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Newsletter of LSE’s Residential and Catering Services Division (RCSD)
June 2013
Residential and Catering Services – LSE Staff Survey 2012 update
Welcome and thank you
Ian Spencer Director of Residential Services
Thank you to everyone who completed the LSE staff survey. 111 people filled in the survey - the response rate was a significant increase from 2009 and the 53% response rate is the highest we have ever achieved as a Division. The centre pages of this newsletter highlight some of the key responses and our steps to address them. My aim is that every member of the Division has an opportunity to read this newsletter, so please circulate copies to your team of staff.
What is positive? Staff are reporting that they have a clear understanding of the purpose and objectives of the Division; they know where to get information from and are clear about what is expected of them in their roles. Staff are proud to work for the School and believe it is committed to improving health and safety. Most improved since the 2009 survey The understanding of Divisional objectives is our most improved score, along with a sense of loyalty to the Division and the Head of Department/Service Leader being a good role model. What do we need to address? Staff are reporting that the School feels like a collection of separate units rather than a single organisation. Staff do not feel that poor performance is dealt with effectively within the Division. Perhaps linked, a low number of staff report finding Performance Development Reviews useful. Also of concern is the number of staff indicating perceptions of bullying and harassment with the highest number citing their line manager’s management style as the root of the issue. Louise Handley, HR partner for the division, Sarah Jons, Service Manager in Residences and Jacqui Beazley, Deputy Head of Catering are leading the team who will be working on the action plan to explore these issues further and to ensure they are addressed. Please contact them directly if you wish to add any points or help them in their plans. I will personally ensure that improvements to Performance Management issues are addressed swiftly. I also urge anyone who wishes to speak to me in confidence about perceptions of bullying and harassment to do so. Alternatively, speak in confidence to Louise or any member of the School’s bullying and harassment panel.
June 2013
Customer first accreditation renewed As a Division we had a busy year with many achievements - some of which are mentioned in this newsletter. We have been re-credited with the Customer First standard. Residences and Catering were assessed separately and both passed with flying colours. For the Catering team, the assessor said how impressed he was with the overall standards and congratulated the team on a ‘super review’. For the Residences team, he noted how enthusiastic staff were to work here and noted that they feel valued – both essential elements to providing responsive customer service. Overall he complimented us on the developments and initiatives we have around improving services and said that we are a benchmark of others in the sector. You can find a copy of the full staff survey results for our Division and a copy of this newsletter online: lse.ac.uk/intranet/LSEServices/residentialServices/in ternal/staff/Home.aspx [login required]. On behalf of the Residences and Catering Management Teams I would like to thank you for your on-going hard work, contributions and continued enthusiasm. Ian
RCSD - Staff Survey Update
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What has happened already?
2012 Response Rate
You said we do this well
I know where to get the information I need to do my job.
86%
I am proud of the reputation of the School.
84%
I believe the School is committed to improving health and safety.
80%
I am clear about what is expected of me in my job. I have a clear understanding of the purpose and objectives of my Department/Division.
Residences 81% 81%
You said we need to improve on The School feels like a collection of separate units rather than a single organization (disagree). 26% of staff reported that they had personally experienced behavior that they considered to be bullying or harassment in the last 2 years. The highest ranking factor was due to management style (22%). Poor performance isn’t always dealt with effectively by the Department. RCSD staff want to have greater opportunity to have a say in how things are done at the School. Performance Development Review needs to be more useful.
Work has already started addressing some of the issues highlighted in the survey, especially in relation to things we need to improve. The report has been presented to the Residences and Catering Management Teams and a working group has been set up with representatives from Residences, Catering and Human Resources who will be responsible for producing the final action plan for RCSD demonstrating what we intend to do to make progress against our identified areas of improvement. Training has already been undertaken by many staff.
10%
26%
37%
38%
1. All members of the Residences Management Team went through 360 degree appraisals in September 2012. 2. All members of staff were invited to attend a Customer Service Excellence training course. This course has now been integrated onto the LSE core programme list. If you have not attended then please make arrangements for booking yourself on to the course. 3. Equality and Diversity and Conflict Resolution training for all managers has been rolled out.
Catering 1. Front line service staff are attending a customer service day specifically designed for University Caterers. 2. All Managers have attended or are booked to attend the LSE Equality and Diversity Workshop. 3. Further training on Fair treatment and Respect is being piloted.
What is happening next? .
• • •
RCSD will be piloting the new Career / Performance Development Review System. 360 degree appraisal will be rolled out later in the year for every manager across RCSD. Anonymous input from direct reports and other colleagues will help managers reflect upon their performance in the workplace and assess their management style. We will also be focusing upon communication across RCSD making sure that everyone is well informed about what is going on and that everyone in the Division has an opportunity to have their say.
You can find a copy of the staff survey results in full in the policies and procedures section of the Residential and Catering Services Staff pages.
June 2013
RCSD - Staff Survey Update
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Counselling and Mentoring Services
Bullying and Harassment It is important to recognise that you have a responsibility to take action if you think that bullying and harassment (B&H) is taking place within your team. You do not need to suffer in silence as help is available. B&H can take many different guises. Being asked to carry out a task you don’t want to do by your line manager is not an example of bullying. However, being picked upon, or victimised, or excluded or ignored, or ridiculed could be perceived as being examples of B&H. It is important that staff and managers reflect upon their behaviors in the workplace as well as staff finding their voice to speak up. The members of the School Anti-harassment panel are there to offer advice and help to members of staff who feel they are the victim of B&H. This is a confidential service. Visit: lse.ac.uk/intranet/LSEServices/governanceAndCommitt ees/committeesAndWorkingGroups/antiHarassment/Ho me.aspx
Your help, suggestions and feedback If you have any suggestions or ideas about how we can make RCSD a better place to work and to tackle some of the areas of concern then please get in touch with either your line manger or Sarah, Louise or Jacqui.
Counselling and mentoring services are available for all staff. The School has recently piloted a new course "Fair Treatment and Respect," aimed at tackling this issue directly. We are currently exploring whether this would be a useful course to roll-out to all staff within RCSD: lse.ac.uk/intranet/staff/staffCounselling/about.as px
LSE Training Courses LSE offers training for all staff bands, full and part time, permanent or temporary. There are plenty of courses available for both personal and career development. Check out the LSE website today. Arrange a discussion with your line manager. Visit:apps.lse.ac.uk/training-system
Residences
Human Resources
Catering
Sarah Jons Service Manager s.jons@lse.ac.uk
Louise Handley HR Partner l.handley@lse.ac.uk
Jacqui Beazley Deputy Head of Catering j.beazley@lse.ac.uk
Making the most of your PDR It is encouraging that 81% of those who completed the staff survey say they are clear about what is expected of them and have a clear understanding of the purpose and objectives of the Division. The importance of a well handled Performance Development Review (PDR), with clear objectives, cannot be emphasised enough. However, only 40% of you reported that you had found your PDR useful, so we clearly have some way to go to make sure that everyone is getting as much as they can out of this experience. Equally, only 37% of you think that poor performance is always dealt with effectively, so we need to look at how we manage both over- and under-performance to make sure all managers are equipped to do this successfully. Every member of staff in the division should, by now, be completing a PDR form annually. Your manager should hold a meeting with you to discuss what you have written and you should be having a constructive and honest two-way conversation about both the year just gone and the year ahead. They should also meet with you at least once a term to assess your progress against agreed objectives. Some managers have reported that they are not 100% confident in using the School’s PDR scheme and could do with some training on this. Louise Handley will be organising sessions for managers on “general principles of performance management” which are likely to be half day sessions. This will help maximise the potential of all PDRs going forward, be they full appraisals or the termly review sessions. Later on this year, staff in RCSD will also be piloting the School’s new online PDR form which we hope will be used in conjunction with the training for managers. This should make the administration around PDRs much easier, as well as enabling us to have a better oversight of the objectives set for individuals across the Division.
June 2013
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2013 News in the division LSE Catering Services
LSE Residential Services
We served around 1.2 million customers and catered for over 5,000 special hospitality events.
LSE Student Accommodation Survey 2013
Champagne and canapés were provided for guests at the official opening of LSE’s newest building 32 Lincoln’s Inn Fields by HRH The Princess Royal.
1298 students completed our annual satisfaction survey, each receiving a “thank you” chocolate bar. Two lucky students won an iPad, and other prizes included spa passes and Amazon vouchers. According to the feedback, staff have performed well in student facing roles. 70% of students found inperson visits to the Accommodation Office prove to be 'very' to 'highly' satisfactory. Across all halls, around 60% of students found reception services very' to 'highly' satisfactory. A summary of survey results is due for release.
The Bean Counter Café opened to much acclaim in Lent term. Rosebery and Bankside halls successfully moved to meals inclusive arrangements that are much appreciated by students. By the end of term our catering teams in halls would have served a quarter of a million meals! External consultants were engaged to help shape a future strategy for catering at the School. An action plan will be developed based on their recommendations. Environment activities were recognized in achieving Gold Excellence in the Green Impact Awards. Achievements included collecting nearly £9k for special environment projects through a bottled water tax, launched a new environmentally friendly smart mug, promoted healthier eating through a series of Feel Good Food Days and used local, sustainable, ethical and fairly traded products whenever possible.
June 2013
Residential Life - Professional Visits Professionals from universities across the world paid visits to LSE Residential Services. We were delighted to welcome guests from Sweden and Australia, and to host a delegation of visitors from universities across the US after successfully bidding to host part of the NASPA/AMOSSHE exchange. Passfield Hall Garden The sustainability team at Passfield Hall won £6316.80 from the LSE Sustainable Futures Fund to create a better environment for the bees and attract additional wildlife to the Passfield garden. Beyond the environmental benefits, the project will also help to create a strong sense of community within the residence.
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Wardens Update
LSE Catering / The Students Union – a new future
Several Wardens will be completing their terms of office at the end of this academic year. We would like to thank Mr Chris Hunt (Lilian Knowles House) and Mr Trevor Murtagh (Sidney Webb House) for their contribution to residential life. We are also grateful for the hard work of all the Subwardens who are leaving us this summer and wish them the best of luck in the future.
One of the recommendations from the external catering consultants who advised on our future catering strategy was for closer co-operation with the student’s union catering offerings.
RCSD Welcomes Summer School 2013
The centre will house an internet café, a pub and venue space as well as a juice and coffee bar.
As we say goodbye to our term time students, staff within the Division are preparing for the arrival of summer school students. Did you know that summer school students will be occupying over 60,000 room nights over the two sessions?
This is particularly important as at the end of this year the School will open the new student centre – named the Saw Swee Hock centre.
Jacqui Beazley, Deputy Head of Catering, will be working closely with staff from the Student’s Union to ensure the catering facilities open smoothly. More importantly, Jacqui will be working to ensure that the catering offering compliments the current offering from our existing outlets.
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi installation in the Residences is progressing well and we expect installation to be complete in all sites by the end of summer.
The centre is an amazing building and both the SU and LSE Catering hope this heralds a new partnership and shared ways of working.
New LSE Vacations website The Residences’ Sales & Marketing team are proud to announce the launch of the new LSE Vacations website at www.lsevacations.co.uk The new site has a brand new look and feel and a re-vamped booking engine, offering our customers a far more modern and enhanced user experience. The site went live on Monday 10 June, with a range of internal and external marketing activities planned for the coming weeks. In the first two weeks, the site was visited by over 14,000 unique visitors and took over £105,000 in revenue! We’d love to know your feedback, please use the “Contact Us” form on the site to send us your thoughts.
June 2013
RCSD - Staff Survey Update