2020 staff survey results
Friday, 31 July 2020
Dear colleagues,
I mentioned in my briefings last week that the UEB had just seen the results of the recent all-staff survey.
Thank you to all of you who completed the survey during what was a very busy and often challenging time for everyone, whether still working on campus, working from home or elsewhere, or furloughed for a period.
The survey focused on your experiences of how we, as a University, have worked through the COVID-19 situation. I am very pleased to see that the overall results are very encouraging and positive for both the UK and particularly for Malaysia, and it has been very valuable to have colleagues from Malaysia contributing to our coronavirus response from the beginning.
You can follow this link to see the overall results and a breakdown by School and Function.
There is much we can learn from our experiences during the lockdown period, and the many comments you made in the ‘free text’ boxes will help us to identify areas where further action is needed and learn how we can improve our ways of working in future.
These free text comments are still being collated but an initial area for us to explore further is the difficulty of switching off or limiting work hours, including for those of us trying to balance work with childcare, home-schooling and other responsibilities at home. This also applies to managers who are working hard to be available to support their teams, and to those colleagues who have worked so hard, and continue to do so, to convert teaching materials for remote delivery so that we can keep providing an excellent offering for our students.
Linked to this, some academic staff indicated less clarity about the future of assessment and teaching for the end of this year and into the next academic year. I know that colleagues on the Major Response Team and across Schools and Functions are working hard to clarify this for you and will keep you updated.
There are many more topics covered in the comments, such as furlough, workload and the lack of face-to-face contact and ad hoc conversations with both colleagues and students. Many of you have also commented on the messages from myself and senior leaders about the University’s financial situation, which are of course unsettling for us all. I will continue to share the progress we make and discussions we have as part of consultation, as I believe it is important to remain open and honest with all colleagues about the situation.
All of this feedback will also help inform the ongoing Phase 2 of the Post Covid-19 Response Programme being led by Mark Fellowes.
Thank you again for all your ongoing hard work, and for sharing your thoughts about working for the University during this time. I think it is safe to say that none of us has experienced a period of rapid change and disruption like this before, and we are all learning. I remain immensely proud of how well our community has coped. The survey feedback is invaluable in helping us improve further, not just in our coronavirus response but in making the University an even better place to work in the years to come.
Kind regards,
Robert
Professor Robert Van de Noort
Vice-Chancellor