A survey of Northwest College employees conducted earlier this year showed the highest satisfaction with the college’s student-centered focus, while the lowest rankings focused on institutional structure.

NWC employees took the 46-question Personal Assessment of the College Environment (PACE) survey in February. The assessment is administered at colleges around the country.

At Northwest, it was intended to determine where college employees were experiencing the greatest satisfaction, which areas were in greatest need of improvement, and how the college compares with similar groups nationwide, NWC Statistician Lisa Smith told the college’s Board of Trustees earlier this month.

The best possible ranking for each question was a score of 5 and the worst possible a 1; a response of 5 indicated an employee was very satisfied, 1 indicated they were very dissatisfied and a 3 was neutral.

Northwest College’s overall mean score of 3.698 nearly matched the average of other institutions nationwide, Smith said.

Some areas scored somewhat higher than, and some slightly behind, combined national survey results, she said.

NWC President Stefani Hicswa said the results could have been markedly different if the survey had been conducted in the spring — after serious budget cuts resulted in early retirements, a reduction in force and the elimination of the college’s journalism, broadcasting and farrier programs. Those changes could influence future survey results, Hicswa added.

Smith said the survey had a 60 percent response rate.

Eighteen of the questions were worded similarly to a different employee survey administered last year. Of those, 14 ranked higher than last year’s results, while employee satisfaction dropped in four areas.

The college will continue to use the PACE survey in the future, and that should provide comparable data in all survey areas, Smith said.

Student-centered questions in this year’s PACE survey ranked top among employees surveyed.

The top-ranked statement in the survey was, “I feel my job is relevant to this institution’s mission,” with about 86 percent of employees indicating they were satisfied or very satisfied with that statement and roughly 4 percent saying they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied, for a mean score of 4.342.

The portion of the survey relating to institutional structure ranked lowest with employees, with that section’s mean scores ranking at the bottom, nationally as well as at Northwest College, Smith said. Institutional structure also ranked lowest among comparison groups, Smith said.

The statement with which the fewest NWC employees agreed was, “I have the opportunity for advancement within this institution.” About 35 percent of employees indicated they were satisfied or very satisfied with that statement, while roughly 33 percent said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied, for a mean score of 2.983.

Other survey categories were supervisory relationships, teamwork and custom items for Northwest College.

Hicswa said she looks most closely at the areas with the bottom mean scores.

“That’s where I look to improve the institution,” she said. “It doesn’t make any sense to ask our employees to take a survey like this if we’re not going to take it seriously.”