We appreciate staff taking the time to submit their feedback each year for the annual staff engagement survey in November. We want to demonstrate how this feedback shapes priorities throughout the organisation and we recently shared an example of how changes in The School of Human Development and Health have benefitted staff.

We sat down with Residences, Sport, and Community Services to discuss what changes have occurred in their area following the 2023 staff engagement survey results.

What have you put in place following feedback from the 2023 staff survey?

Since 2022, Residences, Sport, and Community Services have run annual focus groups following on from the staff engagement survey to provide staff at all levels the opportunity to give more detailed feedback and suggestions for improvements in response to the results.

In 2023, Residences, as well as Sport and Community Services, hosted action planning away days and/or sessions with a cross section of staff to share the survey results and strategic goals, with the aim of setting the direction of larger improvements and creating local action plans to deliver on staff feedback.

In response to the 2023 staff engagement survey feedback, the Business Support and Continuous Improvement Team (BSCI) launched an Induction Portal, designed to be a central hub of advice and guidance to support the onboarding process for new starters. Survey scores and focus group feedback also highlighted a need to improve opportunities for development and line manager support, so a career development site was created to address this.

The Associate Director of Residences and Head of Sport and Community Services run a Championing Inclusion group across Residences, Sport and Community Services. This has been a positive development to allow us to hear from staff on how we continue to create an inclusive working environment.

Within Sport, a staff development fund was created to enable staff to complete training that will help to support them and enhance service delivery, whilst providing opportunities to further their careers.

Within the Early Years Centre, we have expanded our management team to include additional staff members who can help create positive change for our staff community.

How have the changes improved your area?

We co-create with our teams so that they have the opportunity to improve the staff experience and to provide their feedback. Staff can see that we take the staff engagement survey results seriously and that it triggers real change.

We saw improvements in many areas in the 2023 staff engagement survey results in comparison to 2022 and we hope to continue to see improvements in the 2024 survey.

How have staff responded to the changes?

Anecdotal feedback suggests that staff who have utilised the induction portal and career pathways have had positive experiences.

Staff are involved in the new projects by contributing to content for induction sites or sharing their top tips on the career development site.

Staff have also collaborated with the BSCI Team to create local action plans for improvements in Residences.

The 2024 staff engagement survey will launch on 1 November 2024. You will receive your invite to take part via a personalised link on email.