have to say?
 
Indeed.
 
Are the opinions of service workers any less relevant than the “administration, faculty, and exempt professional staff” who were surveyed? 
 
Not to mention the fact that service work at universities is becoming increasingly privatized. Meaning more workers on campus are, in fact, not employed by the university. Are those people any less a part than the campus community for the mere fact that they are employed by a private company?
 
The idea of creating a list of the best universities to work for is a good one. It’s important to track how institutions of higher education treat their staff. But until the list incorporates the opinions of the people who, generally, make the least amount of money, it is hard to take such a list seriously. 
 
Photo by howzey via Flickr.
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