From Office of Communications and Marketing Vice President Brette Lea: 

In October, the Office of Communications & Marketing sent out a survey to learn more about you, our faculty and staff, and how you get ACC information and, most importantly, how you want to get ACC information. A big thank you to the more than 600 employees who participated. As we continue to build a culture of communication at ACC, these results will help guide our new, more effective communication strategies. You can review the overall results of the survey online.

Here is an overview of what we heard from faculty and staff who completed the survey.

Getting Information
Respondents said their main sources of information are "Emails from the President and/or Administration," "Supervisors," and "Co-workers." However, when asked how they would like to receive information, the top two responses remained the same, but the third response changed to "ACC Website."

The results tell us that you want to get your information directly from a place of authority. Dr. Rhodes and administration will continue to send out relevant information, and my office will continue to work with our college partners to improve the ACC website so that it can become a news source you can quickly turn to for the most up-to-date information.

As you know, the college launched the MyACC web portal and app for students this month. Several departments are currently working with subject matter experts to design versions for faculty and staff as well. Testing is underway to determine how best to incorporate college communications.

Current State of Communications
When asked to rate their level of satisfaction with college communications, the majority of respondents (54.6%) were either "Satisfied" or Very Satisfied," a third (32.6%) were "Neutral," and 12.8% were "Dissatisfied" or "Very Dissatisfied."

When it comes to frequency of college communications, the majority said it was either "About right" (47.2%) or "Too little" (23%). "Not sure" and "Too much" each got 15% of the responses.

These responses tell us that we are on the right track; however, we need to improve timeliness of communications and do a better job of targeting communications to relevant groups.

What You Want to Know
When asked what type of information you want to hear about most, the following answers received more than 50% of the responses:
- The college's strategies for the future (65.5%)
- College events (63%)
- Products and services of the college (58.3%)
- Human resources processes and programs (50.9%)

Social Media
We recognize that not everyone is on social media. We also know that in this time of instant news, we have to find a social channel that works for the majority knowing it may change over time. The survey finds that social media remains a good place to share information. Nearly three-fourths (74.3%) of respondents follow the ACC District Facebook page followed by Instagram (30.4%), ACC District Twitter (25%), and LinkedIn (19.8%). When asked to choose between Facebook and Twitter, respondents overwhelmingly preferred Facebook (73.8% vs. 26.1%)

We are exploring the possibility of developing a Facebook page designed for employees as a faster channel for need-to-know information, such as decisions by the ACC Board of Trustees and important updates that impact us all.

Comments & Conclusion
We appreciate everyone who took the time to share their thoughts, concerns, or suggestions. We are still reviewing the comments individually, and we will take them into consideration or pass them to the appropriate person(s).

Communication matters. Whether it's informing our community about ongoing changes, bragging about our good work, or keeping you safe during an emergency, it's critical for the college's success. Thank you for helping the college as we work to make ongoing improvements.

- Brette Lea, Office of Communications and Marketing vice president