LONDON'S GLOBAL UNIVERSITY
STAFF SURVEY 2011 |
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Message of support from the Trade Unions Guidance Notes for Managers / Academic Leaders
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What You Said. 200940% of staff participated in UCL's second all-staff engagement survey which was conducted in March 2009. This was a 9 percentage point improvement on the 2005 survey response rate of 31%. The sample was broadly representative of UCL's staff profile.
There were many positive findings and we have continued working to maintain or improve these areas. Although you felt you received clear communication we have reviewed and overhauled our internal communications, for example, through the introduction of the Week@UCL. This has resulted in minimising ‘all staff’ emails and a clear and easy repository for messages. We have also continued to utilise the information collected to inform our first Single Equalities and Diversity Strategy, ensuring we focus our actions where they will have maximum impact. There were, of course, areas where improvements needed to be made. The Provost’s Senior Management Team agreed an institution wide action plan and, in addition, each Faculty was tasked with identifying 3 key local actions. These action plans are available on the staff survey website under 2009 survey link. In anticipation of the next UCL all-staff engagement survey, which will run from 31 October – 18 November 2011, we thought it would be helpful to remind staff of the key themes that emerged and the actions that took place in response. What People Said – What We Did (Corporate Actions) You said: The grading and academic promotion processes were unfair. We did: Review on an annual basis the percentage of people applying for grading review and senior promotions to determine whether the processes appeared unfair or discriminatory in their application. Grading: To streamline and improve processes we have also introduced a new Job Evaluation Database which also stores job description outlines, which can be used for similar posts, eliminating the need for many posts to go through the full JDO process. Senior Promotions: In response to other concerns aired, and demonstrating our commitment to improving the transparency and usability of the academic promotions process, we have developed a series of audio files. The files each feature a short discussion between senior academic staff who offer advice from a personal perspective on how to approach the promotions process. The files focus on useful pre-application strategies such as mentoring and how to identify the most appropriate sources of support as early as possible in an academic career and the individual promotions criteria of enabling, knowledge transfer, research and teaching and offer tactics for creating a balanced profile.
You said: We don’t have the resources, structures or systems we need to complete our work effectively or without working excessive hours. There is lack of clarity on roles or alignment to UCL goals, duplication of work and we need better support during times of change. We did: Rex Knight, (Vice-Provost Operations) set up the Staff Survey Action Project, which has the goals of:
A number of workstreams were developed around Organisational Structures and Networks, People Practices, Culture and Values, Business Processes and Change Management. A one day conference was organised as part of the project. This took place in August 2010 and attracted over 70 participants from across UCL. It was the first cross-institutional event of its kind for professional services staff, and was very successful. Progress has been made in relation to the recommendations of the Staff Survey Action Project on:
You said: You were dissatisfied with physical working conditions and didn’t feel consulted about or understand the rationale behind changes to UCL’s estate A root and branch review of space at UCL has been undertaken resulting in the UCL Bloomsbury Masterplan, designed to establish a strategic framework for the long term development of UCL’s Bloomsbury estate and the use and allocation of space within it. The project was set up with champions drawn from faculties and support facilities and subject to detailed staff consultation. Additionally, it was agreed that capital monies already allocated for building improvements would be protected from budget savings. Initiatives such a common timetabling have also been implemented to make best use of the constant demands on space.
You said: Senior managers needed to be more visible and improve their communications and actions in the management of change. Cranfield School of Management, world leaders in helping business teams transform knowledge into action, were engaged by Organisational & Staff Development to facilitate sessions with Provost’s Senior Management Team, Corporate Support Services Heads of Department and their direct reports around leadership and change management. In addition the highly successful Leadership and management development programmes have been refreshed. Modules focus on, amongst other topics, change management and communication. c300 staff have completed the leadership and management programmes in the last two years. We have redesigned the provision of support from the organisational staff development (OSD) team to be much more strongly aligned to faculties and corporate divisional teams and to provide much more bespoke development to meet local needs, including management and leadership sessions.
You said: You were dissatisfied with the management of poor performance In addition to the leadership and management development programmes, we have developed new programmes running from the 2010/11 academic year on:
Which are all designed to promote and assist in improved performance management.
You said: The appraisal system did not help you develop your skills. In addition, the biennial nature of it was criticised by some staff. Senior management and all Corporate Support Services staff undertake annual appraisals. These are encouraged elsewhere. Introduce a new online system for professorial appraisal, making clear links to performance. We are reviewing and refining this system with a view to wider roll out of online performance management systems, supporting appraisal and development.
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