On the Pulse of UZH

Christian Schwarzenegger, UZH has conducted an employee survey every three years since 2019. Why?

Christian Schwarzenegger: The surveys are a way to take the pulse of UZH. Our university is self-governed. To make the right decisions, we need to know where things are going well, and where we may need to make adjustments. 

How would you assess the overall results?

Schwarzenegger: Overall, the results are very encouraging. Job satisfaction remains high, our employees feel motivated and respected, and there is a strong sense of commitment and connection with UZH. I’m particularly happy to see improvements in areas such as work-life balance and support for early-career researchers – this shows that many of the measures we’ve taken are working. Another positive aspect is the high response rate, with 42.2 percent of UZH employees taking part in the survey. This is an even higher rate than three years ago. This, too, reflects the strong connection our employees feel with UZH.

Three years ago, the university introduced guidelines on mobile working. How have they held up?

Schwarzenegger: In-person interactions are essential for us as an on-site university. At the same time, the pandemic showed us that flexible working arrangements can be useful. Our model strikes a balance between these two needs: as a rule, employees work on site at UZH for at least 60 percent of their employment level. The survey results confirm that this approach works. UZH employees appreciate both the benefits of working with one another on site and the flexibility they gain thanks to remote work.

What happens with the results now?

Schwarzenegger: In some areas, the survey results vary significantly between the university’s organizational units, as is the case for leadership and management topics, for example. This also means that the need for action also varies across units. The dean’s offices, departments, institutes, clinics and Central Services units received their results in September; they were tasked with discussing and analyzing them together with their teams by the end of the year and, where necessary, defining appropriate measures. The survey results also provide a useful foundation for discussions between the Executive Board of the University and the various units. At the university-wide level, we will continue to build on successful initiatives to strengthen UZH’s workplace culture – for instance, through our programs aimed at developing leadership and management skills.

The anonymous online survey took place in May 2025. In total, 4,278 employees took part, which translates to a response rate of 42.2 percent – a decent rate that is slightly higher than in 2022 (40.9 percent). The distribution of responses is representative, which means that the survey provides meaningful results. As in 2019 and 2022, the survey was conducted and analyzed by the external company Empiricon AG.

Overall, the survey paints a positive picture. The vast majority of respondents are satisfied with their situation at work and feel a strong connection with UZH.

Work content, workplace conditions, mobile working and work-life balance, for example, were rated particularly highly. In contrast, respondents were more critical when it came to sustainability, remuneration and professional development.

Compared to the last survey three years ago, significant improvements were achieved in areas such as academic career development and collaboration among professors, while satisfaction with other topics such as equal opportunities and diversity dropped.

The results provide valuable information for the continued development of UZH. It is crucial that line managers and their teams in the units discuss them together in order to develop targeted measures based on the results.

Veronika Brandstätter-Morawietz, Professor of Psychology and chair of the Personnel Commission:
“The results of the employee survey are extremely valuable for the Personnel Commission. They show us in which areas the University of Zurich is on the right track – things that everyone at UZH can feel good about and that we should make sure to preserve. But the results also help us shine a light on areas that received only slightly positive or even negative ratings from employees. These are the areas we as members of the Personnel Commission need to take a closer look at and try to understand in order to propose measures for improvement.

As a professor, I’m particularly pleased to see that satisfaction levels among early-career researchers have increased. At the same time, I’m concerned that many young researchers, despite UZH’s well-developed support services, apparently don’t know where to turn in the event of a conflict with their supervisor. This is an area where we need to improve orientation.”

Valerie Treyer, representative of the Association of Senior Researchers and Teaching Staff on the Personnel Commission:
“The results of the employee survey didn’t come as a surprise to me, since key issues such as work interruptions, excessive workload and remuneration were already known. Unfortunately, these are also topics that can’t be resolved quickly, easily or across the board. In terms of compensation and workload in particular, the Association of Senior Researchers and Teaching Staff (VFFL) sees a need to more clearly define career paths and create greater transparency in order to shape expectations and development opportunities at UZH in a viable and transparent way.

In general, these surveys are an important tool for us on the Personnel Commission to identify university-wide trends, and it is important that the results are discussed within the relevant organizational units so that they can also have a local impact. 

Overall, I’m pleased to see that there has been improvement in many areas – we’re making headway, but we definitely need to stay the course.”

Laura Beccarelli, representative of the Association of Administrative and Technical Staff on the Personnel Commission:
“As a member of the Personnel Commission, the results of the employee survey provide valuable insights on where UZH is doing well as an employer and where action is still needed. The responses reflect the everyday work experiences of many of our colleagues and confirm that the Personnel Commission is choosing the right topics and setting the right priorities, even though we only have two meetings per semester to discuss these matters.

As a representative of the administrative and technical staff, I’m especially pleased with the positive feedback regarding collaboration and the high level of employee commitment. At the same time, the results clearly show that issues such as workload, pay and professional development continue to be a challenge. These topics have been a focus of our work as co-managing directors of the Association of Administrative and Technical Staff (V-ATP) for some time now, and the survey provides confirmation that there is still a need for action in this area. It provides us with an important basis for raising these concerns with the Executive Board of the University.”

Jessy Duran Ramirez, representative of early-career researchers on the Personnel Commission:
“The survey results serve as an important compass for my work on the Personnel Commission. They clearly show where structural improvements are still needed – particularly regarding the quality of leadership and management, communication from the Executive Board and employee workload. It’s also worth noting that more people reported having experienced or witnessed discrimination. This underlines the importance of binding leadership and management structures, clear responsibilities and a culture of mutual respect. The updated leadership and management principles provide a valuable foundation for giving these issues even greater weight in the future.

The survey also highlights how challenging the working conditions for early-career researchers remain. Many report high workloads, unclear expectations and a lack of preparation for the next step in their careers. At the same time, the perception of discrimination is increasing – a signal we must take seriously. Encouragingly, however, we’re seeing progress in areas such as childcare and support services, which shows that targeted measures can have an impact.”

Klaus Jonas, Director of the UZH Leadership and Governance Academy:
“The survey shows that line managers at UZH generally adopt a participatory leadership style. They exemplify the behavior they expect from their team, support their professional development and communicate transparently. Respondents, albeit with some reservations, also gave a positive assessment of conflict management and task-related leadership, that is, how line managers formulate expectations, set goals, provide feedback and establish structures. The differences between organizational units are sometimes considerable; in other words, specific results may deviate from the overall encouraging averages, either positively or negatively.

When it comes to UZH’s leadership and management development programs, these valuable insights highlight the importance of focusing on task-oriented leadership and dealing with conflicts.”