2025 Employee Engagement Survey - Executive Summary
Oakland University’s 2025 OU & You Employee Engagement Survey reflects the voices of our faculty and staff - providing a clear picture of where we excel as a campus community and where we have opportunities to grow. Conducted in partnership with ModernThink, the survey captured valuable insights from more than half of all employees, offering data-driven guidance to strengthen our workplace culture, communication, and collective sense of purpose.
The Executive Summary highlights the university’s core strengths in job satisfaction, inclusion, well-being, and mission pride, while also identifying key areas for continued focus — including, among others, leadership development, collaboration, compensation, and faculty experience. These findings will inform strategic actions to enhance engagement, belonging, and support across every level of the institution as we continue building a culture defined by excellence, respect, and shared success.
Oakland University fielded the OU & You Employee Engagement Survey from April 10–May 5, 2025. The survey achieved a 54% overall response rate (1,091 of 2,003 employees), enabling analysis at the 95% confidence level (±~2%) when reflective of the full population.
Response by group
- Faculty: 367 of 849 (43%)
- Staff: 724 of 1,154 (63%)
The report below highlights core strengths, solid dimensions, priority opportunities for improvement, and recommended best practices.
Solid Dimensions:
- Supervisor/Department Chair Effectiveness:
- Consistently strong day-to-day relationships; opportunity to share best practices more widely.
- Professional Development:
- Fair to good overall, with upside in career growth structures, mentoring, and learning pathways.
