An upcoming survey for Ohio State faculty will study opinions of their work environments and the balance between their jobs and personal lives.

Gabrielle Reinicke, program director of Work Life, said this survey will be given to faculty at the university who are tenured or on tenure-track to assess their commitment to OSU.

“Questions will be about issues regarding retention in terms of what make faculty come here to work and what makes them stay,” she said.

The survey will have three different sections, Reinicke said. One will deal with child care and elder care issues for faculty members, the second will focus on their work satisfaction and the third will deal with balancing their work and personal lives.

The Web-based survey, which is sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of Human Resources, will start Monday and run for two weeks.

“Faculty will be invited via e-mail and will be given a password for confidentiality,” she said.

Reinicke said an action plan will come from the survey to help the recruitment and retention of a diverse and high-quality faculty.

She said another important issue for Ohio State is the ability for faculty to manage their personal and work lives.

“We want to ensure that we have an environment that is supportive of faculty. That helps them be as productive as possible at work and lets them have a healthy personal life as well,” she said.

Reinicke said the faculty will not be required to complete the survey, but she hopes many participate.

“We certainly encourage as much participation as possible, because the more that do, the better data we will have,” she said.

A similar survey was conducted in 2001 that focused on OSU staff. Reinicke said from that survey came her position as director of Work Life. She said she is thinking of expanding this office from information gathered by the faculty survey.

“We a looking at integrating the support for work-life balance throughout the organization so there’s just one place you will come to,” she said.

Richard Petty, professor in psychology, said it is important for organizations such at OSU to try to understand the faculty views dealing with retaining their positions.

“Retention of employees saves the cost of recruiting and training new members. Companies will put a lot of resources into understanding what makes people happy,” he said.

Larry Lewellen, director of Human Resources, could not be reached for comment.