197 Engaging research professionals in organizational culture and climate initiatives

Objectives/Goals: Engage the research professional (RP) workforce in assessing job satisfaction, motivators, barriers, and levels of support throughout the research enterprise. The goal of this collaboration is to foster a positive culture, inform manager training, ensure RP retention, and enhance career mobility pathways. Methods/Study Population: Methods include a HR data compilation/analysis and focus groups for new RP’s ( Results/Anticipated Results: This initiative will articulate the current culture and climate of the research enterprise and identify key strategic areas for growth. The UMN Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) will build off the design of an internal survey at Vanderbilt (2018) to encompass organization-specific challenges, the post-pandemic research landscape, and the UMass Diversity Engagement Survey. This process will also generate specific insights including RP sentiment statements, trends in how RP’s describe their day-to-day work, assessment of barriers, analysis of retention benchmarks, and defining employee hopes/motivators. The CTSI will also identify salient RP growth opportunities, leadership competencies, and areas of non-monetary compensation to improve satisfaction and career mobility. Discussion/Significance of Impact: Targeted interventions will be developed to address RP satisfaction barriers and leverage opportunities for KPI improvement. Results will be disseminated to managers, administrators, and the CTSI network. Resource development will include RP personas, job description/hiring templates, and strategic guides for key operational challenges.