The Staff Thriving Quotient

Scales and coefficients

The 21 items on the STQ cluster onto 5 scales:

• Meaningful Engagement

  A measure of the degree to which staff are energized by their work, feel that their work is a good fit for them, enjoy working for this institution, experience positive emotions at work, and find meaning and purpose in their university role.

  α .94

  Sample item “I feel energized by my work at this institution.”

• Institutional Affinity

  A measure of the staff member’s feeling that they are proud to work for this institution, that their values are aligned with the institutional mission, and that they enjoy working for this institution specifically.

  α .87

  Sample item “I really enjoy working for this institution.”

• Well-Being

  An indicator of the degree to which one’s workload allows for a healthy work/life balance and that one’s work is not having a negative effect on their physical and/or psychological health.

  α .87

  Sample item “My workload allows me to maintain a healthy work/life balance.”

• Relationships

  An indicator of the positive relationships staff have with their coworkers, along with the degree to which they feel supported and valued in those relationships, as well as the degree to which they feel their supervisor cares about them and provides positive feedback.

  α .81

  Sample item “I feel valued by my colleagues here.”

• Accomplishment

  An assessment of the degree to which staff feel good about their accomplishments so far, know how to apply their strengths to address work challenges, achieve the goals they set, and believe their work makes a difference in students’ lives.

  α .73

  Sample item “I feel good about what I have accomplished so far in my role at this institution.”

Pathways to thriving

Examining thriving among university staff developed out of a desire to understand the working environment that could sustain and retain high-quality staff, so that students were supported and well-served. Dr. Laurie Schreiner developed the Staff Thriving Quotient (STQ) using concepts from positive psychology (e.g., flourishing) and positive organizational scholarship. Staff thriving reflects not only how staff are feeling about their work, but also their relationship to the institution where they work and the ways in which they interact with others in that space that bring joy and a sense of meaning and purpose.

What else the survey assesses

Research on staff thriving has discovered that there are specific experiences that serve as significant pathways to thriving for university staff. The online instrument assesses these pathways, and they are included in this report. Significant predictors of thriving among university staff include a culture of trust on campus, an equitable working environment, a supervisor who cares, and job security. The instrument also assesses satisfaction with pay and benefits, level of external commitments, and demographic characteristics.

How administration works

Participation and norms

An institution can participate at any time during the year, but national norms are created each November and April. After you complete the online registration, we will send you a custom survey link and a sample email to send to all your full-time faculty. We will send one follow-up email to participants a week after the survey opens. The survey will close after two weeks.

Process

Your campus receives a survey link to distribute to the sampled population. Responses return directly to The Thriving Project; your institution does not host or process the data.

Timeline

The survey opens for a defined window during the academic term. Reporting follows once the window closes; the schedule is confirmed when administration is booked.

Human subjects

Institutional review requirements vary by campus and by intended use of the results. Human-subjects guidance is issued with the instrument, and written permission is granted for research use.

Citation and permissions

Questions about this instrument