Employee Survey | Creating a more equitable and inclusive University
Fiona McClement, Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, explains how feedback from the new employee engagement survey will help collectively enhance the workplace culture for everyone at Leeds.
Strategic and effective progress towards a more equitable and inclusive University has to be informed by high-quality data – both quantitative and qualitative.
The employee engagement survey includes a number of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) specific questions, although all of the questions are going to provide us with important insights when disaggregated by different groups. It is essential to say here again that the survey results will only display demographic data if individuals cannot be identified, as confidentiality is so critical.
The survey will help measure the sense of inclusion and belonging that colleagues feel at the University. We need to understand how valued our communities feel and also to identify how much our systems and processes are trusted (or not) to deliver fair outcomes. The outcomes of the survey will help guide our strategic activity on EDI, informing where we need to direct resources and efforts for greater impact. The data will enable us see where we have any ‘hotspots’ or areas of particular concern, so that we can take a more targeted approach to supporting colleagues with effective prevention and intervention measures.
We will not achieve our EDI aspirations without a strong evidence-base of the underlying factors that create unjustifiable inequality within the institution. Questions on workload, resources, opportunities for career progression and management practices all have significant EDI implications. We also need to understand what is working well on EDI and where we have exemplary parts of the institution, and how we can support best practice more consistently.
Employee engagement surveys are a really helpful means of understanding the institutional climate, and if there’s gap between our stated values and practice and behaviours.
I encourage all colleagues to make their voice heard, and in so doing, help to collectively enhance the workplace culture for everyone at Leeds.
Have your say
Open until 20 March, the employee engagement survey is your opportunity to have your say – to tell us what’s working for you and what isn’t.
It takes an average of 15 minutes to complete and your responses will inform our efforts to make working at the University more enjoyable and fulfilling.
Visit the employee engagement survey online hub for further information, including video messages explaining why it’s so important to take part and some handy FAQs.
Further information
Read our other employee engagement survey blogs from:
Patrick Craig, Head of Health and Wellbeing
Dr Richard Knapp, Interim Programme Director for Curriculum Redefined
Ann Allen, Director of Campus Innovation and Development; and
Sam Crossley, Organisational Learning Partner.