College Connection
College Connection College of Medical and Dental Sciences Newsletter
Special Edition – November 2013
How do you feel?
What would you change?
What do you want?
Have Your Say Staff Survey 2013 4 November – 1 December 2013
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College Connection
Welcome to this Special Staff Survey Issue of College Connection The University’s third all-staff opinion survey – Have Your Say 2013 – is running from Monday 4 November to Sunday 1 December 2013. Have Your Say is conducted every two years to learn what colleagues think and feel about the University as a place to work. As an institution, we had a participation rate of 66% for Have Your Say 2011, well above the benchmark for similar higher educational institutions and 10% above the participation rate in 2009. The College itself had 65% participation rate in the 2011 survey. As a College, and institutionally, we are hoping to achieve even higher participation rates this year, to enable us to evaluate employee engagement even more accurately. All members of staff with computer access will receive an email from ORC, the company running the survey, inviting them to complete the survey online. Staff who do not routinely have access to a computer will receive a paper copy to return directly to ORC. Each email and paper copy is unique to individual members of staff, so please do not forward your email or pass on your paper copy to colleagues as this will have an impact on responses. Staff who need a copy of the survey in Braille, large
College Connection newsletter Edited by Angie Gibson, Internal Communications Manager, Communications and Marketing Team, College of MDS. We are always looking for stories, articles and items from College staff for College Connection. If you would like to make a submission, please email MDS-Information@adf.bham.ac.uk. All submissions may be subject to editing. Follow the College on twitter – www.twitter.com/unibirm_MDS Follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/collegemds
print or another format should email the Project Team at hys2013@contacts.bham.ac.uk. Many of the survey questions will be the same as 2011 in order to help comparative evaluation. However, some questions have been amended to address topics of current priority to colleagues and the University. As in previous years, the survey is completely confidential, and individual responses will not be identified by the University. The company running the survey, ORC, are bound by the Market Research Society’s strict code of conduct which means that reports will not be available for groups of fewer than 10 respondents. The University and College never see individual survey responses. The College has a very committed group of Staff Survey Champions (their details are included in this newsletter) who are available to answer any questions and queries you many have regarding the survey, and can feedback any comments you may have to the University Survey Project Team. Please feel free to contact any of the Champions, or alternatively you can email mdssurvey@ contacts.bham.ac.uk. Have Your Say is an important and effective way to gather the views of employees of the University, and is a vital opportunity for staff to play a part in shaping the University’s future. As a result of the last survey, action plans and developments at local and University-wide levels were taken forward based directly on feedback from staff. A number of these developments are outlined in this newsletter. Following the publication of the survey results, which is expected to be in January 2014, the College will establish a group to take forward Action Planning in response to the key themes highlighted within the results. We encourage all MDS colleagues to complete the survey and ensure you Have Your Say.
Professor Eric Jenkinson Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of College
Dr Emma Robinson Director of Operations
Key Facts n The survey is running from
4 November – 1 December 2013. n You can complete the survey in
10–15 minutes and this can be done within work time. n The survey is completely confidential. The University will not see any individual responses as they are analysed by ORC who anonymise results before providing reports. n Results will be used to facilitate improvements within the both the wider University and in your area of work.
College Connection
You Said, We Did Following analysis of the 2011 Survey results, the College produced an Action Plan to address the key issues that were raised. The Action Plan established four key objectives: n Communication – to improve understanding and awareness of activity across and within the College and wider University n University Leadership – to improve understanding and ownership of the University Strategic Framework n Your Manager – to improve capabilities of line managers n Training and Development – to continue to improve access to opportunities for training and development and appropriateness of training received At a local level, the College Hub and Schools developed detailed Action Plans in response to the key themes identified in each area. Important progress has been made in each of these areas and our case studies illustrate how staff across the College have felt the impact of some of these developments.
Improving communication was a particular focus of the Survey results, and clear communication strategies have been implemented, both locally and at a College level, to cascade information effectively and encourage sharing of best practice. The College and Schools have established their own newsletters which are published on a regular basis and these include MDS Messenger, College Connection, Immunity and Infection Informer and HaPS Good News Friday. College Assemblies are now more overtly linked to the University Strategic Framework, and managers continue to directly link objective setting through Staff Development Reviews and Personal Development Reviews with College and University priorities. Specific training for managers in areas such as the conduct of PDRs continues to be delivered within the College. Staff development initiatives are now firmly established within the College. These include
You Said, We Did
Case study 1
Debbie Gordon, PA to Professor Ann Logan, talks about the benefits of the Admin Forum
an ongoing programme of Birmingham Professional events, and a Postdoctoral Career Development initiative (PERCAT) which provides support and resources to the postdoctoral community. The College also recently received an Athena SWAN Bronze award in recognition of its Women in Academic Medicine and Science (WAMS) initiative and work is now underway to hopefully achieve a Silver Award. An annual College Learning and Development plan is compiled in response to the needs identified by School/Hub Learning and Development leads, which draws upon input from individuals/PDRs and directly drives the prioritisation of training offered or coordinated via POD. In the wider University, a UEB Action plan (intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/ documents/public/UEBHaveYourSay2011 actionplan.pdf) was created in response to the University-wide themes highlighted within the survey results. In common with the College, the University continues to make progress against all of its objectives.
CEM Admin Forum A key theme in the School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine’s 2011 Survey results was communication, and a number of initiatives were developed to improve understanding and awareness of activities across and within the School, College and wider University. One of these initiatives was the establishment of an Admin Forum Group, which provides an opportunity for CEM Professional Services administrative staff to meet regularly to share information. ‘The setting up of the Admin Forum Meetings has been welcomed amongst members of the Professional Services admin team. It has proved to be an effective avenue for the dissemination of information and a two-way dialogue has been encouraged to enable staff to communicate updates on important information from their relevant areas.
Key personnel within the School and College are often invited to attend these meetings in order to provide information about the work they do and to answer specific queries from the admin team. Administrative actions across the School and College are discussed at these meetings improving on the general knowledge of where we fit in to the wider structure of the University. Of equal importance is the ability for everybody to come together and share a cup of tea and biscuit! We are all very busy people and rarely get the opportunity to come together as a team, meet new starters and learn about what other people do, which is vital to the effective running of a busy admin team.’
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College Connection
You Said, We Did
Case study 2
Health and Wellbeing Day A local programme of Birmingham Professional events now runs within the College and, as part of this, two very successful College Health and Wellbeing Days have been held in the last two years. The day offers College colleagues the opportunity to sample a variety of activities and access information regarding health and wellbeing. This year a mobile optician conducted DSE eye screening on-site, staff took part in a Mindfulness Meditation session and the Careers Network offered staff a 60 Second CV Makeover. There was also a wide range of stands in the Wolfson Common Room including Birmingham Voluntary Services Council, Rethink Mental Health, Birmingham Arthritis Resource Centre, Green Impact Stationery Recycle Exchange, POD, Birmingham Professional, Careers Network CV Clinic, and Selly Oak Community Choir. The College’s research teams in Liver and Neurotrauma and Neurodegeneration provided interactive stands and MDS students also ran short sessions on Basic Life Support.
You Said, We Did
Case study 3
Feedback from this year’s event was very positive: ‘I visited a number of stands and gained a lot of useful information. The interaction from the people on each of the stands was excellent and nothing was too much trouble, with the gentleman from the Arthritis stand not having a leaflet to hand on a particular request but had one in the car and promptly went and got it for me.’ ‘The range of stands and activities was very diverse and all were interesting. I particularly enjoyed the visiting optician, as this is something that I find difficult to fit into busy weekends, and it was just so convenient! The food was lovely and there was a real buzz about the place.’
PERCAT PERCAT (Postdoctoral /Early Researcher Career Development And Training) is an initiative within the College that supports postdoctoral scientists and early career researchers. PERCAT aims to provide training, careers advice and awareness, promote postdoc/early career researcher participation in decision making processes and ensure quality postdoc/early career researcher appointments. Activities include a programme of Masterclasses, scientific writing workshops and mentoring events. PERCAT has also provided Scriptoria writing workshops on paper and grant writing which have been well attended, the general view being that they are a must for all researchers. The highlight of this year’s PERCAT calendar was the PERCAT Research Gala. Co-ordinated by the cross-College Postdoc
reps, the event saw over 100 Postdocs and Early Career research took part in talks and poster presentations covering a wide-range of research themes. The highlight of the Gala was a talk from Professor Paul McMaster, FRCS (president of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) (UK) on Medical Research and the Real World. Dr Louisa Jeffery (PERCAT Postdoc representative for School of Immunity and Infection), said ‘The feedback that we have received about the PERCAT initiative is very positive. To quote the words of one postdoc, “I think the whole idea of PERCAT is a good one as it provides help and support for research staff who often feel isolated in their laboratories and do not get much of an opportunity to meet other researchers within the University. I wish such a facility had been available earlier on in my career.”’
College Connection
You Said, We Did
Case study 4
Women in Academic Medicine and Science The College’s Women in Academic Medicine and Science (WAMS) committee was formed to address the under-representation of females in academic medicine. The aim of the initiative is to support and nurture the careers of female academics in the MDS. The WAMS Committee organises a programme of events to support female academics in meeting their learning and development needs, and highlights of this include a Promotions workshop, a Lecture on ‘Women in Leadership’ by Professor Sharon Turnbull and a joint seminar with Biosciences on ‘Facilitating Women’s Progression to the Top’ by Professor Dame Athene Donald. After being awarded an Athena SWAN Bronze award this year, the College is now aiming to achieve a Silver award.
Dr Aga Gambus has benefitted from the support of the WAMS initiative. Dr Gambus joined the School of Cancer Sciences in 2011 where she started her independent research. In 2012 she was awarded an MRC Career Development Award to study the roles of ubiquitin and SUMO during chromosomal DNA replication, and was also awarded a Birmingham Fellowship by the University. Dr Gambus has been supported by the College and her colleagues throughout the process of receiving her two Fellowships; she received a preliminary data award from the College’s Research Development Fund to enable generation of preliminary data for her fellowship applications, took part in grant writing workshops, and received support from colleagues with mock interviews for this stage of her Fellowship application.
Your MDS Staff Survey Champions Drop-in sessions for MDS staff
The College’s Staff Survey Champions can answer any questions you may have regarding the survey and take comments and feedback to the University’s Survey Project Team.
All staff will have the opportunity to complete the Staff survey during their normal working day, rather than during lunch or break times. To facilitate this, staff wishing to complete their survey away from the office will have an opportunity to do so during the following times in the IT Suite of the Centre for Professional Development, Medical School.
The Champions are:
November: n Monday 4: 10.00am–12.00noon n Tuesday 6: 11.00am–1.00pm n Thursday 14: 1.00pm 3.00pm n Tuesday 19: 10.00am–12.00noon n Friday 22: 2.00pm–4.00pm n Tuesday 26: 2.00pm–4.00pm These times are available to all MDS staff to use the facilities to complete the survey. If you are unable to attend any of these sessions and would like the opportunity to complete the survey away from the office, please email mdssurvey@contacts.bham.ac.uk to arrange this.
Alternatively, you can submit comments, questions or feedback confidentially to mdssurvey@contact.bham.ac.uk or via the internal post to the Internal Communications Manager, Medical School Building.
Champions
School
Sue Rookes Tracey Perry Shamyla Siddique
Cancer Sciences
s.m.rookes@bham.ac.uk t.a.perry@bham.ac.uk s.siddique@bham.ac.uk
Helen Matthews Debbie Gordon Ana Gonzalez
Clinical and Experimental Medicine
h.matthews@bham.ac.uk d.d.Gordon@bham.ac.uk A.M.Gonzalez.1@bham.ac.uk
Professor Philip Lumley
Dentistry
p.j.lumley@bham.ac.uk
Sharon Murphy Sarah Hinton Jacqueline Ryan
Health and Population Sciences
s.t.murphy@bham.ac.uk s.hinton@bham.ac.uk j.ryan.1@bham.ac.uk
Donna Wiles
Immunity and Infection
d.wiles@bham.ac.uk
College Hub
a.w.gibson@bham.ac.uk g.dora@bham.ac.uk p.k.g.nobbs@bham.ac.uk D.Swaine@bham.ac.uk c.a.benham@bham.ac.uk
Angie Gibson Geraldine Dora Peter Nobbs Dan Swaine Carol Benham
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Have Your Say 2013 Frequently Asked Questions
What is Have Your Say? The University’s third all staff opinion survey, providing an opportunity to share your views about aspects of your working life at the University. It is an important opportunity for you to play a part in shaping the University’s future; information gathered will be used to facilitate improvements that will benefit the University as a whole, as well as individual Colleges, Schools, and Departments.
The survey will run 4 November – 1 December 2013.
Is the survey confidential? Yes. The University will not see survey responses as they are analysed by an independent survey company who anonymise results before providing reports to the University. The survey tool used to analyse results does not give information on any staff group of less than 10 people in order to ensure confidentiality where there are smaller teams/areas. Staff can be assured that they will not be identified and that the survey is completely confidential.
Who is producing the survey? ORC International has been appointed to administer this survey. This is the same company that managed our staff survey in 2009 and 2011.
College of Medical and Dental Sciences Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom
www.birmingham.ac.uk/mds
Do I need to take part in the survey?
How long will completing the survey take?
Colleagues are strongly encouraged to participate in the survey to ensure that as many views as possible are represented in the findings. These will help to shape the University going forward and will help to facilitate ongoing developments to further improve staff experience. Actions from the 2011 survey were developed as a direct result of your feedback.
The survey should take 10–15 minutes on average to complete.
How is the survey being promoted to staff? Communications include a campus wide awareness raising campaign (such as posters, postcards, plasma screens), University-wide communications (such as buzz, buzz bitesize, staff events, intranet), and local channels (via the University’s Internal Communications Network).
Can I get a paper copy? Yes. You have a choice about how you complete the survey. Most staff will be given an electronic version to complete online. Staff who are not generally computer-based will be issued a paper copy.
Can I get access to the survey in another format? Alternative formats (eg, Braille, large print, alternative languages, etc) can be made available on request.
How does this survey relate to Have Your Say 2011?
What efforts have been made to include staff in this process?
Action planning, implementation and development have been underway since the last staff survey. This survey is a chance to monitor progress and update action plans.
A dedicated Project Team with colleagues from HR, Communications, and Senior Team have coordinated the survey with approval from the University Executive Board. Survey Champions across the University are also helping to co-ordinate and promote the survey.
8930 © University of Birmingham 2013.
When is the staff survey?