Staff pulse survey results released

13 May 2021

The full set of results from the online survey carried out in March is now available

Dear colleagues

We can now share with you the full set of University results from the short staff survey which took place in March. This includes a breakdown for each part of the University and our main staff groups:

Across all questions Professional Services (PS) colleagues are generally more positive than academic staff, with research staff scoring between the two.

As outlined in our message of 31 March we are encouraged that the majority of staff said they have been able to work effectively during the COVID-19 lockdowns and have the tools and resources they need to work remotely. Most staff were also aware of the health and wellbeing resources available to support them and said that they were being kept up to date with important information.

Colleagues who have been working mainly from home said they valued the time saved on commuting and being able to work flexible hours. We are using this feedback and ongoing engagement with colleagues to co-create our new approach to hybrid working which will initially be available to PS staff. This will be launched in the next few weeks, but in the meantime you can read Patrick Hackett’s Viewpoint blog to find out more about the opportunities hybrid working offers.

We acknowledge that you have raised issues through this survey which are complex and will take time to fully address. One such issue is staff workloads, with nearly three quarters of respondents saying they have had to work longer hours to manage their workload, with this work intensity being particularly acute for academics. In addition, only half of respondents said they feel valued and recognised for the work they do and again this was reported more often by academic colleagues.

Whilst there is a recognition that senior leaders have worked hard to engage with colleagues we are concerned that a sizeable minority of staff have told us there is room for improvement in how senior leaders manage (28%) and communicate (21%).

In light of these results we are now considering what more we can do or what we can do differently. As a next step we are discussing the results with both our Board of Governors and HR Sub-Committee later this month. We will then develop considered actions which we will share with you, however it is fair to say that some of these may take until at least the next academic year to fully realise.

Thank you to everyone who took part in this survey, we are listening and are committed to taking action.

Best wishes

Professor Colette Fagan, Vice-President for Research and Chair of the Staff Survey Steering Group

Karen Heaton, Director of Human Resources