WATCH: Taking action on Staff Survey issues
23 Mar 2017
Improving staff wellbeing
Workloads and work-life balance was one of the University-wide themes that came out of Staff Survey 2015.
While much of this area is being addressed at Faculty, School or Institute/Division level, there are a number of initiatives that are taking place to improve our general wellbeing at a University level.
Sarah March, Interim Head of HR in the Faculty of Science and Engineering, talks about the initiatives that have already been put in place to support staff wellbeing across the University.
We have:
- launched a new Wellbeing Strategy which essentially aims to promote and enhance wellbeing across the University
- initiated the ‘Manchester Six Ways to Wellbeing’ in 2016 which was the first step in the long-term Wellbeing Strategy
- held a Wellbeing Week in November 2016, which gave staff and students the opportunity to try something new on campus including fitness classes, sessions on Mindfulness and much more
We are delighted that Professor Cary Cooper has agreed to be the Champion for Staff Wellbeing across the University and we are also aware of several local wellbeing champions that already exist within the Faculties. This is an initiative we are keen to extend across the University.
Further to this, the development of a detailed Staff Wellbeing implementation plan is progressing and the strategic link with University wide wellbeing is continuing to grow.
As part of this plan we are:
- creating a wellbeing calendar (based on Health Benefits UK National Days Calendar) that will highlight key national dates and increase awareness of wellbeing initiatives and ways for staff to become more involved
- using technology to increase awareness of wellbeing offerings across Campus including the development of a bespoke website that brings all your wellbeing needs together in one place, and a new mobile App which will provide staff with instant access to personalised University wide wellbeing resources and opportunities
We will be looking at the feedback from Staff Survey 2017 so make sure you tell us what you think so we can build it into our plans in the future.