Top updates from across the University.
1. Staff Engagement Survey
To ensure everyone has the chance to share their views, the Staff Engagement Survey deadline has been extended to Friday 3 March.
The survey is anonymous and takes around 10 minutes to complete. If you haven’t already taken it, please set aside some time to do so before the deadline.
Your feedback, and responses from previous surveys on hybrid working, will help us build a picture of staff engagement, shape our future ways of working and track progress in delivering on our Strategy 2030 ambitions.
You can find a link to the survey in your email inbox.
2. Industrial action
Last week, the University and College Union (UCU) announced that the national industrial action affecting 150 universities across the UK would be paused for a two-week period. This is to allow time for negotiations to continue towards an agreement that would bring the current period of dispute to an end.
This means that strike action will not take place at the University on these previously confirmed dates: Tuesday 28 February, Wednesday 1 and Thursday 2 March.
Action short of a strike, where staff work to contract and do not undertake voluntary activity, will continue. Depending on progress in the current negotiations, the strike dates proposed for later in March may yet take place.
You can find further information in the all-staff email below, which was issued on Tuesday 21 February, and in the staff Industrial Action 2022/23 webpages.
3. People and Money
On Monday 13 February, an email update was issued to all University staff which set out progress to date, current priorities and next steps around People and Money.
People and Money remains a major priority. Over the last two months, senior leaders have worked closely with colleagues to find solutions to the most pressing problems that have been reported, and a plan has been developed which sets out the areas of focus in the coming three months, with many of the actions already underway.
The Principal and members of the Senior Leadership Team, including the Director of Finance, met with senior colleagues from each of the Colleges on Monday 20 February.
There will also be an all-staff Q&A session later this semester where you’ll hear about the latest developments in People and Money and have the chance to ask questions about this and other strategic priorities. More details will be shared about this in the coming weeks.
You can find further information in the all-staff email.