Colleague survey

Engage for Success define colleague engagement as:

“a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all members of an organisation to give of their best each day, committed to their organisation’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organisational success, with an enhanced sense of their own well-being.”

Our overall colleague engagement KPI result for 2022 was 72%, based on a 61% response rate.

At Leeds Beckett University, colleague engagement is measured through the following 4 questions in the annual Colleague Survey:

• I feel proud to work for the university
• I would recommend the university as a great place to work
• I feel committed to the university’s vision
• Working at the university makes me want to do the best work I can

The Engage for Success website has lots of useful information about colleague engagement.

We recognise that whilst gathering your feedback and views is valuable, it’s even more important that the results act as a starting point for conversations which then lead to meaningful action.

We all have a part to play in this.

All colleagues are encouraged to engage in discussions connected to the results and be involved in turning the feedback into purposeful action.

As well as the survey enabling us to identify key themes and actions at a university-wide level, the results and subsequent discussions also help us to identify at a local school / service level what we are doing well, and where we need to focus our efforts to improve how we all experience working life here at LBU. There may also be local team actions to progress and follow up on.

Last year’s scores demonstrated a high level of engagement with our university and its ambitions, but you also identified ways we could make LBU a better and more fulfilling place to work.

You felt proud to work at LBU, felt we were approaching the challenges of achieving a better work/life balance through flexible working in a sympathetic and supportive way, and that your managers were trusting, honest and caring. But you did not think we developed enough opportunities to ensure your voice could be heard, that we invested sufficient time in supporting your development at work, or always kept you well informed.

• Again supported local action plans that have aligned people and development plans to colleague survey themes. We have seen more opportunities to meet senior managers face to face, revised meeting structures to improve decision making and communication, subject, school and service away days focused on survey outputs, together with working groups on key areas like belonging and voice in different parts of our university.
• Launched MyDevelopment, our new online learning system with an ever growing catalogue of online development for colleagues. 
• Developed new resources and continued to build on our commitment that every colleague has a two-way performance and development conversation, with another PDR cycle currently underway.
• Launched the Wellbeing Assessment, a way of embedding school and service conversations that enable every colleague to share their views to improve wellbeing and good health at work.
• Continued to base our approach to ways of working on tried and tested principles and values, with more on in-person activity being evident across our campuses.