Staff Survey ResultsResearch Excellence Framework

All Staff Open Meeting Monday 23 February 2015

Staff Survey - Background

• 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.

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 – Why have one?

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?

Quick solutions

Existing projects or initiatives

Areas of focus

1

2

3 Cele

brat

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3 Step Approach

1Q

uick

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s‘Quick solutions’ explained

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.

2Ex

isting

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ject

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s‘Existing projects or initiatives’ explained

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.

2Ex

isting

pro

ject

s or

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s‘Existing projects or initiatives’ explained

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.

3Ar

eas o

f foc

us‘Areas of focus’ explained

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.

• 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!

Nothing will change, will it?

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?TimescalesMarch 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?

• 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

Lancaster’s overall REF results

• 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.

Headline thoughts about REF 2014

Your questions…