Survey suggests room for improvement

The majority of University colleagues are broadly satisfied with staff communications but there is room for improvement, according to the initial results of the recent Staff Communications Survey.

“We had a good response to the Survey, so the results give us a pretty trustworthy picture of opinion across our staff,” says Isabel Hunt, Director of Communications. “This is underlined by the breadth and consistency of responses across job types, length of service, faculty and services.”

The aims of the Survey were to find out how effective current University communications are, how satisfied people are with them and to identify areas of good practice as well as areas for improvement.

Nearly 76% of colleagues said they are satisfied or very satisfied with staff communications, and 82% said they have relatively good access to broad range of information. However, although strategic messages are mostly being received, there is some dissatisfaction around the quality, openness and timing of communications around change and strategic performance, with 54% saying they don’t have enough chance to give their opinions on the University’s strategic direction. Staff are also keen to meet and talk to each other, with 57% wanting more opportunities to get together with colleagues from other areas.

“Overall, three main areas stood out where we need to make improvements: the amount and flow of information; colleagues’ involvement in key decisions; and contact with senior managers,” continues Isabel.

“There are some changes that we can begin to implement immediately, such as updates to the For Staff website and the distribution of the Reporter. We’ll also be seeking to produce a communications guide which clarifies the role of central Communications team, the purpose of our central communications channels and best practice guidelines for faculties, schools and services.

“We want, too, to find ways of increasing the accessibility of our senior managers, so that more people feel they can have their say about important issues. We’ll be working with HR and, where appropriate, other services, to clarify responsibilities for cascading information, and review training to ensure that a communications element is built in to – or increased within – courses.”

More detailed results of the survey – included a breakdown of responses to the questions – will be made available via For Staff in the next few weeks. You can also contact the Communications team at internalcomms@leeds.ac.uk

Posted in: