Employee Survey
TU Dresden’s employees are the most important source of information for acquiring information on personnel requirements and organisational development at TU Dresden. Between 20th May and 23rd June 2019, an employee survey was carried out to obtain an overview of the employees' assessment of working conditions. Various aspects of everyday working life, such as collegial cooperation, management culture or opportunities for further training and development, played a special role. Based upon this information, the need for action was identified. Subsequent measures will be adopted in order to improve working conditions for the long term.
By the end of the survey period, more than 2,700 employees had taken part in the large online survey. Thank you very much for your participation, interest and feedback!
In the past weeks, the data were evaluated and prepared in close cooperation with the ZQA (Centre for Quality Analysis). In an information event for TU Dresden employees on 29.11.2019, selected results were presented by Prof. Dr. Karl Lenz and afterwards discussed with the Rector and the Vice-Rector for University Development.
Results of the employee survey
(only available for university members within the TUD network or VPN connection; eduroam does not count as TUD network)
- Slides Information Event (29 November 2019)
- Report (in German only)
- Summary
Further information can be found in the FAQ section:
It is a comprehensive survey, meaning that all technical, administrative and academic employees at TU Dresden will be contacted via an email from the Rector and asked to participate. However, the survey is not intended for student assistants. At the beginning of the survey, it is necessary to classify yourself into a particular status group so that you are asked the appropriate questions.
These are:
- Professors in the Schools and central units (incl. junior professors)
- Research associates in the Schools and central units
- Research assistants (WHKs) in the Schools and central units
- Employees in technology and administration in the Schools and central academic units and interdisciplinary units
- Employees in technology and administration in the central university administration, in operating units and other organisational units (e.g. University Executive Board, representatives)
It is a wide-ranging employee survey. The University Executive Board expects to receive valuable information on strengths and weaknesses with regard to working conditions in order to implement improvement measures. The focus lies on aspects that can be controlled within the framework of personnel and organisational development.
The questionnaire used was developed at the University of Bielefeld for the university context. It has already been used at over 20 higher education institutions (universities and technical colleges) for employee surveys and adapted to the specific requirements of TU Dresden. Various topics from your daily work routine, such as management culture, cooperation or communication, are being collected.
It is an online survey. At the beginning of the survey period, an email will be sent by the Rector. The link contained within the email will take you to the survey. Unfortunately, it is not possible to complete a hard copy.
You will need approximately 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire. This time is considered working time.
For technical reasons, the survey should be completed without lengthy interruptions.
A further comments section was not used for this wide-ranging initial survey in order to ensure that the very extensive data could be evaluated and prepared in the best possible and most efficient manner, taking into account the available resources. However, if you have any suggestions or comments on the survey, we would be pleased to receive your feedback.
The data collected will be processed and scientifically evaluated in cooperation with the Personnel Development Team and the Centre for Quality Analysis, a central scientific unit of TU Dresden.
In order to guarantee confidentiality and anonymity in every case, various measures were taken in cooperation with the data protection officer of TU Dresden and stipulated in a data protection concept.
Socio-demographic variables in particular were reduced to a minimum so that it is not possible to identify a specific individual. In addition, the group of people surveyed was restricted for some questions so that, at the Chair level for example, the duration that a person has been a member of the university is not recorded.
The survey can only be completed for one employment contract. You should therefore choose one position which you will consider when answering the questions. We recommend that you choose the position that is most important to you.
The results of the employee survey will be shared with staff after the end of the survey period as part of an internal university informational event. In addition, the results will be published at the end of November for TUD internal download at this website.
The evaluation is only differentiated according to Schools (civil and environmental engineering, humanities and social sciences, engineering sciences, science, medicine) and according to membership of the central administration or a central unit.
The survey results will be communicated to employees in various formats (e.g. informational event, newsletter, TUD internal download at this website). Based on the resulting need for action, the various responsible parties will design measures that will help achieve improvements in the respective areas. We look forward to your suggestions in this process.
We plan to repeat the survey every three to four years in order to measure changes over time.
If you have any further questions regarding the content of the employee survey, please contact us:

Mandy Glöckner
Team Personnel Development
Send encrypted mail via the SecureMail portal (for TUD external users only).
Should you have any questions regarding the technical implementation of the questionnaire, the staff of the Centre for Quality Analysis will be happy to assist you:

Stephanie Gaaw & Clemens Behrendt
Centre for Quality Analysis
Send encrypted mail via the SecureMail portal (for TUD external users only).