2025 Employee Engagement Survey - Comments Analysis Report
The 2025 Oakland University OU & You Employee Comments Analysis Report offers a deeper look into the experiences, perspectives, and ideas shared by our faculty and staff during the university’s most recent Employee Engagement Survey. Developed in partnership with ModernThink, this qualitative report analyzes more than 800 open-ended responses to uncover the stories behind the data - highlighting what employees value most about working at Oakland University and where they see opportunities for growth.
The insights reveal a strong sense of pride, collaboration, and community across campus, along with candid feedback on key issues such as compensation, leadership communication, and institutional alignment. Together, these comments provide valuable context to the survey’s quantitative results and will help guide meaningful actions to strengthen engagement, transparency, and belonging across the OU community.
About the Employee Comments Analysis Report
- Purpose: Provides qualitative insight into faculty and staff experiences.
- Context: Complements quantitative survey results by adding narrative depth.
- Method: Consultant-led thematic analysis across 10 ModernThink survey dimensions.
- Confidentiality: Comments anonymized to ensure candid feedback.
- Interpretation: Comments analyzed in context; frequency and sentiment used to identify key patterns.
Survey Overview
- Survey period: April 10 – May 5, 2025
- Participants: Faculty and staff across Oakland University
- Total response rate: 54% (1091 of 2003 employees)
- Open-ended questions:
- What do you appreciate most about working at Oakland University?
- What would make Oakland University a better place to work?
- Faculty response rate: 43%; Staff response rate: 63%
Number of Comments by Job Category
- Total comments analyzed: 817
- Faculty: 247 responses (Q1) and 256 (Q2)
- Staff: 570 responses (Q1) and 561 (Q2)
