University of Suffolk NEWS Issue 7 Spring/Summer 2019
WELCOME One in four people will experience a mental health problem each year … we want to make Suffolk the best place in the world for talking about and taking care of mental health (Suffolk Mind 2019) At the University, we are not immune to mental health problems, whether it affects our students or staff. Being able to talk about this and support each other to achieve good mental health and resilience is something we can improve. In our sector, we are familiar with seeing headlines about students mental health but less is discussed when it comes to the mental health of staff. Earlier this year, we conducted our bi-annual staff survey. We achieved a phenomenal response rate of 81.2%. A score of 70%-75% in the HE Sector is deemed good, so I am very pleased with the high level of engagement from our staff. Staff engagement is important to us. Our staff are our biggest asset and it is our aim to have a great working experience, which is inclusive and provides opportunities to develop, grow and give our best. We know that getting the staff experience right also enriches the student experience. In April, each of our Schools and Directorates received their own survey reports and we encouraged our Deans of School, Directors of Professional Services and Heads of Departments to discuss the results with their teams to identify what three issues could be addressed. Feedback is now being collated to identify best practice across the University and to inform an institutional action plan as a result. In the meantime, the results and feedback so far highlight improvements to managerial support/ behaviours and performance reviews compared to our 2017 survey, and bring to light issues relating to
University of Suffolk
NEWS
wellbeing and pace of change. Ensuring our staff have a good work/life balance is important to us and feedback suggests that staff wellbeing should be an area for focus over the next year to enhance our working experience. Our Students’ Union are already working with us on a number of initiatives to support students to enhance their mental health and wellbeing and there is more we can do together on this front. I am pleased to say that we have agreed to partner with Suffolk Mind for the next two years in order to increase our understanding and actions, to support our staff appropriately. The School of Health Sciences has led the way in this, encouraging their teams to attend one of Suffolk Minds workshops and other staff across the University have also attended our own mental health first aid course. I have engaged with Suffolk Mind programmes in order to understand their offer and have better insight into how they can help us to develop our staff support in this area. As a starting point we have asked Suffolk Mind to conduct a Wellbeing Performance Audit to help us fully understand the needs of our staff and to address any concerns. Our Wellbeing Group will also be seeking feedback on the health and wellbeing goals of staff and students to help develop a fit-for-purpose Health Promotion Programme to provide all with opportunities to improve their mental and physical wellbeing whilst at work or whilst studying. Finally, I will be leading and championing a ‘Wellbeing Working Group’ over the next year to pull together all wellbeing activity across the University for both staff and students. I look forward to engaging with many of you on our wellbeing journey and to continue to enhance our working and studying environment together.
Professor Helen Langton Vice-Chancellor
Issue 7 Spring/Summer 2019
Page 1