The Ithaca Journal, July 18, 2008, Friday

The Ithaca Journal

July 18, 2008, Friday

The Ithaca Journal

Survey: Cornell ranks high as workplace
By Aaron Munzer • Journal Staff • July 18, 2008

ITHACA — Once again, Cornell has been recognized as a great place to work.

The school landed in the top five schools in six out of 27 categories in the Chronicle of Higher Education's recent survey called “Great Colleges to Work For.”

The survey included responses from 15,000 administrators, faculty members and staff at 89 colleges and universities. Cornell was in the category of schools with more than 2,500 employees.

Cornell was ranked highly by its employees for the opportunities it allows for career development, research and scholarship. In addition, the teaching environment and the recognition of scholarly contributions was also lauded by employees who took the survey. Finally, Cornell's compensation and benefits packages were among the top five in the survey.

In the same size category as Cornell, the State University of New York at Buffalo was a top five contender in eight out of 27 categories. Stanford University led the pack with a mention in the top five schools in 24 out of 27 categories of workplace quality.

The survey was administered by ModernThink, a human-resources-consulting firm that has conducted many “Best Places to Work” surveys for various groups, according to the chronicle's editors.

Professors at the school said they broadly agree with the survey's results. Sarosh Kuruvilla, an 18-year veteran professor who teaches in the school of Industrial Labor Relations, said he agrees with the survey's findings for himself, but that employee satisfaction varies between Cornell's schools.

“I want to emphasize that the teaching environment differs heavily,” he said. “I wouldn't know if my positive experience reaches across the university. In my school particularly, there's always time and often funding to help you do your own research. That's something ILR has always helped faculty with. And I know not all the colleges have that same level of support.”

Elizabeth Hirsh, an assistant professor in the sociology department who does research on organizations, employment and inequality, said in her two years of teaching that Cornell has provided her and others with good resources and a supportive environment.

But she said there's a disconnect between the endowed schools and those partially funded by the state, especially in terms of benefits packages.

“I think one thing is because of the structure of the school, public verses endowed, it leads to fragmented environments,” she said. “So one thing would be to integrate these two environments. Employees in different areas get different benefits packages, and people feel sometimes they're slighted when they see the endowed side.”

Cornell has received a host of awards and recognitions before.

According to the university's press office, Cornell was named an Exemplary Voluntary Efforts recipient by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2007; a top non-profit employer for women executives by the National Association for Female Executives in 2008; one of the 100 best employers for working mothers by Working Mother Media in 2006 and 2007; the 50 best companies for prospective parents by Conceive Magazine in 2008; the 100 best adoption-friendly workplaces by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption in 2007 and 2008; one of the 50 best employers for workers over 50 by the American Association of Retired Persons in 2005, 2006, and 2007; and Computer World's 100 Best Employers for Information Technology Professionals in 2007 and 2008.

amunzer@ithacajournal.com