Project Spotlight:
Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit
Understanding the Employee Experience
Between September 2023 and January 2024, Social Contract partnered with the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit to develop, deliver and analyze an Employee Climate and Belonging Survey.
A Meaningful Opportunity
The Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit (CSIU) is a regional education service agency with roughly 700 employees that serves schools, students, and families across several counties in central Pennsylvania. As part of the organization’s commitment to ensure that every employee is experiencing the organization in a way that allows them to be successful, the CSIU first developed and administered an Employee Climate and Belonging Survey in the fall of 2022.
The CSIU selected Social Contract to administer and analyze the 2023 Employee Climate and Belonging Survey to ensure employees feel their identity and confidentiality was protected and that they could provide candid feedback.
The CSIU sought to:
- Evaluate how well the organization embodies its mission of "Enriching Learning and Enriching Lives"
- Track changes in perceptions of belonging and inclusion over time; and
- Develop evidence-driven recommendations for improving perceptions and experiences of inclusion and belonging across all staff.
Our Approach
Social Contract started this work with Discovery, conducting a thorough review of the 2022 survey and identifying strategic changes to help CSIU better understand more details about their employees. Part of this initial phase involved a Town Hall for CSIU staff to introduce Social Contract, present survey questions and make space for employees to ask about the upcoming process.
Following Discovery, we designed a new survey with items related to demographic information (including gender identity and race/ethnicity) and internal processes and procedures, updated the glossary terms and made changes to avoid double barreled questions.
The survey was disseminated via Survey Monkey to enable anonymous data collection and efficient analysis. We conducted detailed data cleaning, categorized demographic responses, analyzed responses and reviewed comments, and identified key strengths and opportunity areas. In addition to the survey, we implemented focus groups with staff in order to delve deeper into insights.
Survey results were shared with CSIU leadership and staff, in the spirit of transparency and accountability.
In Their Words
“Social Contract paid attention to the needs and nuances of our organization regarding the project. Their staff are experts in the field and work diligently to ensure the needs of the organization are met.”
- Dr. Shileste Overton-Morris, Chief Programs Officer at CSIU and the Director at the Center for Schools and CommunitiesLooking Ahead
As a result of this work, CSIU has an informed understanding of areas in which they have strengths, and areas in which there is opportunity to improve. They have clear data and evidence, along with actionable recommendations that can inform their efforts to improve employee engagement and belonging across the organization. By putting transparency at the forefront of this work, CSIU made a firm commitment to ensuring their employees had access to the findings and recommendations.
What We're Proud Of
Because it's large regional entity, CSIU has direct and indirect impact on thousands of people. Having an accurate understanding of employee climate and belonging makes the organization stronger and able to better meet the needs of both its employees and the people it serves. We're proud to help CSIU acquire the relevant data and provide strategic analysis and recommendations it needs to continue to meet its organizational goals.
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