Staff Survey Results
Research Excellence Framework
All Staff Open Meeting Monday 23 February 2015
Staff Survey - Background
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Capita Research and Surveys appointed.
Survey open November-December 2014.
University wide response rate 63%.
£2.50 donated to the Student Hardship
Fund for every completed survey.
Staff Survey – Why have one?
1. Help further develop and refine our
People Strategy.
2. Identify main areas for improvement
and listen to your views.
₋ Focus on University wide results.
₋ However, major differences or
concerns will be raised with relevant
Heads of Department/Director.
3. Benchmark against other
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and
external organisations.
Staff Survey – Headline Results
ALL areas above HEI benchmark
• 89% say the University is a good place to work.
• 90% would recommend it to a friend as a good place to work (excluding
don’t knows).
• 89% feel proud to work for the University.
• 93% feel it delivers good quality service to students/service users.
Staff Survey – Benchmark
Staff Survey – Celebrate
• The things we do well, far outweigh the areas to improve.
Staff Survey – Improve
• Improvement areas same as other HEIs and organisations,
say Capita.
• Full Capita report – link on ‘current staff’ web page.
• Departmental breakdown will be available soon.
What now?
Nothing will change, will it?
1
Quick solutions
2
Existing projects or initiatives
3
Areas of focus
Celebrate and recognise
our success
3 Step Approach
1
‘Quick solutions’ explained
Quick solutions
Identify areas for immediate improvement.
Examples include:
Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
• Only 35% said you were aware of the service, yet of those that
used it nearly 80% said they found it useful.
• We will actively promote this service and the benefits – starting
today – see the leaflet on your seats!
Accident and incidents
• Only 61% said you knew how to report them. 10% below HE
benchmark.
• We will take immediate steps to provide information to
staff/managers and departmental officers.
2
‘Existing projects or initiatives’
explained
Existing projects or
initiatives
Combine areas of improvement with existing projects.
Examples include:
• Staff Intranet.
• Project on the gender split of academic admin work.
• Work is under way to identify other projects.
Areas of strength and sharing good practice
• We will also identify areas above the benchmark and learn
‘what works’.
• For example, only 67% agreed their manager helps find a good
work life balance. One area scores 73%, while another scores
100% - why is this?
NSS/Staff Survey
• We will identify correlation or links between the two results
and help inform departmental planning.
2
‘Existing projects or initiatives’
explained
Existing projects or
initiatives
Gender balance of admin workload allocated to academic staff
We listened
• Making Professor event, VC’s Forum on equality and diversity,
Athena SWAN award renewal.
• Suggestions of differences in patterns of workload allocation to
men and women – potentially leading to impact on promotion
chances.
Actions?
• Initial data collection completed. No significant issues identified.
• Develop University-wide principles for workload allocation based
on transparency and equity.
• 2015-16 implementation.
3
‘Areas of focus’ explained
Areas of focus
Survey identified three main areas for improvement:
Management of Change
71% thought more could be done to help you cope with change.
Bureaucracy
58% said it gets in the way of you doing your job.
Communication
Only half of respondents agreed communication between senior
management and staff is effective and only 39% thought different
parts of the University communicated effectively with each other.
Other areas to be identified by focus groups.
Nothing will change, will it?
• We will listen to your ideas and suggestions.
• We will set up a working group to oversee overall progress and
University wide actions.
• We will raise major differences or concerns with relevant
Heads of Department. Departmental level results will inform
existing plans rather than generate new ones.
• We will hold focus groups across the University with an
independent facilitator.
• We will identify and commission University wide specific projects
to help us improve, or identify areas for step 1 (quick solutions) or
step 2 (link with an existing project).
• We will celebrate what we do well!
Three ways to get involved…
Help shape the solutions – Your voice, your LU
1.
See the leaflet on your chair.
2.
Sign up for a focus group.
3.
Share your ideas via our intranet page / Twitter feed
(coming soon) as projects progress.
Next steps?
Timescales
March to May 2015 – Focus groups.
March and April – Faculty and departmental reports
available. Meetings with Deans and Directors.
From March – Share your ideas and solutions via Twitter /
Intranet.
Summer 2015 – UMAG to sign off University Action Plan.
Summer 2015 – New projects commissioned (following
outcome of focus groups).
Repeat staff survey every two years.
Communication updates
• See LU Text and visit lancaster.ac.uk/current-staff/staff-survey-results/
Research Excellence Framework (REF)
2014 – What was assessed?
Lancaster’s overall REF results
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35% of our research rated at 4*
48% rated at 3*
15% rated at 2*
2% rated at 1*
Individual results in 16 Units of Assessment
Headline thoughts about REF 2014
• REF outcomes – good for Lancaster
• 18th on overall GPA, 20th on Impact GPA
• 98% of environment 3* or 4*, 10th ranked
• 35% 4* in overall profile, 13th in UK up from 14th
• Note the proliferation of ways of assessing REF –
GPA, intensity, power, etc.
Your questions…